How do you guys avoid the dreaded jealousy of your fellow artists?

[HGohwell]

STEAL THEIR STUFF!

Not literally, obviously. But when I see someone and get jealous or insecure, I spend sometime studying their work. If they have a youtube with speedpaints or howtos, investigate those. What are they doing that's so appealing to me? What do I like about their style that I can apply to mine? What about their workflow can I apply to mine to make it better?

If I'm jealous or insecure, turn it into a positive and start learning from it. (Easier said that done, I know but attempts to deal with this positively count)

[deltastic]

Jealousy is an emotion like anything, it's tough, unavoidable, and a build up of energy. What matters is what you do with that energy. It always seems like a lot of advice boils down to "ignore/avoid" or "use it to fuel yourself/get angry/git gud"- I always got this advice and it never helped me.

Honestly what has always helped me to deal with jealousy is to lean into it and look straight at it. What is making me jealous about this person? What do I feel is lacking in me that is making me feel this way? What can this emotion tell me about myself and my own needs and wants and how they aren't being addressed? It's not that other person making me jealous, it's something internal. That's one thing to note, to not blame someone outside yourself and realize that other people really have no power over you.

The other thing that has always helped me is turning that negative energy into something positive. I compliment and am kind, even when I feel jealous. Especially then. I treat those people like fully rounded other humans, with their own highs and lows, faults and wins, and not objects. I practice being kind about the content, even internally, and say nice things instead of repeating self-negative internal talk in these instances. I do draw fanart. Actively practicing positive actions can help transform those negative or jealous emotions into positive ones, through practice and repetition. Don't continue those negative thinking cycles- replace them with something positive.

I think you're almost there, OP, you just get hung up on giving attentions to the object of your jealousy in the hopes that it will reflect back on you (ie: I copy this style to get what they have, I give them attention so they'll give me some) when it's really about soothing yourself, not an expectation of reciprocation. Try to give kindness without expectations and see where that gets you. Also, cast a wider net. There's a problem with copying someone's style completely and intentionally, but to create your own style is to take ALL the things you enjoy and incorporate bits and pieces from each style or way of working that you love, into what will be new and yours.

You're already the best you, and nobody else can have the same voice that you do or the same style, as no one else has the perspective on the world that you do. Don't squash that by trying to mold yourself into someone else. And rest assured that feeling jealous or not good enough is not some reflection of reality or that you are broken in some way: every artist struggles with these things. It just means you're human, it's a feature not a bug So don't hyperfocus on these feelings meaning something wrong with you or lacking. They will come and go, no matter what you do or how good you get.

Very best of luck!! I hope you can push through this rough patch and start feeling better!!

[aqua03]

Thank you so much for the encouragement. It really means a lot to me.

In fact, thank you all so much all the varied advice you've given me in this thread, it really helps to know that I'm not alone in my struggles.

[ble]

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[Rhonder]

Hmm, I've thankfully never been too affected by the negative aspects of jealousy, but like everyone I've definitely experienced it here and there! In middle school and high school I would definitely take note of the people around my age that were much better at drawing than I was and be like oof. And as I got older and started meeting more people online through MMOs and such, meeting younger people who were much better than me was double oof.

I think the most negative bout of jealousy that I had was this one artist on Deviant Art that I looked up to a lot. She had amazing illustrations and worked in the same medium that i did (fine liners and copic marker), as well as had posted a few "How-To" tutorials on her page. So I spent a looooong time (read as: years) trying to emulate her techniques and apply them onto my own drawings. The problem was, as with many "how to" type tutorials, some of the things that worked well with her style didn't really mesh with how I liked to draw characters and such, and as a result my work suffered for a long time. That's not to say I learned nothing from observing her drawings and trying to copy that style, but certain things just straight up held me back for a long time...

Sooo after I had that epiphany I decided it was best to just work on doing my stuff my way, and not let comparisons to others affect me too much. I of course do still take note of artists with similar styles to my own that are seemingly much better, and ooo and ahh, and occasionally see if there's anything from their art/process that I can "borrow" for my own, but I frame it around my own style. If something clicks or works, great! And if not I move on without lingering too much. I still have a lot of work to do, no time to be lingering on what I don't have

[Jenny-Toons]

Well honestly? I just allow that emotion to come and go. Jealousy is another natural thing to feel -- I think most of us feel it sometimes. The difference is whether or not you allow that jealousy to overtake you and how it makes you act towards others.

Whenever I feel jealous, I take a step back to be alone for a bit and let that feeling come; I think it out, and slowly, rationality happens. I go from "what makes them so special, I work just as hard!!" to "alright, let's rethink that -- we all have our approach to success. We all have our journeys. Don't let this overtake you".

