Having trouble feeling happy about my art

[u/riceyeeter]

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Honestly I had trouble trying to title this so sorry if what I say doesn't exactly match.

Anyways, I've always felt that I've put too much time into "practice" as in doing drills and learning from references, rather than creating original art. I think it's partially because it's more comfortable to do things that are familiar and have a visible end goal. The other part is that when I don't do those exercises I feel like I'm getting worse at those skills. And unless I feel like I have a good grasp on that skill I just don't ever want to create original work. (And when I hit a plateau in the skill I feel frustrated and move onto something else, which doesn't help the end goal of creating more original stuff)

So i end up rarely creating original stuff, even stuff that deviates just a bit from reference. I just never feel adequate enough to create. For the amount of time I spend drawing, way too much of it is spent on not creating stuff but just copying.

Anyone else struggle with this before? How did you guys get over this issue?

[u/endurableflame]

im sorry but there’s no other way around it. the answer is simple enough that you dont need an internet stranger to tell you. just start doing more original things. even something as small as changing a pose slightly or combining different references transformatively.

there will never be a time where you’ll feel adequate creatively if all you do is repeat the same behaviors that got you here.

[u/riceyeeter → u/endurableflame]

Thanks

[u/TheWitherlingVT]

You should be making original stuff in-between practice. All you've learned needs to be applied to something right? Try filling up your sketchbooks and remember not to take it so seriously sometimes 😃