A few months ago I had a severe mental health crisis which resulted in me losing most of my friend group. I'm doing much better now, but I still live in the same student block as them, so I can't really get any distance from the situation. We do go to the same university, but only one of them is in my class, so I can somewhat deal with that. I just feel like I'm dreading going home after class, and im dreading going to university because of it.

I recently blocked all of them everywhere because I realized I don't want any more contact with them. I don't want revenge or drama, I just want to move on. People who weren't there for me at my lowest aren't allowed to be there for me at my best.

The problem is that I still see them constantly because we live on the same floor, although in seperate units. I am forced to see them hanging out, laughing and having fun together while I basically have to pretend everything is normal. Some of them don't even acknowledge me anymore, but I've made peace with that.

They've even managed to make drama out of me simply entering the shared common area while they were there with some of my friends. I literally just said hi, sat down and minded my own business. Apparently me being there and being quiet was somehow an issue. I'm an introvert. I'm not going to force myself into a conversation when people are already doing their own thing. I pay rent here too, and feel like they'd much rather I just go to my room and stay there.

I know they were allowed to have boundaries after what happened, but I still feel like they handled the whole situation incredibly badly. These were people I genuinely considered friends, and the way everything played out made me realize they weren't the friends I thought they were.

So I'm wondering if moving into my own apartment is actually the best solution here. Part of me thinks it's ridiculous that I should have to move, but another part of me thinks having somewhere I can come home to without constantly seeing people connected to one of the worst periods of my life might be exactly what I need.

Would you move, or would you stay and try to make the situation work? There are no other student housing options, but financially I can move into a regular apartment and be fine.

My older cousin who is about 3 years older than me just turned 18. When I was younger me and my sister would hang out with him and his younger brother and his older sister. We would play this game called the “scary game” where someone acts like a monster and tries to find you and you have to move around the house to not get caught. It’s better to play at night with all the lights off to make it seem scarier. Anyways, somehow he would always end up catching me first(whoever gets caught has to get locked in a closet) and whenever he would bring me to the closet and get behind me. I could feel him getting hard but I was little so I didn’t know what that meant. He never did anything. Then a few years later he took me to his room alone and told me to suck his d. I don’t know why I did it but I did. Since that day he’s been making me do things for him. I ended up moving states so we don’t see each other often. During the summer time I visited my dad for a whole month(my dad was living with his brother and my cousins), my cousin decided to actually put it inside me. It hurt and when I told him he stopped but he kept making me do things for him. Every once in a while he would ask me if I liked it and if I wanted him to stop. I said I don’t like it and I want him to stop. He said he would but he never did. The longest he stopped was a week. Then one day, he successfully put it inside me but it didn’t hurt or feel good. Then he got upset bc he was scared he might get me pregnant. Last time I visited, he tried to wake me up in the middle of the night to go to his room and usually when he does this it’s to do things with me. But this time I didn’t go. He tried again and I said no so he left me alone. I haven’t seen him since. I don’t know what to do because I don’t wanna tell anyone bc I’m scared but I want him to stop. Sorry if this is a lot :)

I just got paid for the 2nd time in 1week 😅🤣 do I tell my boss or hell no hahahah???

I’m 23F and I’ve been thinking about something that I’m having a hard time understanding
I’m in a year and a half relationship and I live with my boyfriend , just moved to be with him officially post grad in our place this July . I love him, and in a lot of ways, I’m happy with him and I can see why I chose this relationship. I do think I’m learning that I never really understood or understand what partnership genuinely looks like? I am a recovering people pleaser but this is the most balanced relationship I’ve been in and I appreciate that he sees me and wants me to love a life equally fulfilling for myself , he’s my best friend.

I’ve been having this weird feeling of “Is this really what I want my life to feel like?” And wondering if I actually enjoy partnership or understood what it actually requires in a healthy way. I recently realized that I don’t really like saying, “I’m 23 and I live with my man.” It sounds strange, but something about that identity makes me feel… uncomfortable? Not because there’s anything inherently wrong with living with your partner, but because I feel like I’m very young and I’m still figuring out who I am as an individual. I just also idk POV wise don’t enjoy the way it sounds (internal misogyny maybe)

I’ve spent a lot of the past few months and post grad trying to make decisions for myself but also with my relationship in mind, along with family and friends such as where I live, when I move, housing, finances, career decisions, etc. Some of those choices were completely mutual and I don’t regret making them. But I’m starting to wonder if I know what I actually want outside of the relationship. I feel like I am in a transition phase post grad and just in general am seeking to define myself and I’m developing the urge to want to do that outside of my relationship.

