It's kinda strange. I actually do admittatly have a bit of an ego, and narcissistic personality, as in I genuinly enjoy just looking at myself in the mirror. Yet, I also really enjoy laughing at myself, which I guess is how I remind myself I'm not a perfect person.
I was (and still to some level) affected by people I had to interact with on University. As everyone started to go ballistic on career jokes, grade comparison, sassy comments from listeners when I expressed something I genuinely wanted to take off my chest, just to be used for a silly joke or mock to my stupidity, or just be looked for when I was of use, then to be replaced by others who were more useful for certain tasks...
It took me 4 years to realize it.
It stopped me from being genuine and do what I wanted to do in fear that it wasn't what others expected of me.
Maybe something similar happens to you and something or someone is feeding that idea of yours. If you can talk about it with someone (in person or with a professional) it really helps to start to come to terms that you won't please everyone or be number 1 on everything, while boosting up your morale to do what you want because you want to and is good for your realization as an individual.
I don't know, I don't compare myself to others.
I'm the best at what I do and definitely better than what I did.
Well, I had a bit similar situation but not the same, I had doubts about my comic too back then and may leave it completely unfinished. But turned out I just got fatigued and overworked. So far my comic only has a cult following, but I'm grateful for it.
I didn't, because I am. I'm better than all of you, idk why I'm even here.
Kidding, it's hard. I have a ton of artists I look up to, but I try not to compare myself to them. Instead, I compare myself to myself from yesterday, or a week ago, or last month, whenever. I'm constantly looking at my old art and thinking of how far I've come since then. I don't have to be the best, I just have to be better than yesterday. It's good to acknowledge your mistakes, but it also helps to find things you like about your art so you feel more comfortable about those mistakes. I also tried being critical of other artists' works (mostly in my own head, but it can be good to have someone to talk about it with), it's a healthy reminder that I'm not the only one who isn't the best. And another thing I do when I look at art from people I think are better than me, I try to look at some of their older stuff to see where they came from, so I see I'm not the only one who had a hard time.
At the end of the day, none of us will ever be the best, there will always be someone better, and then the rules will change. The best we can do is just be better than yesterday and be happy with that.
At my best (and this is not everyday), I'm able to see young artists flourish, older artists hone their amazing skills, and have my butt kicked by a great writer- and love it all. But that's my best day. When the emptiness in my head isn't a self-doubting, needy blackhole of indecision and self-doubt (did I say "self-doubt" twice? Oh well, it's not elegant, but it tracks).
But if I can push past that, get on a work schedule, and spend time doing the writing/art (and being grateful that I'm able to do that work), it gets better. And honestly, having opportunities to vent and make connections in a community of artists helps a lot too. It's nice to feel like I'm not alone.
I know that I'm never going to be the best version of the artists I most admire. I can only be the best me. And for every 100 comic panels I draw that I cringe at (always after the fact), there are a few that I'm genuinely excited that I drew.
I remember John Romita Jr. talking about his "deadline" style. He had to kick so many books out the door and sometimes his art suffered (with character inconsistencies/weird proportions/etc). But him sitting and doing the work has created a large body of work that is incredibly impressive.
One of the best things I did was print a copy of my comic (as a book) because it gives weight and tangibility to your work. It feels like it matters more. And when I see the panels on the page, yeah, some of them are deadline style, but they might sit next to a panel that I love and it feels pretty damn good overall.
To @Kelheor's point, when you can find the time and space to sit and hone your craft, it really pays dividends. I'm both blown away and inspired by the progress of so many people here. To see so many comics start off with good art but then find them cranking out masterpieces 40 episodes in, it's exciting. You can see it when people really apply themselves. I love seeing people becoming their best selves (and excited to see where it all goes).
I remember a moment in college when I didn't know what the heck I'd do (writing, film, comics, etc), dabbling with everything. I loved comics, but the second I saw a dedicated artist show off their amazing Daredevil page, I packed it up and leaned into film and animation hard. I felt I would never be that good and I dropped comics for 16 years (and that was such a mistake). I'm happy for where my non-linear journey brought me (it's damn amazing to work in an art field, I'm not complaining), but I kick myself for letting my love of making comics go. So yeah, I have a lot of catching up to do to be my best self, but I am grateful for the other skills that I acquired that I can put into my craft.
But all in all, thanks for expressing your doubts @aqua03. I feel that, even in doing that, it gives so many of us a chance to feel like we're not alone on our journey.
Thank you all so much for the great feedback and advice, guys. It really means a lot to me to hear your own stories and encouragement.
I guess one of the big problems I feel I have in my desire to "Be the best" is because for some reason I don't find myself "Worthy" for my own ideas. Like my ideas are so good and have such potential that I feel that I can never properly do my ideas "Justice" unless I hit some unreasonable peak of skill and popularity before I can "properly" start working on them if that makes sense.
