Dealing with feelings of inadequacy?

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Dealing with feelings of inadequacy? Anonymous 09/23/14 (Tue) 02:55:40 No.354

How do you deal with the fact you're not good enough? I always compare myself to others and seem like I am far behind them. I'm actually somewhat "successful" in a sense--my art is at a decent level and I am able to make a living off it. But I compare myself to what Jaime or Whit or DanielC were doing at my age, and I feel this crushing sense that I will never be good enough and that I'm too far behind where I should be. Never mind when I look at Sargent or Zorn or any other old master. My life is art, and my art is not good enough, so I am not good enough. I feel like I will never create images that will become iconic or last centuries and be admired by other artists. Do other people struggle with these thoughts? How do you cope?

Anonymous 09/23/14 (Tue) 03:55:36 No.361

I read Loomis and practice

Anonymous 09/23/14 (Tue) 05:00:00 No.366

>>354
That's a normal feeling which permeates through any pursuit in life that one takes seriously. The ego feels threatened. The only recommendation I have is to either turn the feelings into positive energy or change your mindset of how you consider such artwork. A lot of people shit on other peoples' work to make themselves feel better instead of confronting their own art. Don't be that person.

Anonymous 09/23/14 (Tue) 07:50:34 No.378

>>354
I have the same feeling, best thing would to be to try to turn it into a competitive thing rather, at least for me. I want to be better than X faster and just do it better in general. I am trying to streamline my daily practice so I can be better asap and feel less shit funnily enough.

Anonymous 09/23/14 (Tue) 22:04:41 No.426

nobody ever feels adequate, some are good at hiding it in public though or just they're full of themselves and won't progress past a certain point.

it's because your taste refines faster than your skill and you see just how bad you are at any given moment. It's almost as if you want to never have gained insight into the art and craft and stay ignorant and 'happy'. Just keep going, we all feel like that. Be a man, if you see somebody better, be inspired instead of threatened. In time you'll see you were wrong in seeing no faults in a given artist's works.

Anonymous 09/23/14 (Tue) 23:31:45 No.428

>>361
That doesn't help me.

>>366
>>378
I used to be able to turn it into a competitive nature and use it as motivation, but now I can see way more things in art and feel it more as a crushing weight.

>>426
Yeah I guess that the taste and skill thing is a good point. Though some people are undoubtedly just masters and have flawless pieces.

Anonymous 09/24/14 (Wed) 03:53:46 No.449

>>428
>Though some people are undoubtedly just masters and have flawless pieces.

Alternatively, they just never show anyone the stinkers.

Anonymous 09/24/14 (Wed) 04:11:50 No.450

>>449
Derp, read that as "always have flawless." Haha, point stands, though: it's easy to focus in on the best bits, and ignore the huge, huge amounts of so-so content they produced at the same time.

Anonymous 09/24/14 (Wed) 07:14:36 No.455

>>426
>>354
Look at it another way. How boring of a life would it be if you were the greatest artist that ever lived and there was no way to improve, nothing else to learn, etc.

Anonymous 09/30/14 (Tue) 04:16:08 No.742

>>428
>I can see way more things in art and feel it more as a crushing weight.

Do you mean noticing more refined elements in artwork? Like "fancy" brushwork or things like subsurface scattering? That just means your "eye" is improving. You can now work on those specific things in your own work.

If you haven't already-- pick a specialty. Improving one skill-set is easier than training in everything at once. Jack-of-all trades master of none. Then you can compare yourself to just your peers in that specific niche.

I think anything to break a goal down into steps helps motivation. Otherwise, the grind is killer.

Anonymous 09/30/14 (Tue) 13:40:33 No.758

>>742
I wish I knew how to break down certain things to a chunk I can handle, like colors? Where the hell do I begin? The different options is overwhelming.

Anonymous 09/30/14 (Tue) 14:41:52 No.759

>>449
This, a lot of the 'intimidation factor' in getting good comes entirely from never seeing just how much crap everyone else made to get where they are.

Anonymous 09/30/14 (Tue) 20:16:10 No.769

>>354
As long as there are people that are worse than you, you're always good enough for at least that amount of people.

Sure, comparing yourself upwards is good to keep focused on your goal. But it's also not reprehensible to take a look back down to strengthen your ego once in a while.

Anonymous 09/30/14 (Tue) 20:48:04 No.770

>>354
I succumb to this feel and stop drawing for months until cycle start over again.

Anonymous 07/16/15 (Thu) 04:34:38 No.3470

>>770

I do the same thing, to the point I barely doodle all year.

>tfw

Anonymous 07/16/15 (Thu) 20:13:41 No.3473

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>>770

>>3470

don't do that, unless you want to feel like shit (for being shit) forever.

Use your envy and self loathing to fuel your progress.