/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

Hey. Gonna get real for a sec, incase you actually need some help instead of people just being bewildered by how "wrong" you are. I had similar feelings for a couple of years. I accepted them in college because competition made sense and drove us all to get better at designing and drawing crazy shit. I became uncomfortable with it- as you seem to be- when I had my first studio position, had a good salary, and had job security. The feeling wasn't going away even though I had "succeeded." I still couldn't enjoy stuff I saw online, and I got fed up when it started invading my personal work. I couldn't focus because while drawing I would be comparing myself to a similar piece someone had just made- and at a point in the piece too early for that to be a helpful "benchmark" comparison.

So I stopped. I stopped looking at other people's stuff. I realized it was more toxic than helpful at the time. I unfollowed every artist on facebook and instagam. Including my friends that I would get jealous of. I quit stuff like art station and tumblr cold turkey.
I did that for about 8 months. When I started looking at stuff a bit more, things were different. A piece that normally would have activated my vindictive ego instead triggered "MY GOD HOW ARE HUMANS CAPABLE OF SOMETHING SO SUBLIME WE'RE ALL JUST DUST."

Which is better, I would say.

Give it a shot, if you can. If your first impulse when thinking about it is "No I need to look at the industry standard and be absorbing their techniques and tricks!"- I understand how legitimate that is but... I would advise you to consider how "helpful" that has been the past 6 months. How many proud pieces have you put out? Imagine, instead, that for just 6 months, if you want to see something amazing:

You have to make it yourself.

Best of luck.

Recent SB page attached because some people can't take advice without knowing the other person draws.

>>2543183