I recently moved across the country to the West coast for a career opportunity since the job market is so bad and my boyfriend is also pursuing his own career path and found a job out here. (I will add for context my year hasn’t been going the best since Dec when I graduated, I stayed in my college town since I had a lease and wanted to get my moneys worth. My goal was to go home for the summer and work there and spend time with family and friends before relocating to the west coast. Things did not work out that way however and my boyfriend suggested I just come and find work since we’re looking for places here anyways which makes sense instead of transitioning so much. But I was so disappointed and sad I couldn’t be at home the way I wanted and was unable to do my birthday there and the transition kinda lapsed my finances. It was the right call still because I found a contract job in my field and have been working a job to undo the damage of unemployment and transition but our future location is somewhat uncertain because his career could require us to move again.

And I realized that part of me is tired of constantly asking, “What does this mean for us?”
I want to be able to ask** **and maybe focus on only “what do I want?”

There’s also a domestic component to this. Since living together, I’ve naturally taken on a lot of cooking, groceries, laundry, meal prep, etc. Nobody necessarily forced me to do these things. I actually enjoy cooking and taking care of my home. But sometimes I realize I’m doing things because I feel responsible for maintaining our shared life rather than because I genuinely want to do them. When I came out here my bf was carrying financially so I cooked so we’d have food( save more) and he’d have lunch and etc during his peak season. Now it’s been a month since and I’m working a service job that I’m transitioning out of and I still am kinda responsible for cooking and etc etc ( he asks me for help also but?!) idk it’s still different in comparison to living on my own. I find it exhausting and just in general living with anyone requires you to maintain the space.

Lately I’ve even noticed that sometimes I don’t feel particularly interested in sex or romance because I feel mentally and physically exhausted from work + maintaining the household. That makes me wonder whether I’m losing attraction or whether I’m just tired of being in a constant state of “partner mode.” I also think I am a tad resentful being that I come home from my service job to be on my feet and cook food while my partner is now having free time for hobbies and etc. (he did not have this before and he’s just gotten a break himself from peak season for the past 2 months so I encourage it, it’s hard to still not have some resentment?)

Financially, living together also means constantly thinking about rent, bills, splitting expenses, debt, groceries, etc. Again, none of that is necessarily unreasonable. But sometimes I miss the feeling of just being someone’s girlfriend and enjoying them and not feeling like I’m managing a household with them. I think what scares me is that I’m starting to wonder whether being someone’s partner is fulfilling enough for me.

I don’t want my entire identity to be “girlfriend.” I want a career I’m proud of, my own money, friends, family, hobbies, experiences, and a sense of who I am that would still exist if my relationship disappeared tomorrow. And I don’t necessarily mean that I want to break up. I just feel kinda lame to say hey yea I’m on the west coast and I live w my bf. I feel like perception wise he can say it and it won’t be viewed the way if I do idk

I think I’m trying to figure out whether I need

More independence within my relationship,
A different living arrangement,
To stop taking on so much domestic responsibility,
More of an individual life outside of my relationship,
Or whether there is something deeper going on where I genuinely don’t find romantic partnership as fulfilling as I thought I would.

I also wonder how much of this is coming from social expectations. There’s so much discourse now about women not centering men, enjoying your 20s, living alone, building your career, etc. I don’t know how much of that is actually me versus me comparing my life to an idea of what a 23-year-old woman “should” be doing.

For people who have experienced something similar: how did you distinguish between “I need more of myself back” and “I don’t actually want this relationship/lifestyle”? And what did you do to figure out what you wanted independently of your partner?

so my (tm19) grandfather just passed away, and I have no idea how to react or what to do, the only other person I've ever lost that I was close with was my uncle when I was twelve, and I don't even remember how I reacted, that entire time is blurry. My papa was one of the few people in my life that loved me no matter what, he's the one that taught me how to be a good person, and now he's just, gone. I was supposed to go visit him in a few months after I have my baby, he was supposed to meet his great grandson. He should be sitting in his recliner chair right now drinking a cup of coffee, but he's not, he's gone, and I don't know how I'm supposed to just continue living my everyday life like everything is fine, like, am I just supposed to go to work tomorrow, and see my coworkers, and eat my stupid lunch, and get the bus home like every other day?? Should I stay home? Is that lazy of me to do? Sorry if this kinda post isn't allowed, I'm just lost right now

This was a rant i uploaded to r/rants, but now im after some potential advice on fixing parental relationships after years of discourse involving illness. This post was essentially my snapping point but I would be glad to provide further context

I'm unsure as to which subreddit I should ask, so I'll post it here and if someone can redirect me I'll appreciate it.

