How do you stay motivated to improve?

[Moshimitsu]

I'd say just keep going and don't compare yourself to others like that. Everyone's road is different. The best way to improve is just practice, but it needs to be done the smart way. I've talked to an artist from gaming industry and he said that working with reference photos is only the base. If you have your own comfort zones, then step out of them. Just do your own mistakes and learn from them. And when looking for a proof of progression, look at your old art instead of other artists', that may just be really a motivation killer.

For example, I work with my art mainly with tons of reference, watch videos, read articles and books on topics I want to improve. And when I have a chance to go to Comic Con, game or comic event, I just go there and look for oportunities (meeting artists, listening to lectures etc.). I would also want have an artist friend that I could nag all the time but I don't know anyone irl and it'd be irritating doing it here ^^

Just do what you want to do and enjoy the process instead of worrying about the result

[AirisKiahin]

I guess the good thing is to compare yourself to the "old you".
I love to listen to art podcasts, audio books or just favourite music. And every day I spend at least half an hour to watch or read through any tutorial just to put a new bit of knowledge to the future me. It doesn't have to be something very hard or special. Just a new bit.

We are also all very different to compare to each other. Once I've met an artist in my own city. We're both furries, so we started to meet pretty often. I was shocked with his great paintings, his art style, his light and shadow works. And was just like: "Oh, he so amazing and I've just got stuck with my dumb cartoony kitties".
Once he invited me to his house just to draw and chat together. And during the chat I've said I was a bit jealous to his talent. And then he said he felt the same about me.
The thing was that all I draw - I draw from my imagination. My art skill is far not perfect, but that artist was jealous because he could never bring to his characters the same life, emotions and feelings like I brought to mine. I am always excited with my drawings, I'm happy to sit all the day long and just draw. But he only saw drawing as a routine job.
And on the top of that he confessed he never could build a pose. I've learned the basics, I've been struggling with perspective and dramatic views for my whole art life. 10 years later I can finally do many things I want to, but I'm still far from being perfect. I work hard every day and it is only last 2 years out of 10 I feel people like me, but I'm not really popular (yet I hope :D)
And what about him? That master I was jealous of turned out to be nothing. He can't build even a simple pose without mannequin, he can't draw the light and shadow without reference images. But nobody knows that and he seems to be a God.

You are the only one who makes your own life. If you want to be an artist, then struggle everyday. Learn tutorials, watch videos, draw, draw, draw every day. It doesn't matter if it is a full art or just a lazy sketch. Just do it every day and never stop

[mariusthered]

don't just stick to your characters and comic. practice drawing shapes from different angles, practice art styles other than your own. make use of tools such as the 3d models in clip studio paint. practice drapery (drawing cloth for the peeps who dont know) a good one is drawing your unmade bed or clothes on the floor.

as said before comparing yourself to other artist is not a good thing to do, by all means we all have artist who inspire us but we are not them and even if you were to draw the same picture as one of them as good as the original , all you really have done is made a copy ( and they lock you up for selling them in some cases )

@Moshimitsu if you ever need art advice give me a shout in a pm and I will help if I can.

[MK_Wizard]

The fact that improving means something to me and actually does do better for my art. I want to put my best foot forward and while it does take work, it's work that genuinely rewards.

[JRHoch]

I think it really helps to look at art outside of the comics world. I'll study work by illustrators and fine artists. I also check out many innovative comic artists to see how high the bar is for getting to be top level.

Work in different mediums. Crayon, oil paint, watercolor. Take life drawing classes. Using different art skills and different styles can help you improve in other areas.

[Moshimitsu]

Oh, thank you so much! That was surprising

@JRHoch Exactly! I took part in something similar to life drawing class once and it was completely different than usual drawing. Definitely helped to try out various poses and experiment with perspective.

But... I just wish traditional techniques were a little bit more forgiving while learning

[JRHoch]

It's the struggle that really helps you improve. And work fast. Pushing to work faster helps prod the brain to be less lazy.

[BlueWorldComics]

Short answer, I don't...

I had strong motivation in the beginning, but eventually my growth started stagnating and I have been focusing more on improving growth than working on my comic.

I have until March to have a good amount of work done, so I have time, but I do find going to the drawing board a chore at the moment...

