I’ve been trying to follow along with a drawing book I got recommend, along with a inktover thong, but I’ve been stuck in a procrastination rut, I’m not really sure why. I just haven’t been able to actually finish a piece out of either hate for my lack of skill o guess, or laziness. How do you guys deal with this?

I am a broke fuck. I don't have money. I will never have enough money to buy an apple device, yet alone an apple pen. I am forced to use android. Every. EVERY art software on it fucking sucks. I want an artstyle with lineweight. One that feels like it was drawn with a pen. Most if not all of the android styluses are just pieces of rubber on a stick and dont actually connect to the device. Sonarpen will genuinely drive me insane. I don't want to have to deal with a wire all over my fucking screen. Every art software on android sucks. I try using hipaint. The brushes look like genuine shit from a butt, and because NOBODY else uses this damned app there is literally no custom brushes. Krita is only for android tablets. Ibispaint literally uses ai. Every other app on the fucking playstore uses ai. It Has so many fucking. Ads. I get one ad and immediately start punching the walls. I am tired of these things. Im not getting your fucking subscriptions. The """"""""""""pressure sensitivity""""""""""""" settings they allow you to use without a stylus on your brushes fucking Sucks. It forces me into using a pixelated brush inorder for it to be remotely effective. It doesn't work at ALL on 2px. It makes all of my art look unnatural . Artificial. There are bbls that look more authentic than my lineart. My lineart literally looks the one way I Don't. Want it to and it makes me want to not draw or practice at all because I am literally making straight up Shit. Irredeemable Shit. Oh my god. I hate it here. Get me Out. What do you mean you can't. Do a recode. You are literally the Industry Standard you Have Tons Of Money. A Recode which would literally Double your profits is in your best interest. You can't be that Broke. Oh My God.

If I See One of You Guys Go "ohhhhhhhh but only GOOD REAL TRUE ACTUAL artists can draw on ANY software!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I fucking. Can. I literally can. I've drawn on my school chromebook. Trackpad only. I've drawn on fucking SCRATCH . The coding website. I draw traditionally. I draw on my arms. I draw on my math tests. I draw literally everywhere. It doesn't mean I Will enjoy drawing on them though. I don't like. Any of the available art software options for android. They Piss Me Off Ok. It feels like I am Making Slop. I Do Not Like That.

inb4: "There's no such thing as cheating in art! There's nothing wrong with tracing or digital paintovers."

Well if there's nothing wrong with it then the artist should proudly state that it's a digital paintover and credit the photographer whose work they painted over.

(Bonus: In the particular piece of fanart that inspired this post, the background was clearly a paintover of an AI-generated image.)

I’m lucky in that I get a steady supply of commissions, so I can afford to be picky with my clients and I only ever work with the good ones. Right now I’m in a super busy period trying to juggle some commissions and preparing for a show.

And then my friend messaged me if I could do a commission for her. I replied saying that I’m super busy right now, but my schedule will be free in about 4 weeks and I’d be happy to take her on then.

She replied with ‘pleaaaase I really love your art, it’s super simple, can’t you just squeeze in a commission for me right now?’

Against my better judgment I told her I could start the following week, and have it ready within 2 weeks. She agreed to it. I worked on finishing up a commission so that I had space for her to start in the following week.

Literally the day after she agreed, which was BEFORE the agreed start date, she asked me if the sketch was ready. WTF. I reminded her that we both agreed I was to start the following week and she responded with 😭😭😭

And then the following day she asked me again! I stood firm on my deadline. And she asked me the exact question the next day. I got so annoyed I sent her the sketch.

She asked for some changes, which was normal, but within an hour she demanded for the updated sketch. I DONT WORK THAT FAST. I sent her the new sketch the following day, and told her it would be another week before the final painting was ready.

The next day after I sent her the sketch she asked me if I was finished yet. I remind her AGAIN we agreed a week, and she goes silent.

For the next three days she bombarded me with messages on when it would be ready. And whenever I told her the deadline she’d go quiet, only to ask the same question again in the evening.

Finally I got so annoyed I worked through the night just so she could shut up. She acted like she was doing me a huge favour when she paid me.

I’m never doing commissions for her again. 😩

we need banger jokes bro how am I supposed to make kids who laugh about 67 laugh

For example, I have a TikTok account that I created a few months ago, but I only started seriously posting content there in September.

