Rambles #2: Comparisons
Another big artist struggle that I've been running into, is try not to compare myself to others. This is a pretty predictable problem, but it always seems to be a lot harder than you expect it to be. This is pretty broad too but I can name a few examples that I've run into that kind of cut down my confidence to where I have a hard time becoming encouraged rather than discouraged.
Of course, we all need to compare ourselves a little bit in a way that we are learning from other people's strengths and weaknesses. It becomes self-destructive when we begin to do it too much to the point where we just feel plain bad about our own work. I follow many artists on Instagram and Tumblr, and as I begin to get back into drawings, it's starting to make me feel a little bad that I'm not up to speed with them. Sometimes I become regretful when to think about how if I didn't take that 2 year hiatus from drawing that maybe I would be at or near their level now. But there's obviously nothing I can do about that now, but to keep working.
It's worse when you see these brilliant artists with over 100K followers who are only 17 or even 14. Because then you feel like you have no excuse because you weren't nearly that good when you were that age.
This is one of those things though that dwelling on it or feeling bad about yourself isn't going to make your art any better. Just keep doing what you're doing. Do not look at other people's successes as your own failures.
And that goes for everything in life, not just art of course. ^_'
I feel like I need to write this down though for my own sake. Because I run into these feelings of self-criticism for not being good enough or for feelings like a failure often. I feel like since starting this new school, I've gotten better about it. I've gotten to a point where I accept the level that I'm at and just work to level up. Perhaps, it was the school, or perhaps it was just the timing for me, but either way, I've found that this acceptance has made me feel a lot happier with myself.
The more we try to fight it or deny the idea of the possibility that we may not be as good as we think we are at something, the harder it is to get better and to continue doing what we enjoy. And of course, that doesn't mean realizing that you're "bad" at something or just aren't "good enough". It's just the idea of getting a more realistic and clearer perspective of our own strengths and weaknesses. This is an idea I talked about in my last entry about how we sometimes have a hard time taking criticism from others or we just aren't giving ourselves the right criticism.
I always remind myself that, "There's always going to be someone who's worse than you, and there's always going to be someone who's better than you."
I've come to accept this idea over the years because that's how it is. There is an infinity of skill levels because there will never be a time in your life that you will stop improving.
I'm looking to these amazing artists as inspiration rather than comparison. So what if some of them are younger than me? I'm just going to have to swallow my pride and continue doing the best that I can.
I can see from here how wonky the eyes are... ^_^;
As a personal goal, I want to develop my original style. My style still resembles that of what I did in high school since I'd stopped drawing for a period of time. I feel like my style is rather flat and unoriginal. Sometimes the flatness can work, but in my case, I feel like my drawing style is just altogether forgettable.So starting now, I'm working to change that and become more connected to my artwork in that way.
I started sketching last night trying different things. Probably the biggest change is the head shape. I would always put a giant indent in the middle of the face to separate the cheek and the top of the head where the eyes would go. Drawing from observation more, I realize that this isn't as prominent a feature as I had always believed it to be.
Another thing I would like to improve on is how I draw hair. I've always had a hard time drawing hair. It would also look wet or scratchy. I've got a long way to go as with everything else, but I'm feeling determined as I've found my passion for drawing again.