Overtime, jealousy became less and less as I gained more experience. Now, I just feel more admiration for others because I know how tough it can be being a creator.

If you're not the type to try and act on jealousy (and I doubt you are), there's really no need to worry about it. There's nothing really wrong with feeling jealous sometimes. It happens. But when it happens, you have to allow that emotion to pass and make room for rationality. It's healthier that way than trying to hide it and let it fester.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

It took me a long time to finally embrace my own style. I had the hardest time trying to distance my own style from others. I always compared myself and held myself to expectations that only experience would gain me.
I very nearly gave up a few years ago, in even trying to start my comic. If it wasn't for my wife telling me to just start and experience would cause me to get better, I never would have started.
All that to say, experience is a hard but great way to build up self confidence. Little goals first, then grow them and go for those.

[yondoloki]

So This was lesson I got from doing martial arts. When you practice Japanese martial arts you usually get a belt colour that represents your level of skill, roughly relative to how many years you have practiced said art. Martial art is a very individual practice, you can not compare yourself to anyone other than yourself, because everyone started at different times, have practiced longer or shorter than you, maybe is only there twice a week while you only practice once a week etc.

The same goes for drawing/comic making. You really can't compare yourself to others. You can only compare with yourself from last year and see if you have moved.

Jealousy can't get you there. Admiration can function as a motivation, but sucking up to others doesn't make you as good as them. Look at their work, analyse it. Why do you like it? Incorporate the things you like into your own art, make studies of their images (copying them).

You are not them. You are you. Stop trying to be anyone else.

[DiegoPalacios]

The key is to understand that the only one you need to overcome is your past self.

You gotta find your own way to do things, your own style and voice.

Some artists may inspire you in the way. See what you like about their work, but focus on developing your own art style and storytelling style.

Aim to be the best version of yourself.

[beta1042]

I'm not sure I do? I mean I am able to rationally understand that there is little to no value in it. I also can rationalize that it is best to only compare my current work with my past, and that I should only use my envy of greater artists as inspiration, yadda yadda.

But also if I'm completely honest, it's not like I don't feel this way sometimes, because it's pretty human to feel these things. And really I'm not sure I have much control about what I think and feel. It's mostly impulsive. I really only have control of my actions, so I just take a breath and try to focus on that fact that these feelings are not valuable to me and act the way I want to act. Cause I have control over my actions.

[Im_moron]

well for me, I feel you, mainly because there's also a comic that's essentially my comic, but better in every way xD (Ava's demon, enormous fan)

how I dealt with it was... hard... in short, had to get back to that mindset of making comics for me, and the realization that there are genuinely someone out there who will like my art and stuff, but it's all just art for your own sake.
not because of how good you wanna be, or how better people do it than you, this is your hands and how you draw
might as well embrace what you do now if that makes sense :U

[Twoony]

I'm not a webcomic artist but I am a writer so I can say that there have been plenty of times I have felt inferior and looked onto others with, what I thought to be, jealousy but...I think you need to realize that these people are also/actually your idols and aspirations. You are "jealous" of them for a reason, because they have hit a peak you are trying to reach yourself. Look at it as, "They did it so I can too," while also realizing that they have done so in their own way by taking their own path so you have to do that as well. We're all different and have our own peaks and valley's. No artist reached their level of success with ease and each artist started off differently, either in their youth or later in life so definitely don't go by age or the time they've been posting online. You have no idea the details so just scratch that outta your head lol

It all really comes down to realizing that you are you. With practice and patience you will eventually get to a point, look back on the past and think, "Wow, look how far I've come. I didn't even realize it!" It will feel so gratifying that it'll only push you further. I hope this made sense and wish you luck lol

[inkythoughts]

I had to fight this a lot, too, the thing that helped me was to not think of other artists as concurrence but rather as inspiration. Art shouldn't be a competition, after all readers who read their comics and admire their art can do the same with yours. It doesn't have to be just one or the other.
You also don't get better and make your voice heard by copying others. Do what feels right, organic to you. Of course experimenting and trying out elements of others' styles is vital to evolve your art, but it's also important to throw out what doesn't suit yourself. The thing is, do you want to be known for your own work, or for copying others? Is success really that important to basically deny your own recognizable style? This might sound a bit exaggerated but sometimes that helps to realise how ridiculous this kind of thinking actually is. When you think about your priotities and whether or not this way of thinking fits into them, it becomes easier over time. It definitely takes time but it gets better.