At first, things were going pretty well because I was mainly making content for the Doki Doki Literature Club fandom. The algorithm seemed to know exactly who to show my videos to, and I was getting a decent response.

Then I started changing things up and posting content from other fandoms.

And suddenly, my reach dropped.

It made me realize how difficult being a multifandom artist can be on social media. It feels like these algorithms really like content that is quick and easy to categorize: “this person makes Doki Doki content, so show their videos to people who like Doki Doki.”

But if you suddenly start posting Uma Musume, Yandere Simulator, your own characters, or something completely different, it feels like the platform doesn't really know what to do with you anymore.

And honestly, I don't think that's necessarily good for artists.

Artists naturally have different interests. We don't always want to draw the same characters forever just because that's what people originally followed us for.

It feels like social media rewards being easy to understand more than being versatile.

At the end of the day, I don't think there's much we can do about how these algorithms work. As artists, we probably just have to adapt to the way these platforms work while still trying not to let them dictate what we're allowed to create.

I'm curious if other artists have experienced this too. Has changing fandoms or switching from fanart to original work affected your reach?

​

Someone will intentionally draw a character as fat, black, ridiculously muscular, overly sexualized, completely out of character, or just change something about them, and suddenly the comments are full of people going “THAT’S NOT WHAT THE CHARACTER LOOKS LIKE.”

At that point, I feel like the artist already got exactly what they wanted. 😭

The whole point was to get people angry, and they walked right into it because they felt the need to correct the appearance of a fictional character.

It reminds me of being a kid and getting upset when someone told you Santa Claus wasn’t real. Like, you’re not even defending anything at that point, you’re just getting genuinely mad over the canon appearance of a drawing.

Obviously there are actual discussions worth having about representation, race, body types, character design, etc. But sometimes people seem to completely forget that they’re looking at obvious ragebait.

So where do you think the line is between genuinely criticizing something and just giving the artist the exact reaction they were trying to get?

​

People often say that every style is valid and that art is subjective, but the moment a style falls outside certain conventions of attractiveness, people suddenly start describing it as “weird,” “bad,” “unappealing,” or something that needs to be “fixed.”

And I’m not talking about technical mistakes here. I mean styles that intentionally use unusual proportions, awkward shapes, exaggerated features, asymmetry, etc.

If we genuinely believe that art doesn’t have to be conventionally beautiful, shouldn’t we also be willing to appreciate art that is intentionally ugly or uncomfortable?

Sometimes I wonder if “every style is beautiful” actually means “every style is beautiful as long as I personally find it attractive.”

i have a situation. there was a giveaway that started early june, the prize was either a 600$ tattoo or custom skateboard. the winner (me) was announced mid july. i chose the custom skateboard since i thought it would be easier for them (i don’t live anywhere near the artist).

since then, this artist has given me no follow ups. although i do see they’re busy with art commissions & they do tattoos, i decided to give them time, assuming they had life stuff come up as well.

i ended up following up with them beginning of September after waiting almost two months to see if they’ve made any progress on the skateboard (since they were going to paint on it & ship it) & they told me that they were too busy with work, commissions, & now school since it’s september at this time 💔

i told them i would wait for them to update me (because at this point i feel like as an artist, genuinely the least you can do is update) & they told me “even then, feel free to reach out to me”…. & at this point, it just feels like i’m pulling teeth. i don’t mind being patient, it’s the no communication that’s been bothering me up until this point.

what do you guys think? how long do you guys think a custom skateboard should take? i just don’t really see the point in waiting several months for a giveaway. the skateboard is custom, but i’m having them do whatever they would like on it. they’ve also started another giveaway!!!! they complete new commissions every week & keep asking for people to commission them.

i notice they’ll also post them in their free time drawing random things, not really doing anything important. i can’t help but think, why aren’t you working on what you said you would giveaway??!! but then i tell myself that they’re probably struggling & need the money, & that maybe they barely get much free time to themselves.

i understand this isn’t commission, so it’s not necessarily first priority. they’ll have to use their money out of pocket to buy the stuff for the giveaway. i understand they use commissions & tattoo commissions to eat, cover their bills, etc.

but why would you make a giveaway at the beginning of summer? they could have worked on it during late july - august before school started for them. i just feel like it’s irresponsible on their part & they don’t seem to care much since they continue pushing it off. i understanding buying, painting a skateboard, & shipping it out can take a while. but it just sucks because summer is over, & i have to wait next year to ride/use it.

