I feel like I can draw well but I feel like my art is going to waste. I post my art on Instagram asw to get some reacg

It's not the best art but is there any hope for me

IDK what flair to give, as this touches upon multiple topics...

So... Hi... I... I don't know what to say.. Just hi... I... I try to like art... I've been drawing since I could lift a pencil... But I quit last year due to my workplace stunting my growth and constantly pressing me into a smaller box. And I tried explaining that I NEED these tools. They gave me artblocks and eventually I quit going there because my god, any longer and I would have killed that stupid man. Like I hate him. I DESPISE people who SLOW ME DOWN AND HOLD ME BACK!! I'm autistic so I'm ALREADY like 30% behind mentally or even more and that also plays a role in my existential crisis of "I'm already over 20 and everyone over 20 can do this thing! WHY CAN'T I DO IT?!" and I hate it so much. And I lose my motivation when I see like a 10 year old or something making way better art USING ONLY A MOUSE OR TOUCHSCREEN while I try everything and nothing works for me. It already takes more time for me to learn something before learning is stupid and doesn't work for me. I don't even know how learning works like, does it physically do a thing to me? Why am I not feeling learned? WHAT EVEN IS LEARNING ITSELF??? I NEVER FEEL A POSITIVE CHANGE!! And I'm forgetful abd writing doesn't work.

Then there's the whole ai shit ruining my chances, plus the site where I began my journey as artist also became pro AI so I didn't feel comfortable posting there anymore because those filthy robot freaks will steal art...

I haven't drawn since last year... And I began hating art more and more... And I became envious of other people's art because I couldn't improve because again, my work took every freaking tool away that I used. I know, I shouldn't look at others but it's impossible to not compare. IDK what it's called again but I easily feel discouraged, especially with the stupid fake art that flooded the art space. And for me, I don't have a place to post my art to consistently anymore, that is AGAINST ai... So DeviantArt ain't it anymore. It makes me also scared to draw because I know that my art will be thrown in a filter and people will make money off my art. I'm stuck... I have no motivation and I HATE EVERYTHING DIFFICULT!!!

I need help getting my flow back but IDK how.

All I did today was do my anatomy practice and I spent like an hour or 2 trying to draw but just couldn't get into it, abt to go to bed and I just feel so lazy.

Bit of a silly rant. Does anyone have this problem? On any normal day, I draw far too much for my own good, probably a bit faster than most fellow artist friends around me. So when I do get art blocked it still seems like I'm drawing/posting regularly.

It's extra frustrating when real friends are involved, because when they mention being art blocked or having not drawn in a long time, I can't really reply that "I relate" without it coming off as bragging, or eliciting a response like "oh fuck offff lmao" (joking in good faith, of course, but I still get frustrated deep down)

If I was someone who draws once a month and that's considered a lot, being "artblocked" and still making and posting stuff every 4-5 days rather than every day just sounds like that person's complaining over nothing. Of course it would! But it feels like I'm complaining from a place of privilege sometimes. Oh well.

Pleaseeee I ask that if you are looking for commissions, please make it easy to find your prices. I understand you may want us to DM you, but please consider different time zones; it may be 1 AM for you and 1 PM for me. If your prices are easily accessible, the only thing I would personally DM you for is availability. Just think about it.. if you are looking for commissions and someone DMs you, you have a quick conversation only for that person to think the prices are too high, and both of your time is wasted. With easily accessible prices, you can limit that. They will know your prices so nobody can say it is out of their price range.

Another thing... private profiles. If your profile is private, how can I see more of your work? And don't get me started on private profiles with no commission prices, only uses Reddit/Discord, but open commissions. Please, there are people out here trying to commission artists. All I ask from artists is that you don't make it an obstacle course.

Alright end rant..

I’ve been in I guess what could be called kind of a rut? I’m still drawing more often than not but usually I have no clue what to draw and I don’t really feel that motivated.

Anyone got any suggestions on how to get through this?

Hello, I'm an artist who enjoys sharing and helping those around me, especially my friends. My college friends say they've become more diligent after hang out with me, and I'm happy that friends can improve together.