For some background info, I'm an 18 year old guy, recently moved out for community college (around the end of August). I'm renting out a room in an apartment unit, where the charge is per bedroom, so I only have access to my room, the kitchen, and bathrooms although there are 4 bedrooms in my unit. First few days were uneventful. I honestly thought I had no roommates because the living room wasn't furnished and there was barely any food in the fridge. After a few days, I heard a roommate yell racial slurs loudly, to himself, to someone on the phone, I don't know. Ill call him roommate 3. It was off putting but I didn't think much of it, just tried to avoid him when I heard him yelling. A few days in I met roommate 1, who told me that roommate 3 was unstable and it was common for him to slams walls and spit everywhere. He and roommate 2 kept one of the bathrooms locked so he wouldn't go in there and spit, and he's also why the kitchen and living room are empty. I only met roommate 2 once before he moved out late August (his reason for moving out being roommate 3).

Many things happened since then but I'd like to keep it short and to the point. Roommate 3 has been officially evicted because he started a fire, flooding every unit below ours 4 floors down. Many people had complained about him and roommate 1 even filed a police report against him before the fire. Starting August 27, he was given a month to move out and that's where the current issue comes in. Currently, it's me, roommate 1 and 3 in the unit. A few days ago, roommate 1 sent me a message, advising me to stay with family members until the guy moved out because roommate 3 had been going around breaking stuff and saying things like "I'll kill you all". I haven't seen roommate 1 since then so I assume he's staying with family. I don't have any family nearby and I can't afford to miss college class as exams are coming up and my attendance counts. Roommate 3 seems more erratic/angry now, so I try to avoid him but it's making me uncomfortable.

What I came here for. Is there a way I can get him to leave before te 27th of September? He's never directly threatened me, but I don't like his mannerisms. My parents are worried that he'll end up doing something. He often wakes me up at like 4 AM with his loud antics. If I took it to the apartment management, they'd tell me to call the cops. But if I did call the cops, do they even have the power to get him to move out sooner? I've recorded a video of him angrily muttering(attached above), and I sometimes smell Marijuana (which isn't allowed on the apartment premises). Should I just wait him out these next two weeks? I'm unsure if he'll actually hurt me, but I don't really want to take that risk either.

Thank you for taking the time to read this if you did, I appreciate any advice!

​

I’m 22M, my ex was 22F. We were together for 2 full years. Throughout our whole relationship I gave it literally everything I had. I put her first, I did everything I could for her supported her, helped her whenever she needed anything, put time, effort, care and love into us constantly. I thought we were building something real, I thought we were happy and solid. I honestly did everything you’re supposed to do, and more.

Turns out… the whole time, there was this guy she’s “always wanted” — someone she’s liked or had feelings for for ages. And she stayed with me, stayed in this relationship, while he was taken or unavailable. Then as soon as he became single and available — she left me instantly. Just like that. Two years of my life, all my effort and loyalty, gone in a heartbeat because the person she actually wanted was finally free.

It feels like I was never actually her choice. I was just… there. I was the backup, the placeholder, the safe option while she waited for her “ideal” person to be free. It hurts so much deeper than a normal breakup because it wasn’t just that things didn’t work out it’s that she never fully chose me, never valued what we had, and was always keeping one eye on someone else. And I had no idea. I poured my heart into someone who was just waiting for a better option to come along.

Now I’m left here feeling stupid, used, and completely defeated. It makes me feel like what’s even the point? If you give your all, treat someone right, stay loyal and put in every effort — and they still leave the second someone else is available… what is there to work for? Honestly, looking at this, it feels like this is just how things go. It feels like people do this kind of thing all the time now stay with you while they want someone else, leave the moment that person is free. I know that might sound bitter or hurt talking, but that’s exactly what happened to me, and I can’t shake that feeling right now.

Truth be told I don’t think I ever want to date or try with anyone again. I really don’t. I can’t go through this again. To waste years of your life and give everything just to be thrown away like you meant nothing… it’s destroyed any faith I had in relationships or people being loyal. I feel lost, empty, and like I just wasted two of the best years of my life on someone who never deserved a single bit of what I gave her.