I have no idea where this mindset came from, but I think that's how I've been feeling in all honesty.
I can only say how it's a mindset of a whole bunch of people here, that's why most of us don't ever start doing comics, we never feel we are good enough 
Well...I know I´m an amateur I´m just getting started into the comic world and I know there are a bunch of many comics out there that seem better into our eyes and sometimes we feel that we aren´t good enough but the thing here is that we can learn from our mistakes so we get better and are able to see our own progress because comparing to others is really bad, still none of us are perfect :/.
That makes sense when you put it like that. Another big thing I've been struggling with a lot is that it somehow got into my mind that I need to be "Perfect" because for some reason it's gotten in my head that "Only bad people make mistakes" and people who make mistakes must pay for those mistakes in that regard if that makes sense. I don't know where it came from, but I've been trying to cut it out of my mind for quite a while now now that I know that that's a problem in my mind.
It feels weird that I consider my ideas a such a separate entity that I need to work my way up to to be good enough to be a part of like it's a special event like the olympics considering I made my own ideas.
I kinda understand you, though I have another mindset - "if I don't do something perfect from the first try, I suck forever". Oh boy is this one problematic too.
Maybe try to look at this as "if I don't make mistakes, I don't progress" 
We just can't be perfect from the first try. You need to fall, and to stand up, and to fall again to stand up and go.
Also our ideas and the whole vision of what we consider "great" are growing with us, so we never can catch up with them. In my mind all my characters and all my comics are 10 levels ahead of what I can do with them right now and believe it or not, it's like that for me since 1998, so like... Do you really want to live this life full of doubt and feeling unworthy for 20 more years? I know I don't 
I kind of think a part of it is critique culture. There is a butt ton of YouTube critique videos out there dissecting all sorts of media so it’s easy to get into the mindset of “if I make a mistake then I’m going to get ridiculed” or something.
Like, I TOTALLY get wanting to be the best. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with wanting your work to be the best. I think life is way more fun when you have such big dreams and aspirations. But try not to be so goal oriented about it and try to be more process oriented. Instead of thinking “I’m not the best right now so why even try?” instead think “I’m definitely going to be the best someday so in the meantime I’ll try to have as much fun and enjoy my time in the now.” If you can teach yourself to enjoy the process of making art then it is pretty much a guarantee that you’ll keep making better and better art until people look at your art and think that you’re a genius. And you’ll just look back and think of all the fun you had along the journey. Me I’ve recently started listening to asmr videos on YouTube as I draw and that’s made the process so much more enjoyable. I’m enjoying the art I make and I know that this is just the beginning. I fully plan on making better and better art. That’s why I’m confident that someday I’ll see myself as number 1, and if not I’ll just keep trying. I don’t really have any other plans with my life. I am confident that you can do it too. Just try and remember to make it fun.
Controversial opinion, but I’ve always kind of thought that AtLA was kind of overhyped… It is by no means a bad show, but I’ve always seen it as only being really good for a kid’s show. That show has a TON of flaws, as a matter of fact I would even go so far as to say it’s not that much better than RWBY. All this to say yeah I think you could write a better version of Avatar, anyone could really. If you had more time and creative freedom, the ideal team etc. In an ideal world I think the people who made avatar and rwby could also make a better version of those shows. Just kind of goes to show how subjective being the best really is.
I think the issue isn't that you can't be the best, it's what can you be the best at. So many people fail to realize they can never be their idols. They can never be their favorite book, movie, or TV show. They have to be their own thing. If your comparing yourself to something or someone else, you'll always be behind it.
So be the best version of you. That's how you become the best. Not by comparing or contrasting your skills to others, but by building your skills and becoming something that's not out there yet.
And yes, there are standards. There are things people look for, things people notice. So yes you have to at least get to a level where you check a few boxes, but after that point, it's all about what you can bring to the table not what's at the table that you can replicate or try to replace.
Still, I can understand how rewiring your mind to fit this mentality can be hard. It's hard not to compare. It's hard not to see someone thats where you want to be and avoid a feeling of thousand miles to go.
But it can be done. Just don't even look for a door. Don't have expectations. Don't get your hopes up. Create because you are a creator. Put things out into the world until you don't have any more ideas. If it's not good enough to get you to the top of the mountain, at least it's a step closer. Close your eyes and just walk. Worry about how hard it was when you're dead, or when you get to where you want to go. Whichever comes first.
Be a better you until you're the best you, that's all I can really say.