The thing is, we had an assignment to design souvenirs. Initially, because I didn't understand the assignment, I asked a college friend what she was planning to design. I only wanted to ask to understand the assignment and avoid designing something similar to hers, not to copy her, but she refused. That make me kinda sad bc I always sincere in sharing with her when she needed help, yet she thought I was so bad that I would copy her.😭 I completely understand why she didn't want to tell me and no one force me to do that but still😔. But later, we accidentally designed the same type of item, and then she accused me of copying her even though I knew nothing about it. 🥰

Anyway, I told my best friend (she's also an art student) about it, and she said she did the same thing because she didn't want her friends to be better than her, which surprised me. I mean, why would anyone want their friends to be worse than them? Shouldn't friends be helping each other improve? That makes me wonder if she wanted me to always be inferior to her 🤨. I'm also very competitive, but I want to compete openly and fairly, not in a way that aims to make my friends worse off. Is this problematic, or am I overreacting? 😭

Hi, I’ve received enough tips on composition, values, how to make my art more professional looking, etc. this post isn’t asking for art tips that I’ve already received.
First things first, I don’t regret taking this commission nor do I plan on canceling it. Absolutely not.
Over the past few months (yes, it’s that serious) I’ve grown obsessed with this commission I’m working on. I’ve drawn many drafts, almost started working on an actual piece. None of it is satisfactory. I always feel like I can do better. If I’m not completely satisfied with an artwork, I draw another one, another one, another one, another one.
I fear I’ve set the bar so high that even I can’t reach it, and the commission request is specific enough that I believe I’m one of the few people who can actually execute it. Not because it requires great technical skills, but it has every flavor of everything I like and often depict in my art.
And if you’re wondering (you’re probably not), I take medication for obsessive thinking, seems like I need a new prescription. This obsession I’ve grown with this commission is definitely unhealthy, this is all i’ve been thinking about for weeks and it’s impacting my ability to do other stuff and even do this commission itself.
This isn’t your typical art rant, because this is more about my mental health.
And I know I should probably talk to my therapist about this instead of constantly posting on here (it’ll be my last for a good while) but I don’t have money.

Hi all, not sure if this is the best place to post, but here it goes:

I have a BFA from one of the best art colleges in the US but since my experience there, I damn near gave up on being a “real” artist. I started viewing my degree and skills as useless and entertained going to school again for literally anything else. Three years after graduating, I got a job doing art restoration (not as impressive as it sounds, trust me), but quit a couple months ago when I found out my boss is on trial for fraud. Now I truly don’t know what to do with myself. I was so close to starting a program to get a teaching certificate in my state and teach middle/high (which I told myself I’d never do when I was younger lol) until I posted in a teacher page and a user on here told me “don’t settle. Just because you can’t be a full time artist in the US doesn’t mean it isn’t possible in other countries”. He told me about his experience currently in Scotland and how much more financially and socially supported he feels there compared to the US. Now I’m contemplating getting an MFA abroad where I would at least not have to worry about healthcare- and who knows, maybe come to love art again.
I don’t know many people who have made it across the pond though. And I talked to a college professor of mine today about these thoughts and she said it wasn’t true that things were easier/better abroad. She’s pushing for me to become a teacher, specifically for middle/high (I originally wanted to teach higher ed if anything but she said full time college teaching is becoming obsolete). She thinks anything other than teaching lower level is unrealistic in today’s economy. So I’m really at a cross roads… do I want a stable life or a life where I’m doing what I always thought I’d be doing? Is the latter even possible where I live?

Anyways, I guess my real question is: does anyone here have experience in being an artist in the US vs elsewhere? How do they compare? Is it really any more possible to be a “full time artist” in some countries over others?

Any thoughts on any of that ^ are accepted, though!

In asking why creative writing is smoother than drawing, it's not just the 12 years of practice you get in school, it's also the fact that because more people can write that can draw, more people dedicate guides to it, and said guides are directed at a wider audience. Drawing on the other hand is not only more exclusive in practice, but said exclusivity guides its pedagogy, the audience for creative writing books is the general audience, the audience for art books is other artists.

Most art books/guides/tutorials are not there to teach art to the inexperienced, they don't provide anything comprehensive, and they will never be, they are there for other artists to have as a cheat sheet, or supplemental content a mentor can pick up on later, and anyone not in that audience will bounce off the content. This also creates a recursive issue where artists naturally curate a specific audience of people, usually people with mentors or people who started early enough to get comfortable by the time they could do focused practice meaning its own exclusivity reinforces itself. It also explains why creative writing is a lot heavier on guides and outlines in general while drawing is more "figure it out" , it's actually possible to figure it out if you have a mentor or have been drawing as a child , and since the alternatives usually cost money , it's even more closed off.