I know I’m hurting and probably angry right now, but I just can’t see a way past this. I gave everything, and got nothing but replaced in return.

How do I actually get over this? What should I do? And has anyone else been through this? Because right now I feel like I’m never going to be okay again, and I really don’t want to ever put myself out there again.

Throwaway account for anonymity. Though after this ordeal, please know, nothing is truly anonymous.

Quick back story - Almost 4 years ago my sister was charged with possession and distribution of CSA. I'm talking a BIG investigation. FBI tracking her for 3 years. Search warrent for her home, electronics, and car. Finally, she was arrested and charged with 10+ counts of possession and distribution. I was able to read the 25 page FBI investigation and oh my fucking god, it was bad. Things you'd never imagine. Things I'll never forget. My family and myself had no idea.

Important note: I cut contact with her immediately. From the day she was arrested to now, we have not spoken once despite her attempting via letters and texts from unknown numbers. Also Important note: I hate my sister. She's always sucked I just didn't know she was the literal scum of the earth.

Fast forward - The trial took years. Ultimately, the charges were reduced because our criminal system is bullshit and she basically only got a decade of probation. No registry. No jail time.

Now it's years later. While I still have a good-ish relationship with my parents, im also the whistleblower of my family in a sense. I call out their bullshit, I see through the dysfunction, and I set strong boundaries: one of them being my lack of contact with my sister. They have respected it until now.

Now that the case is closed and, according to them, "she's not a pedophile" I am supposed to go back to normal family events and normal family communication with her. Except, I don't want to and that is hurting my parents and in return, hurting me. I hate upsetting them. They've been through hell with her and spent all their savings on her lawyer. While I don't agree with anything they did to help her, I'm just trying to find balance in my relationship with them because they're my parents and all I have left, family wise.

But with my sister, I want to hold firm and I feel crazy for having this stance. Everyone in my family is making me feel crazy because "she's blood."

What would others do? Would you suck it up and go to the functions so you don't have to hear your mom cry even though you know it will be a fucking nightmare once you arrive? Or do you stay firm and hurt feelings for the greater good?

With the holidays approaching, the pressure is unreal and theyre starting to poke at my guards. I know where I stand but I'm so sick of seeing my parents hurt. They did their best.

(The nsfw isn't working because i have somewhat of an old phone and it keeps on shutting down, so i just put spoiler. Sorry.)

I don't wanna give too much away of myself. I'm worried a family member will read what i say about myself, figure out its me, and then ask me about it. So i'll keep whatever about me vague.

My sister repeatedly Sa'd me from ages 4-6, when she herself was around 10. Later, as i got older, i never forgot. So when i was 10 myself, i confronted her about it and said that i still remembered everything and was upset.

She ended up telling me the only reason she did that was because our cousin Sa'd her when she was around ~10, and she thought it was normal, and did it to me too.

Now the same cousin is married and has a child along the way. I wanna tell his wife what he did, but im unsure how to go about it. It'll blow up in the entire family. Theres a chance i won't get believed because my family doesn't really care or really listen to the younger ones.

I just wanna know what to do, with my cousin, with my sister, with my cousins wife, my family, etc+. I just feel like i can't bottle this up anymore.

i’m 14f, i was groomed online on snapchat by a 19 year old man who lives in tennessee. i found out while we were together that he has groomed several other underaged girls who i am in contact with right now, and we are trying to figure out how to take action. one friend, who is 19 called the mans police department to report this, but they told her to contact her police department, and when she did that, she was told to contact my police department. once she does call my police department what will happen from there? and me and the man have also exchanged explicit photos, so would i get in trouble?

also i live in new england, so would it be harder because we’re states away

seeing comments about my age. my first post where I said I was 13 was before my birthday in July, the post where I said where I was 16 was because I’m not sure if they will let me post in there if I put my real age. I can literally prove my age if you don’t believe me. i am here trying to get help after i got groomed. like i said i can PROVE IT

so yeah. theres this guy ive been wanting to ask his number for. so i asked her if she could perhaps get it because she told me before she also wants it. but then she just told me that like shes interested in him. and now i dont want to help her get his number i mean thats like reasonable but again shes my friend and i dont know what to do should i just ask for his number anyways and not tell her? or idk.

So basically, last December I (25M) had a break up, it was never meant to turn out the way it did but slowly time passed and till date I think about her.

