SouSTAR 2025-07-20 12:44:54

One time, i had these thoughts, not being happy with it, and missing drawing like before.

That's called "imposter syndrome", so i drew imposter syndrome saying these stuff and i saw it was ridiculous. It's like hearing a menacing scary voice, and then removing the curtain, and it's just little tiny creature.

And for "missing drawing like before", i just think that with new knowledge, it's normal to feel like it's "getting worse", because we're actually "recalibrating" our our new knowledge with our skills. It's not getting worse, just different.

As for studies... well... I can't say much because I hardly work/study lol

Your art is very beautiful! :)

Peti 2025-07-20 14:51:10

Honestly i can defo relate to those feelings, even down to the "maybe i should quit art bc im getting a real job". Imposter syndrome can be such a pain

I do hope you keep drawing tho, bc youre one of my fav artists on ng <3

Krasis 2025-07-20 22:25:16

I can relate big time to this Pam. It can hurt a lot to lose that drive to make art. I hope whatever you decide to do, it makes you happy

Marc-Ant 2025-07-20 23:06:38

I really hope that during this period of pause it will help you stop thinking of these negative views you have with your work and help you find new ideas to get you out of this artblock. Trust me when I say this, the illustrations you post have always been amazing wether they are orignal or commissions. You make many users like me happy with your art and I sincerely hope you can find once more the interest for drawing as you truly deserve all the praises and appreciation from everyone. Until then, take some good rest.

pluckyshroom 2025-07-22 07:48:49

as someone who also barely posts here, sometimes sharing is the scariest part. like everyone else in the comments said, imposter syndrome is a bitch, but it can only exist because of your idea that someone somewhere is judging you more harshly than anyone else. "dance like no one is watching" is such a cliche at this point, but i do think that while the internet has made being an artist have so much more reach than we've ever seen in human history, it's also done incredible damage to our ability to objectively sit back and enjoy the process. we have to worry about "content" and numbers and all that--i only bring it up cos you mentioned your follower count which should be a happy thing but clearly you feel you let these people down.

but they wouldn't have followed you if they didn't like what you do, regardless of how often they see it.

i hope in your rest period, you're able to find that child-like joy in creation again, and that you're able to embrace it with all the amazing knowledge you now have as an adult. and if it helps remember you're not alone; every artist who's ever existed feels like they're not good enough at some point, it's unfortunate but true. but the point is to make something with your own two hands and your brain, and you do that plenty enough to confidently call yourself a "real" artist.

flowers don't bloom all year round--let yourself be soft and quiet, save your energy, so when your spring comes back around you can pop from the earth refreshed and brighter than ever~

Klester 2025-07-28 12:19:51

Hello! I was away on a trip when I first read this but wanted to put a pin on it to reply to it later after I got back.

Anyway as an artist myself, this is too relatable, I felt like going on for two days without drawing would make me forget everything, drawing anything at all felt hard even if I felt I showed skill on drawings previously, it made me feel like I lost something I had before and couldn't attain it again, and whenever I was able to draw something it never convinced me that I could sustain what I had and only thought I clutched it for a brief moment. Everything took too long and I simply felt too unskilled or like a faker.

Recently after my trip and engaging with "Ping Pong the animation" it has changed my outlook on things a little, I'm not looking to persuade you into a hyperfixation but the theme of the short series is centered around how you engage with a hobby or passion, and the different kinds of relationships you could have with it and how different people engage with it differently for diverse reasons and well, how that affects them personally.

In other words the show reminded me that I need to have fun, when I was a kid drawing was supposed to be fun, it was an outlet, I sure as hell want to improve but I realized that for years I had been taking the fun out of it constantly pressuring myself every day to get better and dreading picking up the pen as it felt like a job I was forcing myself to do. Improving is important but I lost what made me fall in love with drawing in the first place y'know?

I'm not looking to vent here, I'm doing well, but I thought I'd share my recent experience and self reflection in hopes that its also relatable for you and it may help you, after I came back from my 3 week trip I not only started drawing the day after my plane landed but I did it two days consecutively and I got the hang of it extremely quickly, and to illustrate things here, before anything something like this would be unheard of for me, I would've taken a longer break and it would've taken me a week to even feel like drawing or getting a solid hang of it again.

The thing that changed was that I remembered to have fun, I focused on drawing things and characters I like and really just had a blast. Anyway enough yapping, TL:DR, perhaps check out PIng Pong the animation, it changed my life as an artist and my relationship with my own art and I feel like i'm heading in a better direction, and I feel like I see a lot of what I was struggling with in your post here, best of luck alright man?

Also I found your account because you posted about my lambjam entry being one of your favorites, thank you so much! I was very flattered as your entry was also one of my favorites. And greetings from Venezuela