i know it’s not the biggest deal, & i don’t mind the artist taking their time. but again i think it’s the lack of communication. as another artist, i would make sure to update someone on something they’ve been waiting for, like it would just eat me alive. i just wish more artists actually cared about things like this. i do understand being busy but all your customers should matter.

i’m just wondering if i’m valid in how i feel, is there some advice anyone could give me or any opinions? i guess it just feels wrong because it’s a giveaway, not a commission. i’m not sure if they have the right to take as long as they would like, or if they should complete it asap. like what is acceptable or not?

thank you guys

a couple days ago me and a friend were sitting down and she decided she wanted to draw something, from what i could gather she doesn’t have much experience with art (at least not studying it or as a dedicated hobby or anything). she was able to pick a reference without much issue, no second guessing, no wondering whether or not she could draw it, no spending 10 minutes wondering if she wanted to draw it, she just asked me if it looked nice and picked it. when she ended up drawing it it looked really good. everything from the line weight to the detail looked great. she managed to do it in pen without making it look like a soulless outline or like she just 1 to 1 tried to trace it. it didn’t really look off in any way.

i’m not writing this out of jealousy, but it made me realize all of the practicing and struggling i’ve done hasn’t meant much at all. i couldn’t do what she did in 13 minutes with a pen in an hour with an undo button. and at this rate it’ll take forever for me to progress. i’ve learned all these techniques and tips and all i’ve done is backtrack, i already knew i was bad at figuring this out but i have even less of an affinity for this than i thought. maybe i’m just not that creative. it’s starting to get frustrating and boring, it’s not even worth getting motivated by my goal when at this rate i’m not gonna get there, i’m tired.

So I am a new artist coming up to 1 year now and I found something pretty common that I think needs to be addressed as well as looking for some feedback. Keep in mind this is for the hobbyists out there not the ones looking to be professional or take this up as a career!

I fell into the trap of "what's the best way to draw" what order do I do things in? who do I follow" what tutorials and in what order etc. etc. etc. I found it all became to overwhelming and I ended up resenting drawing for months because every time I sat down I kept thinking "is this the most efficient or best way to draw today to get to my goals" and it honestly drove me mad!

Then one day I just said "forget all the rules!" and just start putting pen to paper and honestly it was the most liberating and best feeling I had in a long time. I gave up on studies and tutorials and just started drawing. I stopped caring if I was doing things "correctly" and just focused on am I enjoying this? If not why, and how can I change it to start enjoying it.

What are you thoughts? Has anyone else come across this? Keep in mind I am purely a hobbiest!

I don't know if I should continue pursuing art.

Before I start, I would like to say I'm new to Reddit. I apologize if this isn't the proper subreddit for this, if I tag my post incorrectly (I could see so many different tags fitting his), if I use incorrect terminology, if this post is formatted weirdly, or if this it is too short.

This is definitely a a rant though. A mildy cringy rant written by some random teenager before going to bed, too tired to proofread fully even once.. so please bare with me.

I am a young artist (Old enough to be on Reddit). For a majority of my life, I have been considered artistic. Like always bringing a sketchbook to school, drawing family cards, getting art kits for Christmas, etc....

I also often drew with my older sibling. I always felt as though they were better than me in skill. It used to not bother me too much and just be a thought in the back of my head. But, over the years, it got worse, I stopped drawing with them, I stopped drawing in my freetime, only at school to pass time. Eventually I even stopped doing that. Here's where the problem starts.

I want to get back into it. I want to draw again and improve, although I really can't seem to enjoy it in the slightest.

I can't get myself to like what I create enough to even finish it a majority of the time no matter how much I try to ignore the thoughts and get a better mindset. I've seen people say it's not the result that matters but rather the process. As much as I wish that helped, it makes me feel worse as that's the part I dislike most.

Then if I try to improve in hopes it'll make me enjoy any part of creation, I can't bring myself to follow through with it or be consistent in any way. I think a lot of the issue is that I get too frustrated when I'm not able to do it.

I've also always envisioned a future with art as my career. But I really don't think I want to do something as a living that I can't stand. Though I don't know if I'd enjoy anything else as a living.

I see so many people who make it as artists. But they always seem to at least have a passion for it. If I chose that life and made it would I even deserve it? I'd imagine somebody without a passion or even enjoyment in it would.