Sorry for literally doing the opposite of answering your question.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Learn to ignore the ugliness. That's usually the most discouraging factor in any quest for improvement: the fact that what you're doing is so vastly inferior to what you're trying to do.

But that's the way it is. Progress is messy and gross, and the only way to get out of the messiness and the grossness is to trudge through it. Keep trying the awkward poses, study the way other artists do them, and practice them over and over again. Maybe the first 20 tries will still be as ugly as usual...but maybe the next 20 will be a little less ugly. Before you know it, you'll be at least a bit closer to where you want to be.

A good way to stay motivated while you 'trudge' is to keep a record of your progress...or at least a record of your goals. When I was younger, I used to take screenshots of drawings I really liked and wanted to be able to emulate someday. And surprise surprise-- now that I'm older and more experienced, I look back at them and proudly realize I can totally do all those things that seemed impossible before. Progress~

[Shanny8]

I look at and analyze others work and then try to improve on my own. Seeing other artists/creators works that I like motivates me to improve my own material...

[BlueWorldComics]

To actually answer your question...

Remember that you're supposed to be focusing on improving yourself, not becoming as good as another artist.

Yes, it's that simply...

[rajillustration]

I like to remind myself that sometimes we perceive that other people know everything, when the truth is we just know different things. So one artist may be like amazing at painting landscapes, but that doesn't make me any worse at painting than I was when I saw that, and I don't know everything about what they know--because every artist feels insecure, even the ones that appear to know everything. They look around and see everything they lack as well, and they might look at others and be like "gee, these guys are so good at linework, agh."

The internet is a strange place where we only see eachother's best work so we just end up making...assumptions, and may not realize when and where another artist struggles. A lot of artists with HUGE followings fall apart sometimes and I often wonder how the hell they do that when they have so much support to keep them motivated, but I think it's because we just don't see the whole picture, and that jealousy and this made up FOMO about art careers effects everyone, even those who appear on top.

So, to keep myself on track by not comparing myself to others, I like to make a note of at least one thing I did well in each painting I make. I have to really make an effort to be proud of what I do, because what I might see as a lack might to someone else be something really incredible. And like even if it gets no notes on twitter, all those social media sites probably won't exist 20 years down the road and no one will know how many notes it got. But that art I made? that's for forever. Even your worst art will outlive the most popular social media.

[Rhonder]

To answer the title question: for me it's legit just seeing that improvement that makes it worth it /want to keep going. You won't be able to see it on a small scale level, like day to day or even over the course of a week or month, but I find almost always when I look back at my work from 3,4,6,12,whatever months ago that I've made a pretty good amount of progress if I keep at it and challenge myself.

My advice for the end of post question: just keep forcing yourself to draw those things that you're bad at, and often! The times that I notice I don't see a lot of improvement in my work is when I stagnate and don't push myself enough. Drawing only angles I'm comfortable with, not trying too much foreshortening, skipping out on backgrounds, hiding/ignoring hands, etc. Gotta just do that kinda stuff a lot even if it looks really bad at first, and just keep trying to understand why it looks bad for now and what you can try to do better next time.

Working on a comic has helped me tackle and improve in many of these areas a ton, because I gotta publish my new page every week and start on the next one even if things are a little jenky, so I just experiment with all of these things on a weekly basis and move on my comic has a lot of inconsistencies as a result, but I'm sure it's better for it and none of my readers seem to mind much

[borzoiteeth]

For me it helps that I enjoy creating more than seeing the final result. I never expect to enjoy my finished stuff so its easier to move on to the next piece.

Something I haven't seen anyone mention- keep in mind what cultural pressures are being forced on you. I came from a place where more "cartoony" styles were respected but now live in a place that considers only works that play in hyper-realism/render to be the "real art". All styles and forms should be respected as real art but depending on where you live, some are considered more "superior" than others.

Also while its very important to practice anything you are not familiar with- reward yourself by drawing what you love in different ways! Sometimes simply tweaking a familiar subject will help your mind understand the next concept better.

[Luminosophy]

The way I see my progress in hindsight is that the early years are the worst years, and you slowly but surely progress to not perfection, but a much smoother process of learning. You eventually know exactly what you did wrong and you don't need hand holding from mentors as much any more.