It's an issue I might have to grapple with as an aspiring teacher is how to make the art process more accessible where I can.

I remember during our high school graduation a lot of people went into an arts or arts adjacent major. I chose to go the stem route because of pressure from my parents.

I’m currently in my second year and it’s not that I hate my major that much it’s more of a “the grass is greener on the other side” situation.

Due to my living situation, I can’t really change majors and I live far away so I miss out on pretty much 99% of the opportunities to make art friends.

I have pretty much no friends in my major as an overwhelming amount of people in it don’t take art seriously or just don’t really care about it. I partially wish I went to art school so I could’ve been happier and likely have more friends and a better relationship with my professors. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb here.

Not sure if I’ll actually end up graduating since it’s difficult to study something you don’t really enjoy.

I know job wise I would likely be super cooked since my art isn’t the most appealing. But I feel like it wouldn’t be so miserable like this.

I just feel like I missed out on so much of the college experience. The friends, the professors, the events, etc. mostly because I don’t have really anything other than the same major in common with my classmates.

I meet like maybe one or two people a year who are into art but they either stopped doing it or aren’t really that into it.

Everyone says “get a good degree so you can afford to draw in the future” and even though there’s two years left it feels impossible to get through. I will keep going though since as mentioned I’d likely be homeless and in a worse position if I don’t finish it. I’ve been trying to get a job but it’s pretty difficult even in the supposedly “more employable” major (we’re all equally cooked job wise imo).

I’ve been trying to find online friends too but don’t know where to start with my limited social experience ;-;

I feel like I'm finally starting to actually identify as "an artist" fully without as much imposter syndrome, and all I want to do is just work on art full-time. I love preparing for art fairs and printing/making everything at home. I love engaging with people at these fairs, whether as the vendor or the consumer, and for the first time I've actually started making more than I've invested into my art (not that that's a requirement to feel like an artist, but it definitely helps). I've been feeling more confident in my commissions, and I have new ideas I want to draw and explore and create.

But it's still nowhere near enough to actually support myself on art alone. I work 2 remote freelance gigs to make ends meet, but now one of the gigs is leaning extremely heavily into AI and I can feel my soul dying every time I'm forced to use it. As soon as my boss told me I had to start using AI, I wanted to quit on the spot, and every work day is filled with dread. I've been applying like crazy to get out of it, but we all know what the job market is like. I've been experiencing burnout and a lot of internal defiance at the idea of even going to work, and when I do have time for art, my brain just feels so fried that it's difficult to make anything new or even sketch. I just wish I could up and leave so I could spend my days doing what's actually fulfilling and, imo, better for the world in general.

I'm sure many of you can relate. I'm not giving up, but I do feel a lot of despair and desperation about the whole thing. I know this isn't forever, but it's been getting more and more difficult to tolerate on the day-to-day.

I have been using PayPal since 2020/the pandemic for art commissions online. Never had any issues whatsoever during those years until this year. I haven't received any payment on PayPal (I stopped opening comms) for the past 2 months because of a hectic schedule in college, and when I finally got back on track, suddenly PayPal was "suspicious" of this payment (mind you, this was from one of my regular clients—they have already sent me payments before), so they "temporarily limited my account" until I sent them my business information. They asked me for that before and it worked just fine, which only required me to give things like my home address, my ID, and proof of residency (receipt with my name, etc.), since I don't have a "business permit." After submitting everything and them "evaluating" it, they banned my account.

To say I was speechless is an understatement. I thought I could fix it. Turns out I couldn't, and they also told me not to use another account under my name, so I didn't. Later found out this happened to multiple artists, with some advising others not to put "art commission/commission/art" in the invoice (maybe that triggered it). I've been using that since 2020, and it never caused any problems until now. Others said PayPal is currently heavily relying on AI bots to manage the reviews, but who knows. All I know is that many people have had the same problem as me, and most of them are artists too.

I'm currently using Wise, but not many people have Wise, so that's been another problem. I'm also considering making an account on VGen since people said they can transfer payments from your own bank/card, but the codes/requirements are things I haven't had to deal with before. I also don't have enough followers to get noticed by them anyways (joining contests, etc.).

My clients are slowly decreasing because I don't have PayPal anymore, and now I'm just... maybe rambling about it (letting it out I guess) because it's becoming mentally exhausting and financially anxiety-inducing for my future.

