How do you deal with self doubt?

[kitsuneonwheelz]

So far, I've received all positive feedback about my series. I constantly think I'm subpar and a failure,yet everybody seems to love my writing. Am I the only one who needlessly self doubts their abilities?

[AnnaLandin]

Self-doubt is kind of built into being an artist, I think. Art is seen as a less serious pursuit than a lot of other things - a hobby at most - by society as a whole, so that creeping self-doubt is common. I certainly have it.

It usually strikes the moment after I post a page, or just after I've decided to commit to a project - what if people don't like this? What if it's not good enough? Is this really worth doing? And so on and so forth.

The only real way to build confidence is to keep going - and to keep reminding yourself that yes, this is worth doing. And remember - if something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly. Nobody's brilliant from the start, and the only way we ALL get better is if we keep trying.

[carloswebcomic]

How do I deal with it? Badly.
It even got to a point where I formed a group with some of my long time readers to show concept of pages for them to pick at it before I start drawing it in earnest.

[Iron]

I swing from hating all I do to admiring every crappy sketch :' ) But my advice is: tell yourself that you're awesome. Not everyone else. Yourself. ( You know the saying that repeated lie becomes truth ; ) )
Admire your work, be proud of it! : )

[JigokuNeko]

Easily. I have stopped comparing my stuff to others' long ago. It is (and will always be true) that there are a lot of higher-level artists than me and it is also true that there are a lot of lower-level artists. What took me 5 years may take another 5 months but so what? Art is not the Olympics, it is a very personal matter. Comparing myself to others is meaningless for we do not live the same life and we do not walk the same road. What I create makes me happy and it makes others happy (enough to tell me) as well and I focus only on that. I'm always pleased when I level up and evolve but I do not see it as a competition with others, I see it as a personal achievement.

[jonufele]

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[Menbung]

You're not the only one, I can be pretty tough with myself, going from super exitement on how a picture is coming out and later hating it when it's finished.... I redraw whole inked pictures (traditionally) only because I didn't like how one eye turned out =S. How I deal with it? it is basically what makes me want to get better, if I make a mistake I learn from it and always try to get my next drawing better. Destroying artworks coz I'm not feeling confident, well that happens too =S

Mistakes allow us to grow =] . Dun worry this feeling is pretty common with artists. Regards Oo.oO

[purrlpankras]

Noo crazy cat guy!
Your art is so good...

I deal with self doubt by shouting at myself.

[SpavVy]

I deal with it all the time and its common in creators, I actually went through a time where I doubted myself so much that I had an editor and he never liked any of the ideas I had and I was so restricted not to mention we had a huge fallout to the point we don't even talk anymore. The whole situation was just a chaotic mess. When my series actually started gaining more subs I went through self doubt again and the nerves from anxiety started to come back but then I thought to myself, these people are looking forward to seeing MY WORK and they want to READ MY STORY. So I pushed myself to work harder to make the story even better as I go on, the doubt you get once you gain readers I beleive is part of the growing process.

[keii4ii]

Oh boy, I can SO relate to this. The whole... phenomenon of getting nothing but praises makes you feel WORSE. Because you know your stuff is flawed, and you want to know how to improve it, but no one is telling you how. Sure, most of them are probably genuine with their praises, but YOU know the flaws are there.

At least, that's how it works for me. X__________x

My favorite solution is to get a good, constructive feedback that analyzes the flaws that you've always known to exist, but couldn't pinpoint or address. This isn't always possible, though. I just don't know any good writers who have enough free time/ care to go over my stuff. :\ (If there are such people in my current circle, none of them has spoken up about it, haha)

[StevenDacasin]

Its also worth to note that you can't put all your eggs in one basket. Its good to have a goal but if there are no plans on how to get there than it'll make it all futile. To kitsuneonwheelz you need to figure out how your gonna approach getting to where you want to be at with your comic.

[Doubtcent]

Even if its your full time job, it's very likely you'll hate your own work. Professionals feel this way too. But this is the kind of force that helps you progress in the ways of art, to do more to get better, to take some risks with your art, to expand upon it. If you loved your artwork, that's good too, but like from the Disney movie "Meet the Robinsons",

"From failure you learn... from success, not so much."
"Keep moving forward."

[WintreKitty]

Anyone who is good at something, doubts they are really good at all.