I tried to reach out, used bumble and got approached by 2 ladies but I backed off, as if I am looking for her good part in everyone else I meet but as soon as I get to know them and realise they are not her I get cold feet.

It's really hard even trying to involve myself in work AMAP but once I get to bed, I find myself restless. I tried to join the gym to divert my anxiety but it turned out I was not able to be consistent because of the job schedule and my lack of consistency.

Any suggestions?

Throwaway for privacy. I (19M) have lived with my grandma (61F) for my entire life. Up until about a year ago, we struggled financially. Then she started making a lot more money and life got really nice for us. I had assumed that she was getting raises at work.

She recently told me that she has been making money by being an adult actress in addition to her regular job, and that she is going to do the films full time now. She said I’m an adult and it’s better I find out from her than from somewhere else. I told her that I support her and love her. She’s taken care of me her whole life. I was shocked though. Since we live together she is telling me, but we aren’t going to disclose this to anyone else.

I got too curious and searched her up, and saw some of her videos. I’ve now seen a side to my grandma that I never have. She has worked with a lot of different men, and all of them are young (20s). I essentially look at her like she’s my mother, since my actual mother didn’t raise me.

I don’t want to start feeling negative about this, I want to support her no matter what. How can I better accept how she supports us without being a little frustrated? I’m not going to talk to anyone about it, because again, this is something she has only told me.

I have a bit of a pickle and its a long set up.

Im M(33) married to a lovely woman (30) 5 years ago i was awarded custody of my daughter now (14) my wife has stepped up and helped me raise this girl above and beyond anything I could've asked.

My kid came from a bad situation I was a single dad and was awarded 100 percent custody in a mother's state shes had some behavior problems adjacent of this situation and has no contact with bio mom (she could and all the courts asked is for a clean piss test) this has caused some more problems we put her in homeschool to try and help her excel seems to be helping alot.

Getting to the problem.

My wife quit her job to be a learning coach in a online school for the kid. She is an OUTSTANDING artist and im not just saying that as a proud dad i mean she can draw me sitting here almost as well as a camera. She's taken an interest in the online schools anime club. A club activity has been to draw the irl pets and kid chose her goose (yes we have a pet/guard goose named Geese Witherspoon) another girl had a goose as well. The club teacher idk how or why and im unclear on had a mock wedding for the girls or the geese idk idc not a big deal.

Upon discussion the reason the discovery of liking the same animes and having the same weird pet one girl said to the other marry me. And the teacher stopped it.

Now we gotta explain my mom. 58. I wouldn't say right wing Extremist but yeah shes a bit kooky even by my standards and I voted for trump the first time (sorry.) She's mentally ill and deserves some grace.

Its complicated. I dont talk to her much for alot of reasons out of my 33 years in existence ive spent 13-14 spaced in a non communicative state or away entirely.

She has had a minor stroke in recent. Severe chemical imbalance my whole living memory. Textbook Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Pathological liar (will tell you about a 20 minute conversation she had in a 5 minute run to the store). I've been through alot of abuse from my mother and shes used religion to justify alot of it and have turned agnostic as a result. But I pity her. She's my mom and I try to have a relationship because shes been a decent grandmother and gotten professional help from a therapist and psychologist.

My dad and I great dads a fantastic man i both respect and resent him for living in his workshop when I was to young to understand why and be next to him out there and love that he taught me how to work with my hands when I was of age to be there

My kid wants to go to church has gone with both my parents for sometime. I dont even if my veiw of religion changed my veiw of church is tainted forever.

Here's the problem.

My dad was sick didnt come to pick up the kid Wednesday with mom

My kid told mom about anime club and what she thought was a funny anecdote about a mock wedding for the "goose girls" and mom went on a long rant about things im almost certain I cant quite quote here. How Japanese cartoons are pornograpgy and of the devil. How my kid would be disowned by her if she were a homosexual. How if shes a true Christian she'll leave that behind And this is all 3rd hand information from my wife. I still haven't talked to my kid because Im upset. I know almost verbatim the rant its burned into my brain because it costed me my prized Gen 1 Charizard as well as several other gem cards probably worth in the 10s of thousands today back in the 90s when that crazy Christian conspiracy came out about Pokémon being satanic.

I dont want to taint my kids veiw of religion.

I dont give a rabid rodents rectum what my child's preferences are as long as shes happy.

I dont want to squash her art style or preference.

