For me, I used to be a lot more anxious of what others might think and how a career in drawing would effect my life. I had fair experience in the "corporate world" before I started drawing professionally. And back when I used to be unique in terms of what I do for the company, they assess my work based of what they think since they cannot judge it objectively since my line of work was on the "creative" side of things.
Of course that being said, people will not agree to what "we" artists make 100% of the time. Thus, we could either defend our work or just shrug their complaints. At first it's a bit okay, (well, I was a lot younger back then). But after years of experiencing multiple rejections, revisions, and endless reworks, it just comes naturally to just ignore the feeling and keep moving on. That feeling might kick start the numbing effect of the "thicker skin" vibe.
Well... that was back then when I was younger and didn't know better.
Nowadays, as an artist and being a regular in terms of creating and uploading content, we must learn how to develop thicker skin more consciously rather than passively. Criticisms and unfair judgement coming from outside variables such as family, friends, people you meet in parties, or even on the internet is unpredictable. But we just have to learn to not take it personally and have an open mind about it.
Being bombarded with many factors that I myself cannot control, I think what I can share to you is that having a stoic or calm mindset helps as we continue the artistic struggle. Like being kind, not taking things too personally, unwind and look back to what we've accomplished so far, look at our work from a different person's perspective, and also having a contingency plan. (for example, if all else fail, like emotions are too rampant or creative block, what other thing can we do to keep ourselves functioning).
With that, I hope this piece helps and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.