About the part with sucking up to them: Maybe try to be ... genuine with your motives, this usually goes a much longer way. Do you want to get close to them because you just want their attention, or are you genuinely interested in what they do, in their personality, their interests? Only because they are successful (also - what is success to you?) your connection doesn't necessarily mean it'll rub off on you. There's a lot of luck involved, and there will always be someone "more successful" than you.

In those cases it becomes easier if you redefine what is success to you. Things that are influenced heavily by others (followers, views, attention of others) are actually really ... bad as such because you can't really do much about them yourself. If it is stuff like a page count you want to reach or a chapter arc you want to finish, it is something you have 100% control over and to be honest, literally no-one else can do that in the way you would do it.

[graveweaver]

I used to feel a lot of jealousy/envy when I was younger and less experienced. As my artistic skills grew and I became happy with the work I produced and moved into doing art professionally, it went away completely. Now I am overly excited to meet people more skilled than me in the hopes that I can learn something from them.

What worked for me is to create something that you're purely happy with. It is yours, no one else can do it. However the way to find your "zen" is going to be different for everyone.

[LT1986]

I've never been jealous of artists that produce better art work and have more success than me. I support them and try to learn from them. Their work lets me know that there are higher levels left for me to try to achieve.

Now if I was jealous, I would keep in mind that art work is like most other things in life. You have to continue to practice and keep up with trends. Even if this is done, there is no guarantee that the artist will always be better than you. Many things could happen to both parties that could change things. Laziness and hard work are some of the biggest factors that could change over time.

[PaulDevers]

I don't think that the jealousy ever really goes away, but I think that's kind of okay, because undoubtedly that person you're jealous towards is jealous towards someone else themselves. No artist ever feels 100% satisfied towards they're work, because if they are, they will eventually stagnate. Fairly' certain Van Gogh hated Starry Night, thought it was amateur.
So, in that sense, don't use that jealousy to copy, use it to inspire! What makes you like that artist? Do you like their use of solid black, or their posing? If so, get yourself to work on those things, with those as a reference, but make sure you don't abandon you're own style yourself.
That's what I do, anyway. Can't say I'm not jealous of some people, but I think that's gonna be okay.

[Moxxi]

I'm real sorry if I came off as somewhat dismissive or not as engaged as I should have been concerning a character cameo in one of your comics. "Suck up" wouldn't have been the word I would have used, since you just asked for a certain amount of engagement from artists you like is all.

And honestly, I've been where you are now. I have seen artists whose art I admired for years and struggled to get to their level, but it still took many thousands of hours studying anatomy, composition, perspective, trial-and-error sessions and that ceiling of improvement is still far out of reach! I don't feel I've made use of my free time until I've pencilled or inked at least one or two panels for any of my five comics.

Sorry if this seems like a pointless ramble. I work nights and I'm just super sleepy! lol I'm not great when it comes to giving advice.

Only you can figure out what'll foster your creativity that'll let you reach that level you hope to reach, but if you'd like, I could draw Alpha Alpaca in my "style", if you'd like. Doing whatever I can to help

[aqua03]

(Thanks for the encouragement! Actually, you weren't the artist I was talking about, they already PM'ed after they found this topic and we chatted a bit. Worked out really well and we got everything sorted out, so no worries. )

Thanks for the help and support as well, I'm really glad to have your guys cameo in my comic and I'm totally fine with drawing them for their one-panel cameo. (Although I was kicking around the idea of letting each of the artists involved in the cameo montage draw their panel if they want/can.)

As for the Alpha Alpaca thing, you don't have to draw him to make me feel better, really. But thanks for the offer, you can draw him if you still want to though. I love seeing other artist's takes on my characters!

[revisionstudios]

A lot of great advice has already been said here, but all I wanted to throw in is thank you for being aware enough to even see it as a problem. Honestly. That's a sign of growth and that you'll find a healthy way to deal with it soon. It's totally normal to have those feelings, but it's what you do with them that matters.

I've had a few people in my life--both close friends and distant onlookers--that due to jealousy have gone out of their way to either blame me for their lack of artistic progress or see me as an obstacle in their way instead of a peer to grow with. It's eroded friendships and in one scenario she did it publicly enough that she sullied her own name locally and no one will hire her.

Unchecked, those feelings can turn toxic and dangerous. As long as you're keeping an eye on it and trying to get better, it'll be okay. Take the advice here to heart and try the things that resonate with you!

[aqua03]

Thanks! Yeah, I am glad I decided to get it off my chest. Especially since the artist in question PM'd me when thy saw it and we had a chat about it as well, saying that they also understood where I was coming from and they have actually felt some envy towards me and my character writing as well. So, I'm glad I could share this and solve it when I had the chance to.