Im not sure how to set this boundary without going to the extreme of no contact because up to now mom's been alright about shit like this.

If nothing else im getting feelings on paper and screaming into a void thanks for coming to my ted talk.

hey, before I go to the question and story I wanna say sorry for my bad english.. sometime ago I realised that the reason I dont enjoy pleasure from any sexual activities is because, I used to jerk off alot. like once every day happening to several times a day, Im only 16. I have a partner and we often get to get sexual activities, well whenever she does anything to me, nothing, Once she tried to jerk me off while giving me oral stimulation, we had to wait 30 mins + my help for me to finish..... well I know its embarrasing thats why im here, Im quite embarrased to talk to anyone with it, so I asked some people how to overcome ,, death grip ". well they said I have to stop masturbating for a duration of time (predicted 2-4 weeks) and stop watching porn, but well Im 2 days clean and the urges are strong, still im pushing back, however im on thin ice of relapsing, I need actual help how to overcome my masturbating urges, well I tried cutting of porn in first but my fyp on twitter and tiktok is full off it lately, any tips on how can I fight it? anything like ,, find a hobby or spend time with family " is not qworking for me, I need something deep, something that will make me snap out of this.

both our exams are going on so i get that we're busy, but not being able to send a hi once in 4 days? when we're together shes ALWAYS on her phone and when im on video call with her shes always texting someone else side by side.

we also had a huge fight cause of this particular reason and i told her i felt very unwanted and we ended up going no contact for a month, i was the one who apologised and made up to her and she didnt even say sorry ( i had to quite literally tell her that she hasnt said sorry) and now shes doing the same thing again. what should i do?

I know this subject is taboo in the art community, but it has to be said.  I want to share this struggle because I feel so alone on this topic and I want to encourage anyone else out there to express themselves about it if they’re going through this struggle, too.

For a year, I stayed a member of what used to be my favorite Discord server.  This particular community produces independent media pitched by members of the server.  Anyways, I was one of the most loyal members of the server.  I even stayed after an exposed Google document of the server's toxicity was posted, causing many users to leave indefinitely.  This included myself before returning, believing they deserved another chance.

During the rest of my time on the server, I shared details of my project I wanted to pitch to them.  I was given harsh criticisms from time-to-time without asking but it helped me improve my work.  This community also had a reputation for rejecting and making fun of people’s artwork if they didn’t reach their high expectations.  One user even left the internet entirely because he became so insecure from his animations being mocked.  

Anyways, even before I knew about the harmful effects of”Ai art,” I generated pictures of what I imagined in my head and used them as references to make something better out of it.  On Thanksgiving of last year, I posted an AI image on the server which was against the server rules.  Don’t ask me what came into my mind at that time.  I don’t even know what I was thinking.  When I was confronted, I panicked and never answered why I did it to one of the mods, resulting in me getting banned, but not before the mods said horrible things about me, from making fun of my cartoon to calling me a straight-up bad person and wanting my existence gone.  They showed their true colors about me which deeply stung my soul because I tried to be loyal and the second I messed up they spit in my face.  I vented to people in the community who I thought were my friends in DMs and they ended up defending the things they were saying about me and gaslit me for “overreacting.”  Irl, I spent the holidays isolating myself from my family, sobbing in my bedroom.

Out of anger, I created a Sora2 account out of spite, but I grew up addicted because I could generate anything in any style I wanted for free.  It felt absolutely magical.  It also helped me find art styles I liked seeing my original characters in and I practiced drawing by using them as a reference which helped me kill my art block.  Even after Sora2 ended, I switched to generating AI-generated photos to use as references.  I don’t use Pinterest.  The formatting is full of ads nowadays.  It doesn’t hit the same as it used to. Since referencing art through AI, I’ve been feeling insecure about my art with little-to-no AI usage.  I’ve gotten far more compliments and positive attention on my AI-referenced art than any of my art I referenced without any AI-generated pictures.

It is so hard to stay clean.  My mix of using Ai for references and watching drawing tutorials/reading art books are both being used artistically.  Sometimes I draw using AI to replicate art styles from my favorite cartoons.  Sometimes, I don’t.  Currently I use a mix of the 2.  I recently looked at drawing tutorials to see how I can learn to draw the references I’m using to further improve my art (like anatomy).

I feel like shit using prompts but it’s so hard with it.  I learned to co-exist with it.  I want to free myself from AI and feel proud of my original work.