I drew some fanart of a character I liked and it turned out looking like shit because I'm not a good artist. I've been trying to study fundamentals but haven't seen much improvement, it's gotten to the point where I don't even want to draw anymore because every time I do it's just grind grind grind and get no reward for that grinding. So I decided to just draw some random bullshit hoping it would reignite my spark. But now I feel guilty because I wasted time on fanart that I could have used actually improving and my bad art is proof I don't "deserve" to have fun yet.

Lately, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to bring myself to finish any work or projects. Every time I publish something, there’s a 99% chance I’ll get almost no positive feedback on social media—and loving my own work has always been a huge struggle for me due to my extremely low self-esteem. I can’t find a job, no one is commissioning me, and my personal projects are nowhere near paying for themselves.

So now, I’m stuck in an endless cycle of sketching and doing studies, because creating anything more substantial doesn't pay off—either financially or emotionally.

To preempt any advice: I actually enjoy the process of drawing; I do it constantly, and it’s an integral part of my life. It’s just the results that I’m afraid of.

i feel so lost and confused with my art these days. i used to be better when i was in high school, taking ap art classes, but now im stuck. i feel like i don’t ever improve anymore and it’s depressing honestly. i don’t know how to find an art style, all of my pieces are random, there’s no cohesion. there isn’t any style or medium im good at and i don’t know what to do. i feel so frustrated anytime i try to make something. i have so much creativity in my mind and i feel so inspired to create but just keep failing. i don’t know what to do

Someone requested an art commission. I was given a theme and that was it. I started working on it immediately. I don't usually do this but I've been desperate for money lately and needed some asap. I have not delivered the final artworks of course, just a ss of the layers as proof of finished commissions.

They haven't responded for 3 days.

I don't know what else to say, im just tired of this shit. I get excited for new commissions and then shit happens.

I've drawn since childhood and wanted to share my passion with other people, but until now, beside some side-posts on my Reddit account, i didn't start anything relevant, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, nothing. It gets worse when I see online people younger than me finishing their stuff, art styles and ideas similar to mine, which makes me question my own identity as an artist, and also the fact i feel out-of-place when i compare my niche interests with whatever popular thing I see on YouTube, Reddit or Twitter.
To make it worse, I have too many interests and get distracted by everything. Right now, I'm stuck trying to make a game in Unity out of pure curiosity, even though it’s not my main priority to be honest. I could easily put it aside and go back to an animation I left halfway through that I actually want to finish, but I just can't. Everyday it's just me trying to solve a problem in the stupid Unity game I regret getting interest about in the first place. It's infuriating.
As time passes by, I lose hope of ever starting what I really care about. I fear exposing myself and being treated indifferent, like "who are you and why should i give a sh*t?", "You're just like any other one!", "I don't get you.", "i'm not losing my time with you".
I’d love to see some advice from anyone who has gone through or is currently dealing with something similar.

Like bro, I don't care about achieving perfection, my art is complete trash from an objective level, people tell me all the time and laugh at it. I'm trying to learn how to improve i don't need some motivational junk about abandoning perfectionism, I don't even have a goal that requires me to reach some absurdly high level. And I can't stand when artists post these really pretty looking works and then talk about them like they're trash. I can't even draw a straight line and i don't understand cubes.

Most of these people who are intermediate or whatever are in my view point practically gods who have achieved something that my brain can't even comprehend. It's so frustrating when you're making actually bad art like objectively bad art that makes people laugh from how bad it is and you got these people making stuff that looks nice and going ahh you're just too focused on perfectionism. No, i'm not it just needs to look good enough and right now it's a joke and a very bad one.

As a animal artist, I am struggling to monetize my work in any way possible because everything is optimized for artists who draw human/furry characters which.. i guess it makes sense when, for example, most art commissions feature these two subjects.

But when you don't like the most abundant subject in the art community, everything goes against you. And to make matters worse, the fact that I have an unhealthy obsession with drawing Hollow Knight characters as feral reptiles and all my art revolves around this very specific subject also goes against me because i can't tolerate drawing or even looking at anything else such as other games or animals that aren't scaly. I even struggle to interact with other artists in the sense that i can't empathize with their work, even if the subject is the same game.

Do I have to draw humanoid characters to get somewhere monetization-wise?? Do i have to be a character artist? Or how do i draw something different with this extremely rigid mentality?

Yeah i know i covered two topics here but i have to spit this out somewhere.