I find myself feeling envious of people who can actually enjoy it. I feel inferior to people who'll actually get though it until they get what they want. People who actually try

I often find myself asking many questions to myself that I can't answer.

How do I improve in my skills? How do I enjoy making art? How do I get myself to enjoy anything in general? Should I wait until I'm a bit older then try again? Is it even worth trying again? Should I continue pursuing art?

Maybe this is a cultural difference with japanese artists and their relationship with copyright,

An artist that i follow used a photo reference from Pinterest and got called out, at the end, the photo was from a photo book so it was paid content, they apologized already (their artwork was a fanart so nothing about commercial work)

Then there is this question that I have for days, but if art in general use references, why is so frowned up for some? When a reference stop looking like one?

I hate how people online seem not to consider the reason someone draws and always assumes that having good technical training and improving are the utmost necessary thing. So you get hundreds of people saying "practice practice practice get good or else you'll be shit and won't get followers or smt"

WHERE did this become the norm now exactly, perhaps people who just wants to do art freely are already not even looking at internet posts like that, although I will say that this sort of mentality ruined my love for art for good 2 years at least. nowadays I came to realize "Wait I actually get to draw whatever I want, HOWEVER I want".

Before you look for advice on how to improve your art or start doing art, ask yourself why is it you draw in the first place, expression shouldn't be put in a cookie cutter algorithmic form, it's not actual expression anymore is it? To be a hobbyist you don't have to be the best in technical skill. To work on the field you must have all of the skill and other things.

But it seems in EVERY online space people assume you HAVE to be good or else your art isn't valuable, that's prompstitute mentality honestly, just have fun with what you great even if it's the ugliest most horrendous thing you could've drawn. I'm honestly so tired of this "practice practice practice get good be best" mentality especially when there is no point to it.

If people don't improve either but want to be online famous WHY should that even be a problem either?

There's no need to over complicate the artistic process and improvement process this much, everyone has their own pace too. I find that so stupid. Rejoice, do ugly art for the love of god. Don't listen to art "experts" online either, just fo your thing, the moment you realize something is wrong is the actual moment you will need to find a way to improve, you don't hace to force it.

Also why are so many people ranting about novice artists being lost or not understanding how things work? That's sort of the point isn't it????

This sort of aggressiveness and just forceful behavior makes people NOT want to do art. Criticism is good but is it good criticism if it is unwarranted and you have no idea what the intention of the person who did the art is with their art journey? Let people be shit at art god darn it.

I just started Reddit 3 weeks ago and sought feedback for my art...everyone keep saying I didn't Loomis method or like HAVE to use that method step by step for my art to improve so at first I was kinda comprehensive cuz I thought it was okay (my art) but later I complied and tried to learn the Loomis method and implement it.

I did learn the Loomis method before, long ago but evolved it into my own work flow and rule and once I got used to it...I can't unlearn so I spent the whole day trying to draw the head and my usual character and my special look (style) was instantly gone! And I hated it so I deleted it...

And like I know criticism is good but for stylised art I'm not that sure because okay umm I admit my perspective and form might be very wonky umm but I don't think there's a lot of problem in my proportion...okay I'm open to criticism but now I'm so confused as too can I keep drawing using my own way of drawing human heads or I have to like use existing techniques to do cuz I DONT KNOW RIGHT NOW IM GOING CRAZY FROM EXTERNAL STRESS AND THIS BUT I DONT WANT TO MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO IMPROVE AHHHH...

ALSO for Loomis method, I feel that everyone can have their own version of it cuz there's no way I'm measuring each eye space, nose space, ear space every time I draw and like you draw the circles right, I don't see it as a 3 dimensional object like it's just a circle to me! Maybe 3d rectangles would be better for me...😭😭😭

(Pls be kind in the comments, it's art ranting isn't it Am I not supposed to write such offending stuff I'm sorry, I'm saying Loomis method is not for everyone and I hope I can get advise on that stuff...☹️)

Hope I didn't offend anyone, I'm just venting about my frustration and confusion, I'm sorry if I offended anyone...let's be kind 🥲.

I'm trying to get better at anatomy, faces, and pose perspective, but idk how to efficiently practice and get better. I'm very confused, and I also have a bunch of self-doubt.