But it's not all that bad! The answers are often right in front of us, we just avoid doing what we know we actually should out of the anxiety to fail. If you struggle with something specific, grind the hell out of it. Don't take your time, if you know you can't draw it then you're supposed to suck 500 times until you get it right. So don't spend hours making yourself angry trying to perfect a single drawing you don't understand. Sketch sketch sketch sketch sketch! Get the numbers out to get the progress out.

As for the motivation part, I think that's a little more personal. I only have the long haul in mind, which is acquiring the skill to create my comic at the level I dream of it being at. So it simply means practice practice practice. I think what helped the most if shifting my mindset from "I need to be perfect" to "I need to fail". However backwards it may sound, the latter is what gave me the most enjoyment out of learning because there's no pressure. If there's no pressure, I can draw as badly as I want. If I can draw as badly as I want, I can draw as often as I want. If I can draw as often as I want, I get the progress I need. : - )

I think it really helps to look at art outside of the comics world. I'll study work by illustrators and fine artists. I also check out many innovative comic artists to see how high the bar is for getting to be top level.

I actually can't stress how critical that is! Comic artists are combining a hodge podge of various skill sets together. By studying artists who highly specialize in just one of those aspects, you're getting the most bang for your buck in regards to learning. Comics can teach us how to put it all together but they're still abstracting and personalizing for what they want. Being open minded to external inspirations is crucial to your development.

[jensrichard77]

My motivation to improve is when someone says this is bad/crap.

My motivations to continue is when someone says. This is good/great

[nostalgicroxas]

Draw a lot.

I feel that some of my best art happens when I'm drawing a lot. Not "a lot of time on 1 piece" but "reasonable time on many pieces". Instead of 1 art a day, make 5. If that costs 5 hours, it does. If it costs 10 hours, it does. Then archive your art to whatever site you like the UI it's best to glance through. I like tumblr strictly for it's "archive" page.

Omg what is some of that trash. But that's several pieces done in a month, so very little drawing actually.

Keep in mind what do you want to improve? Half-bodies, whole bodies, chibis, backgrounds? Treat improving just like you would school - do it for a few hours every day. Draw or write for a few hours, few minutes, every day. Schedule it in. Schedule your food and TV and cellphone procrastination around it- set timers. Do whatever you have to. (important note, 2 of those that are colored by that brown chibi picture were not drawn by me. the artist let me color them and i linkback/credit them on the tumblr page itself)

I'm not a huge fan of SakimiChan but I do recall sitting through an interview with her doing her fanart for Tales of Berseria (velvet) and she says that it's important for her to draw at least 8 hours a day.

[LCT_m_a_d]

I used to be awful with angles and poses. I mean a couple of years a pro told me it was my biggest weakness. Now that's pretty much the only thing I do well.

For me I just practice redrawing A LOT of angled finished peices done by various artists. Then I practiced them with small tweaks such as swaped character heads, made various clothing adjustments, propped one arm etc. . Im at the point were I have a variety of templates committed to memory and I can visualize and make mental tweaks as needed and adapt small things mid-sketch. There are some poses I'm still working on but its so deep a rabbit hole that it doesnt feel urgent.

I don't know about other stuff because Im not very good elsewhere but its very mechanical in practice and evolution in production.

[MrTwennysebben]

Like the others posting here I like to go back and look at my older work and compare it to what I'm doing now. But what REALLY convinced me to just bite the bullet and start doing my own webcomic was actually looking at the webcomics I've been reading for the last twenty years and seeing their progress. Stuff like Megatokyo, Penny Arcade, Questionable Content, PvP, any long-running comic that has changed over the years. Go to any one of those comics' sites and look at their most recent comic and then hit that "<< FIRST" button and see the difference. In many cases it's pretty staggering.

For example: If Jeph Jacques can go from this

to this

then what's to stop me from just putting something out there and letting my style improve and evolve over time?

Another example would be today's Penny Arcade vs their very first comic.
Now:

Then:

And in both of these examples there's over fifteen years in between. It took them time, it'll take me time, it'll take you time, but basically the lesson is don't stop. That's how I stay motivated. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

[ZatchZ]

Sheer spite.
Absolute sheer spite.
Spite of myself, spite of my friends, my fans, everyone.
I will show them that I can do better than them, in everything.