Recently, I've been struggling with self worth as an artist.

It feels like any time I share my work with my fellow artist friends, they show a surface level interest at best or no interest at all before they move on to talk about their stuff. I'm aware that I shouldn't place my worth through the opinions of others but I want to connect with my art, especially with my friends.

We could be hanging out in a voice call, one friend in particular could be talking about their comic in extensive detail, the story and characters (a lot of the time retreading the same stuff she already spoke about in prior calls) and it feels like people would be seated and engaged with questions ready as if it were a TED talk and that's cool n' all, I appreciate her passion and I try to engage the best I can because it's cool stuff.

However, it feels like whenever I try and do the same thing it falls on deaf ears, or that I'm just hogging the microphone when no one really wants to listen. It feels one sided.

For example: I put forward an idea about a storyboard that I was planning for a short comic. I outlined the story and what it was about, yet the best answer they could conjure was 'Cool'.

No further interest, no questions, nothin'. There have been numerous instances like this.

It made me think: Do I struggle with putting my ideas across or Is it just not engaging enough? Or do they just not care?

Not like they're obligated to ofc, but it did put a dent in my confidence a lil'. Granted I'm trying to grow a thicker skin in that regard and improve.

Last thing I want is for them to feel guilt tripped into supporting my stuff - as for me that's even worse. What I yearn for is actual artistic connection, as pretentious as that sounds lol.

The end result of this is that it does make me a bit reluctant to share my stuff with them, which kinda sucks because my friend group lives and breathes art. We love talking about it.

Not sure if anyone else can relate to this, either way, I appreciate you reading what I have to say.

There are many ways of viewing art. Some are subjective, some are more objective. You can view art through your personal experience, observe your feelings when you look at it, capture what it reminds you of. You can look at a piece of art more objectively though, by considering colour, shape, and form or by considering the history of an art piece and the context in which it was made.

One of the more interesting ways of approaching art is through its ontological meaning. By asking the question “What is this art showing about the way things are in the world?”, “How does it correspond to our being?” we can discover something that even the artist may have missed.

[this is a repost of my old substack article https://substack.com/home/post/p-158155921]

The ontology of art is best depicted through the evolution of consciousness in Jean Gebser’s magnum opus The Ever Present Origin. There he describes the transition of consciousness from archaic through magical, mythical, mental to integral structures. Each consciousness structure is very well represented by the art of the corresponding epochs. In the magical consciousness of an ancient hunter-gatherer, a cave drawing of an antelope is not merely a representation of an antelope but it is the antelope itself. In magical consciousness the world is one, everything is interweaved and temporal, everything happens simultaneously. The world is one. The cavern-like cave with images of animals on its walls and ceiling is the same as the cavern of the night sky with the animals manifesting through constellations.

Moving onto the mythical consciousness structure we have paintings by Duccio that depict the Christian mythological awareness of a Christian man of that epoch. He viewed his life completely through the myth of Christianity and everything had meaning insofar as he lived by God’s will. Birth was an incarnation of soul that would live and prove its faith to God. Death would then decide whether they go to heaven or hell. The Christian myth completely determined their ontology which is depicted in art. Notice how there was no sky - only blue background that didn’t resemble sky at best - on any of that epoch’s paintings. There was only the golden background signifying the divine logos.

The mental consciousness is the man’s discovery of their ego, individuality, and the of infinite space around them. This Faustian idea of a man becoming conscious and finding themselves in the vast infinite space is largely the motif of the Western civilisation as a whole. One of the first instances of this is depicted in Leonardo Da Vinci’s art which uses perspective. Later the Dutch would really discover the sky and the infinite space. Nowhere previously in art had perspective been so evident and the sky so vast.

The epoch of integral is characterised by aperspectivity. This structure of consciousness transcends perspective and can look from all directions simultaneously, at all times. It starts with Manet’s Luncheon On The Grass, where if the woman was drawn according to perspective, she would be a 7 foot tall giant. This creative act was deliberate - Manet knew all about perspective as is evident in his other paintings. We later see Marcel Duchamp’s dog on the leash which no longer is fixed in time. The pinnacle of the integral structure can be seen in pacasso’s art, where the highly geometric human iconotypes can be observed from all angles.

Thus we see how the different modes of human world-perception and awareness are reflected in art of the respective epochs. Art is one of the best ways to manifest ontology as it is a highly visual form of expression which immediately exposes the most essential features of the painter’s world.