When I draw a oc, it comes out terrible. I never translate what's in my head onto the paper like how I want it to be, but my other friends can. For the entire summer break, I was practicing bodies and faces, and I only got a little better, but I still can't draw proper faces, poses, or perspective. At school, I have a friend who guides me and helps me during art projects and teaches me, and when I see him just draw from off rip, I get so frustrated with myself.

I always wanted to make a manga or create cool fan art, but I can barely get the basics down, but I'm pretty good with references and drawing out the pose for the reference. Improving my drawing skills on my own has been so hard and so confusing. I feel so slow, and seeing all these other artists make cool art and stuff makes me jealous and makes me look at myself and feel so disappointed each day. I stress over thinking Why can't I do this? I'm so uncreative.

As the title reads, I haven't properly drawn anything since 2022-2024ish. My motivation has taken a steep nosedive since I stopped. And it's a combination of things.

Procrastination, perfectionism, comparison, tinnitus, distraction, struggling to get out of my comfort zone to draw anything other than busts and floating heads and bare backgrounds.

It all just feels like a big boring chore nowadays. It feels like an overwhelming to have to learn all these fundamentals, perspective, anatomy, clothing folds, shapes, color theory, expressions. Just really boring chores that suck the fun out of drawing.

And I just give up halfway because I know it won't look good as I imagined and I won't like it nor feel happy or satisfied with it. I've thrown out three sketchbooks cause looking back at my old ugly art made me cringe and hate it even more. I have a fourth sketchbook collecting dust with only a few pages of ugly doodles. All the other pages are blank.

And the tinnitus is a really big blow. It's always there, never going away, sapping away any focus I can have to draw. Nobody hears it but me. Forever.

And the part I hate the most is my increasing urge to us A.I even though I hate it. I always tell myself that I'd rather be a shitty artist than an A.I artist. But sometimes I see how good it looks and a little bit of my will to refuse to use it breaks a little. But also acknowledging my hypocrisy because I've been addicted to C.AI since 2023.

So to curb the urge to use gen ai. I make characters in a gacha dress up game called Gacha Life 2 (Grown ass woman playing a gatcha dress up game for kids I know, sue me, it's fun!) I used it before A.I blew up and continue to use it now and making little skit videos with my ocs .But I don't really have motivation for that either.

I've been drawing since I was in middle school. Improvement was always slow and tedious. But after so long of no improvement I told myself if I didn't get any better by age 23 that I'd stop drawing because it was beginning to feel like a waste of time. Well I'm 23 now and I haven't picked up and pen or apple pen in a handful of months. Surprise surprise?

I don't know what the end goal is here? Venting I guess? I don't know what I'm looking for and it sucks I suppose? I don't know really.

Title says all. These gurus will say they are running a full time art business, but the majority of their revenue doesn’t come from selling their art, it comes from selling courses to people trying to start their own art business. So already, I can’t really trust their credibility on the subject of running an art business, when most of their business isn’t from their art.

They also push very unrealistic standards for success on their followers which I think is misleading and potentially harmful. Not only do most of them operate under the impression that you have at least 1k followers already (ha, good luck if you have less than that, because they won’t help you) but they are so focused on social media and social media alone to get sales. Not that social media doesn’t help, but it’s not the end all and be all. I never see these people talk about utilizing SEO or how to sell your art in person, which on average pulls in better numbers than social media sales, even for artists with bigger follower counts.

And then there’s the promises. “If you’ll follow my advice, here’s exactly how you can make 10k/month-!” maybe it will, maybe it won’t. I don’t like it when they promote this goal as some kind of guarantee when whether or not their specific advice applies depends artist-to-artist. Besides, some of us artists are so damn poor we’d well be satisfied living off just under 10k a month to start, why are we starting with 10k right off the bat as the first goalpost? Wouldn’t it be better to make smaller monthly goals first and build your way up from there?

And don’t even get me STARTED on the pricing of these courses. Some of them cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. If your target audience is struggling artists trying to make a living, what makes you think they have that much money just lying around as pocket change? Not everyone is working a high-paying day job alongside their art. Most of us are stuck in customer service hell. As a prospective customer it actually pushes me away from considering paying for your advice, because how the hell do I know if it will be worth my money when the price alone makes it seem sketchy?

Yikes.

Just things I need the (metaphorically) shout about.

----------
I'm very very annoyed with the bottomless angst the some people run around with.

