Does this ever happen to you?

=Jeff-H Jul 12, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

I recently found myself in quite a bit of a bundle. I realized that I not only lack creativity, but I lack the devotion to finish my art as well. I lack planning, I lack experience, I lack idea, and I lack inspiration. It's not even an artist's block for me. My recent submission was not bad in terms of skill compared to my other drawings. It was bad in terms of planning, idea, and inspiration.

I've come back here four times already, typing out a thread. How can I improve myself? Why do I lack such talent? What can I do? Is my art bad? But all in all, I already know the answer to everything! I know what I need to work on and I know what's keeping me from finally drawing a successful piece.

But it seems that I'm scared to tackle those problems. I have so many of them, and there's so much to work on, that it frightens me, and I find myself hopelessly asking the community for help, even though what they say is what I already know.

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Devious Comments

~GreenSprite Jul 13, 2012 Professional Digital Artist

I'll just leave this here. It's a textwall, but I promise it's worth reading, because it's exactly about your situation.

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
- Ira Glass

*CinderBlockStudios Jul 13, 2012 Professional Traditional Artist

my guess is you also lack confidence. Solution? such lacking is usually the result of fear. Face your fears.

=KrisseyMage Jul 13, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

If you're scared to tackle these problems, then you won't get anywhere. It's better to try something, and even when you don't succeed, you can always improve. There are many tutorials on deviantart that you can look at, to help improve, experiment different methods or even inspire you to work on something.
If anything, it's best to tackle a problem one step at a time. You say you have a lot of stuff to work on, perhaps work on a piece one day at a time, or however much time you're schedule will allow it. Don't overwhelm yourself, you won't get anywhere; I know I was like that for a time myself, just take baby steps in trying to improve your art.

~StalkerShades Jul 12, 2012

Hakuna Matata

Just keep trying.

~Vineris Jul 12, 2012 Student General Artist

"My recent submission was not bad in terms of skill compared to my other drawings. It was bad in terms of planning, idea, and inspiration."

So what's your plan to improve it? You tried, Version One failed, now it's time for Version Two. How is Version Two going to be better? (You might want to ask other artists for input and see whether they have anything useful to add. Since you're on ConceptArt already, lurk in the C&C forum there for a bit and see if you want to subject yourself to slightly abrasive critique.)

=Holly-Mellor Jul 12, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

You certainly do not lack creativity, some of your pieces are pretty out there! As I always tell myself, practice is key. If you never stop trying you will never fail..

~shininginthedarkness Jul 12, 2012

It's not like a kitten explodes every time you make a mistake! That would be worse, right?

*AntonSoup Jul 12, 2012

Think outside of the box and realize that there are endless possibilities in the world of ART. There is no right or wrong; however, there is a vision that you set before you, and you must do what needs to be done in order to fulfill your vision. Emotion is one of many keys to inspiration.

~dczhang Jul 12, 2012 Digital Artist

Be more confident. You don't lack creativity. You don't lack devotion. I looked at your gallery. Your art is creative and it's obvious you've devoted a lot of time in to it.

Be more scrutinizing in the way you criticize yourself. You do lack planning, but that's because you haven't studied composition and theory and you don't have a process that you're confident in. You do lack idea, but that's because your technical limitations rule out more interesting things for you to draw. It isn't artist's block. You simply don't have enough artistic tools at your command for you to work with.

You don't know the answer to everything. There is a quote I live by -- "Believe those who seek the truth, doubt those who find it." Know that you want to improve yourself, but know that there are ways you can and ought to improve that are beyond your experience and imagination to think of.

Pick up a book. Do some research to make sure it's a reputable ones. There are tons of quacks putting out books on "How to draw ..."
Learn from the book. Take a class.

You have talent, but talent is just a seed. If you don't put in the hard work to make it grow, feed that talent with real knowledge and the experiences of thousands and thousands of hours of art, you won't be amazing.
Even if you want to just do it recreationally, it's the same process you need to undergo to make yourself better.

Good luck! I'm on the same path as you!

~Glori305 Jul 12, 2012

If you know that that problem is you need more practice and experience, there is only one cure.

Might want to try NOT doing things to show to others, just work on your skills.

Or doing 2 rough drafts on everything, before moving on to the final piece.

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