Dealing with art envy?

[infectedbloodcomics]

I;m not jealous of other people's skills - rather, I'm amazed and it motivates me to improve. Just keep practicing

[69Michi]

I get jealous, but also motivated at the same time. It usually happens when I watch speedpaint. I have this feeling of OMG why are they so good, and immediately after watching that speedpaint video, I just want to jump into SAI and try my best to draw whatever urge I was having. (Sometime I was watching people painting and I would want to paint too) I usually don't get depressed over my art that easily. If I do though I have friends to talk to! And when I'm feeling down about my art, I just flip back my old arts, stare at them and cringe to myself. The thing that gets me the most usually are artists that are so much younger than me that can draw so much better than me, but complain that their arts are shetty :/ Like come on, if your arts are shetty, then wtf are mine?

[SpavVy]

I don't have that problem anymore, I just get inspired instead. In my opinion, envy can really hold you back.

[indagold]

Grew out of it when I was 15. It''s a matter of honing your skills and knowing that you are not the artist you idolize and you will never be them. You are you with your own style. When I see good work I don't get jealous, It makes me want to work harder.

[ChrisCoteArt]

It is definitely motivating for me. If you are an artist who takes their work seriously (more than just a hobby) then you need to be prepared to buckle down and throw countless hours into practicing. When I find an artist who can do something I can't, I push myself to learn why/how they do what they do, and more importantly how they likely learned it. Then, I'll work on it until I can do it to a level that suits my needs. It can take weeks if you're lucky, or years if it is way out of your depth, but the nature of art is that anyone can do anything if they maintain their passion for it.

As someone who models their style after the horror manga greats such as Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezu, and Hideshi Hino, I live in the land of envy, but it is that envy that also makes me get up and sit in front of my art desk every single day as I try to push myself to reach their level.

[AndrewSutton]

Your artwork doesn't have to look amazing it just has to be appealing, along with the actual content.

If you check out my wall and then look at the comics, they very different images I do - for example

[Shanny8]

I get that way sometimes looking at others' work- but then I have to remind myself of how hard I've worked to get to the level of where I am, and I use a lot of that negative energy to fuel me to get better than my current state.

[VermillionWorks]

I am mainly just jealous of people who can get out tons of great art not only very quickly, but without hurting themselves. =P Oh how I wish I could do that.

I rarely get jealous of others who make more professional art than me, if anything I just see their work as inspiration.

People also need to remember that everyone is different. Some get good FAST, others take years (me), and everyone does things in their own way. Eventually you just have to realize you're doing your best and know that every type of art can be appreciated.

[miseryhunting]

I'm not a jealous person in general, so this is not a problem for me. If I see an artist who is much better than me, it makes me feel optimistic from my own abilities and admire their art.
Besides, I can see a beautiful comic and not want to be able to draw like that for number of reasons - like, using photorealistic style or lineless art. I can appreciate something for the sake of mastery and beauty and not feel jealous at all.
I think the only aspect I do feel jealous over is a well-structured/written story as I'm a terrible writer myself and I often see it reflected in my comics.
I just have to keep trying though.

[kkitty]

I've never felt envy towards another artist that was better than me.

The only time I feel envy is when they're clearly very bad at what they do but they make more and get more attention because of the subject matter or the concept.

[LCT_m_a_d]

I used to do it a lot. Every now and then I still do. We don't really see the struggles and conflicts the greats have to endure, so we tend to assume nothing but effortless victories.

Something that really helps is to constantly think perspective and goals. Reminding yourself of what you are achieving and recognizing that all great achievements are the result of years of trial and error are a good example of perspective. Breaking down tasks into understanding tone, or improving anatomy are much less intimidating and reasonable goals than simply producing masterpeice after masterpeice.

[acealmansoori]

Do you try to just ignore or, or do you actively seek out artist 'role models'?

I believe you shouldn't ignore a possible motivation. I look up to a lot of artist, not just one and I know I can be as good, and better. Trying is the best way to endure it, the occasional "im so bad" mood xD We can do it <3 ;w;/

[haleymewsome]

I have had such terrible problems with this myself! I had no real problems with jealousy until I started art school. I was accepted into a small, highly competitive design program, and being surrounded in super talented illustrators all day can do a number on a wee cartoonist's self image haha. The thing to remember is that,

• Art is a tool for a comic artist, it doesn't have to be perfect, it
  just has to tell the story and bring a little charm.
• It is way more productive to analyze your own weaknesses rather than
  the strengths of others.
• If your style is unique and fun to look at, people will respect it
  even if it isn't a technical masterpiece.

That's what keeps me going anyway haha.

[Jazdraws]

I find I get really envious of digital artists more than anyone else. I can't paint digitally, traditional kinda, but no way or how with a tablet. I often find myself reading an amazing digital comic and decide that I HAVE to learn to draw digitally, but it never comes out as well as my hand done drawings.
It's depressing, but then I just have to go back brush inking and feel good about what I can do and just chip away at what I can't do just now.

[jonufele]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[monotone_ink]

This is why I prefer collecting pieces of art anonymously - when I say anonymously, I mean that I focus mostly on the art, instead of the artist themselves or the feedback they get from other people.

When you remove the person from the equation, the only thing left to admire is the work itself, and it's not so painful that way. There are occasionally some good threads in the /ic/ board of 4chan, where people mostly post awesome artwork they like. I use this place to collect a lot of inspirational or useful pieces of art. Artstation is also very good for finding technically advanced artworks.

[Mharz]

I used to be envious of people who can make good art and those people are freaking younger than me. It's not easy but I overcame it through... hiding in a cave. I mean... years of practicing, learning the principles, improving my own style until I was confident enough with my own art and say, "Hey, I can do those things as well so I don't have the reason to envy them."

Instead of feeling the envy, use it as a guidepost for improvement. Instead of thinking "why are they so freaking good?" tell yourself "Someday, I'll be as good as them or better."