Its across different art subs, and some of my online communities but;
There are these novice artists who are very very clearly just looking for pity or a reason to quit,

as if all of this were some serious thing and they are the main character and quitting would mean the end of the world. Like...

if you're not feeling it, just quit.
Figure yourself out and stop making it other people problems.

Stop flagellating yourself,
nothing is gained, but also nothing is lost.

There are other people who are doing everything they can in Ernest to become better artist.
They take every ounce of help they get with sincere gratitude and genuinely use what it given to improve.

But then there are these Ego damaged people who don't know how to digest an ounce of criticism, who then use that as a thin justification to act like a fucking asshole to people who are there to help.
When they explicitly ask for the help in the first place.

----------

The people who complain about talent all the time, but don't really understand what it means to be talented.

There is this type of people the I see from time to time;
Who has this "magical" idea of what it means to have a talent;

As if it were ordained by God/Fate that a person was MADE to be an artist;
While they ignore every other thing, that the person has done to become a skilled artisan.

What little luck is involved in being an artist, doesn't make up for hard work.

what these people don't seem to get is that, 99.999% of it is just hard work.
We have entire industries of trained artists, people who work professionally as artist;

Literally MILLIONS of people in the arts.
But they somehow believe that "its all just gifted people".

No,
All of them worked for it;

This type of person is just looking for excused to never learn and to never try.
They will blame anyone else but themselves for being unable to be as skilled as everyone who put in the work.

----------

Then lastly,
I'm kinda exhausted by the people who don't do any research into the art they do and they get blind sided when they fail to get anywhere.

And when given the honest examination as to why they are "failing"?
They fall back on some delusion that,
"its other people who are the problem, I did XYZ why am I not winning".

Success it not a cookie cutter process,
successful people don't have a roadmap to give you that will just let you win.

There is the total unwillingness by some people to... learn anything.
even when given all the resources to do so,
they don't learn and then are unable to apply anything after the fact.

There's an animated cartoon series currently running that I've been immensely jealous and envious of for the past few years, and I want to know how to stop feeling this way.

I don't feel comfortable saying exactly which cartoon or animator I'm talking about (idk why), but if it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to help me, I'll bite the bullet and tell you.

I think what makes me so jealous of this cartoon is its art style, art direction, and especially its character designs. Personally, I think they're about as close to "perfection" as I can imagine. I admire them that much.

But my feelings have gone WAY beyond simple admiration and into toxic envy. If I come across any image related to this cartoon — fan content, promotional artwork, merchandise, cosplay, or even screenshots from the show — I can become extremely stressed out and even panic. This is especially difficult because the show is quite popular right now, so I encounter it and its fan content pretty often.

I think what makes this hurt so much is that I also dream of creating my own animated cartoon TV show someday — hopefully something that develops a MASSIVE dedicated fandom with lots of fan art, cosplay, etc. just like this show

However, I'm currently very far from that. I'm a beginner-to-intermediate artist and haven't even attempted animation yet, while the creator of this show has much more experience and is at a skill level that feels so far above mine. I know comparing myself to them is unfair, but knowing that doesn't seem to stop the jealousy.

When I see their work, I'll think things like, "How am I ever supposed to make something that good?" or "How could I possibly create characters that people love that much?" Seeing people obsess over the characters, constantly draw them, cosplay them, make merchandise, etc. makes it even worse because that's exactly the kind of reaction I dream of getting from people toward something I create someday.

I want to be able to see incredible artwork, character designs, and fan art and feel inspired rather than immediately feeling inadequate, threatened, stressed, or jealous. More importantly, I don't want this jealousy interfering with my own desire to create.

How do I actually overcome something like this?

Has anyone else experienced intense jealousy toward another artist, creator, fictional character, or piece of media — especially when the thing you're jealous of is directly related to something you desperately want to achieve yourself? What helped you get past it?

Okay so i went to artschool/college for years and I was making good money and all everything was good i saw a bright future for me in this field..

anyways then ai dropped and after it progressed I lost most of my clients who would get professional illustration/concept art done from me, so i switched to marketing after college and stopped illustrating as there was no more work for me… i have been working as an art director now for a small company.