OK I was in agreement with you until you made the RWBY comparison lol. I think to compar a show to RWBY is to compare a show to a train wreck that refuses to stop exploding. And While Avatar might have had its low points where it was underwhelming or kidish, it hardly if ever became a train wreck....unless we're talking legend of Korra in which case I retract everything I just said.
That's a good way of thinking about it things. I guess another thing is a sort of "Cause and effect" mindset I've developed as well where If something goes wrong or someone doesn't like my stuff, then it's all on me 100% if that makes sense. Ergo, if I don't do anything wrong, then nothing will go wrong and everyone will love me and I'll succeed in life in general if that makes sense.
And I absolutely HATE that I somehow have had that mindset running in my mind for most of my life. It's caused me nothing but trouble and has more or less seemingly caused me to stagnate in general for quite a while it seems.
i wish it was super easy to dump unhealthy mindsets you've had with you unknowingly for most of your life....
My friend @aqua03 and all colleagues who are following this post.
At some point in our life we all feel the same way you feel today, but let me tell you something I have learned about how to understand that feeling. My friend above all things in this world you must first do things for yourself, because it will do no good to do something that looks "better" to the eyes of others if it is not beautiful for yourself first. You will never find happiness in your works. Do it for yourself first and convince yourself that you like it but without looking at others. Practice this and over time you will improve the way you look at things when you have to create new projects.
If you need help there is a great community here ready to give support and I include myself, whatever you need I am here.
Enjoy doing what you love!
For sure it's so hard to change your own way of thinking when it's been ingrained for so long. Honestly I think the most you can do is, once you've realized there are other ways of thinking that make you feel better and enjoy what you're doing more and identifying precisely why the other way of thinking is harmful, just keep focusing on it, and eventually over time it will soak in. As a kid I used to be somewhat antagonistic to the whole 'positive thinking' movement, because I thought pessimism equalled realism, and also served as a better emotional defense when things go wrong. Only later did I realize that positivity wasn't being intentionally naive, but rather finding ways to look at things in a more positive way. (That is, looking at what I've gained from things I've done and experienced and how it's helped me grow, rather than the end result not being perfect.). But honestly, my mind didn't change even when I realized that, it was something that just had to happen slowly over time.
I find I also just enjoy a lot more things with a more positive mindset, looking for things I like in creative work rather than focusing on the flaws. I think of this way--in order to progress out of the damaging mentality of wanting to produce 'the best' work (and feeling it worthless if it's not) I think it first takes acknowledging how insanely hard creative work is. (The fact so many popular things have flaws I see as because of how hard creative work is; everything is flawed in some way, or else may not be to yours or others exact tastes, and in pleasing one person you're inevitably going to displease someone else. Your own work is also definitely going to have flaws others will see immediately that that may be invisible to you, and it's possible those flaws will be more obvious than in many professional works that have been combed over by a lot of people who have been doing this work for years.)
When you think about it too much, it's a truly horrifying reality--but I think it's actually helped me grow into a better person in the end; in acknowledging the flaws in my work and myself, I can learn to be more forgiving of the flaws in the works of others. All the works I've enjoyed have flaws (some works in particular have impacted me in my life a great deal), and because I've learned that what I like doesn't need to objectively be 'the best,' that helps free me in my own work to produce something I can try hard at, but more as something I learn from over time.
But, maybe I'm just restating what's already been said here, lol.
LMAO I figured that people would disagree with that one since it is a very spicy take. I’d be happy to continue the convo but not here since I don’t want to derail this thread.
Well you’re aware that it’s a problem so that’s a first step. What I really think you need is to step outside your comfort zone. Have you ever thought of just making a solo one shot comic as quickly as possible? You could probably learn a lot about your writing if you start by making something short.
Sometimes you just need to quit eyeballing works that are several levels higher than yours, let loose and don't use critical mindset for once-- like a child, in order to connect with that different type of flow: It is to tap in more to your right-side of brain, which is non-critical & free flowing. Instead of the constant comparing, grandiose visions in your mind, see/discover the beauty of simple arts/storytellings. Eyeballing cartoons, animes, comics, arts (which you enjoy) with similar level like yours. (Yes there's plentiful out there)
For me I don't look at technically/detailed beautiful art for no reason because it's just not fun to me, my eyes are more on simpler arts (& cute things) I have no satisfaction drawing artworks that's over the point. (though I like my BGs a bit detailed to be on-point of looking immersive). My goal to my work is: Is it on-point? Or better: Is it effective(for me & readers)? Sometime I may go lengths to get the effect done, it happens naturally to me and I don't sweat about it. I relax a lot (I'm not the type who can work orderly everyday), and I see Improvement as a side-bonus-- not primary objective.
(i always read your threads but like a ghost. I don't necessary 'interact' and know how to write to you about your worries but you'll have my mental support all along 
)