There is always someone "better," "stronger," more "perfect" than we are. It is human nature to self-doubt. The one thing that not everyone has however, is resilience. The ability to keep going even under the biggest source of pressure and stress we know -ourselves.

Take those compliments you receive from people and take them to heart. Take those criticisms as well, and use them as a guideline for improvement. Take negative feedback and make it into something positive. Someone criticized the way you draw hands? They called them "fat sausages," or "lumps of mush?" Use that information to reshape how you draw hands. Knowing where your weaknesses are allows you to make them your strengths.

Just remember that you will always be your own biggest critic, so if you think you aren't doing something right, or you don't like how something is turning out, go ask someone else for their honest opinion. They might see something you don't, creating a new angle for you to tackle a project.

Everyone has self-doubt, and it isn't really something that goes away with time. Just look at the positive -It keeps us grounded and prevents us from becoming too cocky

Cheers,
WintreKitty

[ArtistHan]

In addition to the deep inner talks everyone else has mentioned, I drive around while blasting 2ne1's "I Am The Best" while thinking about my art.

In other words, I brainwash myself haha

[Drazard]

@kitsunea

So far, I've received all positive feedback about my series. I constantly think I'm subpar and a failure,yet everybody seems to love my writing. Am I the only one who needlessly self doubts their abilities?

Just calm down first and remind yourself that you're not doing this for others, you're doing this because you enjoy doing this.

[TristanJensen]

I see what you mean... I've been working on a story for months now. All the feedback has been positive but I know it could be better... But that could be just my perfectionist mentality when it comes to my art. It's perfect at first, then I see it again.
So I keep going, because I know if I stop I'll never finish. And I'd much rather say "I did it!" Then "I made one perfect picture in my entire art career..."
I'm not saying "work fast and be lazy"... More like (to quote a well known fable) "Go slow and steady, but get crap done"
It might seem a but negative, but I just really want to do what I'm doing right, and this works for me. It keeps me going, and it it kills my doubt. Plus saying "I did it" and meaning it feels awesome
Also try reading a great story someone else wrote to take your mind off it, then draw fan art (even a book book with just words will work because you can take more artistic liberties) That's always made me happy when I'm down

[ErithEl]

About two weeks ago (I think) I was hit with a wave of crippling self doubt so bad I actually held off from posting my newest page. Actually self doubt has been a big theme in my life recently (not just for me), and all people keep saying is "stop comparing yourself to others," which is, of course, easier said than done.

One thing I have been trying to do is trying to think positively and be grateful for all the little things: If I get views on my comic; if someone likes a page… I try to repeat over and over to myself how happy and grateful I am for these things in the hopes that if I repeat it enough, I will end up believing it and actually being being happy about my work.

...Only problem with this is usually the only quiet time I get to repeat this little "thank you" speech to myself is when I'm driving. I live in Los Angeles, so the speech usually turns into:

"I am so happy and grateful that – WHY ARE YOU BRAKING THERE'S NOTHING IN FRONT OF YOU?! ...Okay •sigh* I am so happy and – OH $#@& YOU, BUS, I KNOW YOU SAW ME TRYING TO PASS YOU!!

(Busses are evil.)

[ippotsk]

You'll never realize how messed up something you made is until someone tells you about it.

Yesterday, you might've spent 5 hours staring at your newest illustration or comic panel, thinking "I've outdone myself again, me!". The next day, you get critique, and suddenly you feel like an idiot for going all giddy over what you did. It's hard to get used to, but all the more reason to keep doing what you're doing. Heck, you even get some suggestions and tips as a feel-good gift! It's what I like to tell myself all the time, haha. :")

[elixiadragmire]

I deal with it really badly, I keep telling myself I'm a hack. its hard to stop those kinda negative thoughts I just tried to keep pushing on but its still hard. I sometimes think I burden my friends with it too which doesn't help the negative feedback loop.

It super hard not to compare yourself to others because you know other people are. All we can do is just keep pushing forward

[volcabbage]

I always figure there is something I can do better, so I just keep trying, just not the same thing all the time. I have a number of questionable "creative" endeavours, so if one seems hopeless (or lack of outside feedback starts to eat at my personal opinion) then I always have a reserve task to deal with, and I may be in a better mind to evaluate the first thing when I come back to it.