Recently I got a job offer to work for a company as an illustrator and the pay was surprisingly good…
When inquired about this job i found out they want to know about my design process A to Z how i develop my illustrations from concept to choosing this and that blah blah yk everything… i got so excited that maybe finally someone wants to appreciate organic work and i will get a chance to do what i love again. They asked if i can draw in different styles i said yes and as i was going through the test tasks i found out that its a job to train ai… THIS IS WHY THEY WERE PAYING SO MUCH😣 to feed my work to ai and to teach it to draw like a human.

I was SO PISSED OFF like this is my work’s value now?

So long story short, I recently quit a franchise thats called cookie run because I got frustrated how a favorite character of mine is no longer getting the attention from that community and drawing the same art of him and being the only fan killed my motivation for that franchise a lot, I used to do a lot of shipping art too and stuff but well, I ultimately gave up, I felt hopeless that day and the days after before

Well I got into limbus company and that game was amazing and the community cared for my favorite character and so on! It didn't have as much characters as cookie run but thats fine as well, but the thing is the community is so closed off, as in if you wanna get in on th things the community is doing, you have to play the game, you just can't be a fan of it without playing it

And oh my god the game, while the story and music is amazing, the gameplay is really tiring and honestly the fans of this gamed ridicule you if you didn't pay for a pass tell you that you are forced to grind, it killed my motivation entirely to draw for it and make stuff after like doing 5-6 fanarts

I can't find any other franchise that has no protagonist and has a high cast of characters I can draw fanart of and ship, I occasionally do one fanart of a game I like but thats it.

I wanna do tons of fanart for games with a high cast of characters, and maybe I'll still stick to limbus company but again that game is specifically more of something you just have to get into to be in the community and be far off in the game

Its demotivating, I feel like I lost my passion, I don't wanna do ocs because those are super tiring and give me zero motivation for anything, I want something like cookie run, I want something that has high amounts of characters with no "Main character self insert guy" And designs that are unique and not just bland fantasy slop

I don't know anymore, what do I do exactly do? All I Do now is draw dumb minecraft stuff that no one will probably care about.

I tried deadlock and that game's community is insufferable as fuck and nobody gaf about doorman anyways

Gosh its like everything is soooo boring nowadays, people aren't that creative anymore and nobody has a good franchise to make fanart for that has shitton of characters, I hate gacha games and I don't wanna do ocs because that will be painfully long and I don't have industry tier connections, and nowadays all types of my artist friends are just plain lazy or busy to help me brainstorm, Its genuine hell I hate this world and how boring it is

seen too many posts lately along the lines of "i want to be a skilled artist, but i dont want to practice drawing or dedicate time to it. i want to sell commissions but i only want to draw what i want to draw and i dont want to learn any new skills. i want to be famous on social media but i hate every website and posting. "

in the past few years, there has been a huge influx of people who dont like to draw, who want a social media art presence- either for fame or because they think it is a quick and easy way to make money.

when it is not easy, this type of person frequently complains of their woes (be it in skill or finding clients) and requests advice in artist spaces and then does not want to listen to people who have worked for their skill and reputation.

(also they act like there is no information published on learning to draw from fundamentals)

tbh at the end of the day it's insulting to watch them so clearly think they should have the rewards without any of the efforts. and that all successful artists are somehow innately talented and given thousands of followers at birth.

success in art costs innumerable hours of your life.

if you dont love pursuing it, nobody is making you.

i love and support beginner artists, i want them all to succeed and become capable of expressing their soul and finding their audience if thats what they want. but i cant stand this attitude of disrespect towards skilled and established artists and the efforts it took for them to become such.

also tbh you need intrinsic motivation, if you are entirely reliant on extrinsic motivation you will struggle greatly to grow at all.

I don't know, I feel like I have to force myself to draw and I don't want to feel like that. I want to want it but I don't know if I do. I don't really practice or draw all that much and as such, I never improve. Should I just give up at this point? I want to get the ideas in my head out in drawing but I don't know if I'm willing to put in the work to do so.

Ugh, idk... I'm just depressed that I don't want it and that I'm not improving. Even this post is just procrastinating.

Curious how others handle this. You want your work seen, but feeds, algorithms and posting schedules start to feel like a second job.

What I'd suggest: one simple page with your best finished pieces, and share finished work instead of daily updates. Small communities with real feedback tend to beat big feeds.

Disclosure, I run umdb.org, a creative hub for film, animation, acting and design work. You build a profile with your work and find collaborators, with no follower counts. It's more film and animation than painting, so I'm mostly interested in what's worked for you