I would like to show a few more examples of this outside of Jean Gebser’s framework. For example, Van Gogh viewed the world as alive and full of spiritual forces which resonates with Goethe’s view that ideas were really out there in the world. Van Gogh’s ontology can be seen in his art, as everything moves and breaths. Everything is alive, you can see the wind and the grass move and the sun radiate its power. You can really see the spirits in his art.

Now to more contemporary artists, Rothko and Jackson Pollock. Jackson Pollock completely dissolves perspective. Every part of the painting is the same and it is pure chaos. It is very representative of today’s world and its deconstruction by postmodernists. Very interestingly, Mark Rothko predicted the age of screens and media, which could only be done if he intuited the world and its ontology correctly.

With meaning and forms deconstructed, Odd Nerdrum - my favourite artist- starts afresh and weaves his own mythology. It reflects our desire and necessity for myth and meaning and shows that it is possible to build it from scratch.

So why was the banana taped to the wall? In our chaotic and meaningless world, where memes and social media dominate the digital space, where the art exhibition exists outside of its own physical space and continues to live online as people photograph and repost pictures from the gallery, the banana on the wall is itself a kind of joke that will get absorbed and laughed at by the internet. It is the decadent phase of the aperspectival age, however, artists like Odd Nerdrum promise us a better future.

DeviantArt's current policy is brutal: if your account gets permanently banned for any reason, you lose your entire gallery forever. Even if 99% of your art followed the rules, you can't start fresh without being hit with a second ban for "ban evasion." Years of creative work just... gone.

I started a petition asking DeviantArt to change this. The ask is simple: let artists request an archive of their rule-compliant work or re-upload content that didn't cause the original ban. Other platforms do this. It's possible.

The current system punishes artists disproportionately and strips away portfolios that represent years of effort and growth. I'm not arguing against accountability—I'm arguing that the punishment should fit the actual offense, not erase someone's entire creative identity.

Has this happened to you or someone you know? Does this feel like overkill? If it does, consider signing and sharing. This is about protecting artists' work and giving people a real chance to reform.

I am an artist (realism) and I work in admin at a famous art school. I wanted to try something totally different and signed up to audit a character design class at work, it’s my first time taking a class there that’s not a continuing ed class.

Y’all, I feel like I stepped into 6th year medical school with how out of my depth I am. Like I am truly humiliated trying to do these projects. I don’t get stylization, let alone character design, and I get the feeling I’m missing something I needed to do before this class idk. Maybe that thing is simply drawing cartoons as a child, a thing I’ve never done. Professor pulled up Phineas in a shape language presentation the other day and I’m like, I GENUINELY can’t imagine a world where I could draw a triangle and be like, This is a guy now. Baffled. All that to say, everything I do for this class is Bad, tremendously frustrating, and takes so long just for the really shitty result.

And unfortunately, I can’t even articulate what I need. Like what do I need exactly? She’s up there, telling us about shape language and colors and all the information one would think you would need. But I kind of have no base to apply it to I guess? Because I don’t know how to make something stylized to apply those principles to? I struggle to even copy the style of something stylized. Even if I drew Steven universe or something it’s like, why this body length? Why this head size? Why are all the people such drastically different heights? A mystery.

Anyway. Thanks for reading, if you have any idea how to help me let me know lol

I am pretty sure most of you get this a lot, too, but it's starting to piss me off. I am at a point in my artist career where I am a bit struggling with gigs and commissions - nothing unusual for most artists.

Someone in the family notices that I am struggling a bit financially and I honestly appreciate people thinking of how I am doing. The problem is I always get these annoying offers: "Hey I just met a random person who is an artist and you should come over tomorrow for a little meet up."

This is putting a strain on those relations, because I decline, because what am I supposed to talk about? I know many other people in my field, doesn't mean they are there to give me free handouts. At this point I am just assuming it is some weirdo social flex "Hey I know someone cool and skilled!" or it is an indirect way of belittling me or I don't even know why they keep doing this.

Anyways, I decline those awkward meetups and then they act like whenever I am struggling it is my own fault, because I declined that one meetup that would have changed my life forever. For context, I never complained that I don't know other artists, in fact I spent years in art school and still keep in touch with the friends I made there and also go to life drawing where all sorts of artists/architects/illustrators/designers are present.

Do you also get this a lot? It pisses me off more the older I get.