I kinda feel that we'd only keep improving as time went on. Even if we had immortality, there's still so much out there we ca explore. We would just have more time, basically all of the time in the world, to evolve, get stronger, and improve even more!
as someone who has gone past his best level (i'm getting old) i will tell you guys that you do start to loose your skill as you get older. it's just life you loose some skills as you gain others. just make art for yourself sod everyone else.
Thank you for making the forum topic. When I see the work of others, I get inspired if I believe that the work is better than mine. It shows me that there are higher levels to try to reach. Without seeing better work from others, I might think that I'm the best and see no need to improve. This is similar to working out to me. I get motivated when I discover from someone else that they do different exercises or more repetitions of exercises to get in better shape than me or have a better physique than me. I prefer to see better work from others than for me to be the best.
I'm reminded of a poem I once heard that I really wish I had a copy of. Your floor may be my ceiling. It isn't about who is better than you, or meeting someone else's standards. It is about doing something to the best of your ability. It's about self worth. Only you know if you did the best you could, or said that's good enough and gave up. In the end, the only opinion that matters is yours.Only you can say you are a failure or a success. Only you can truly know if you sat on the floor, or in a chair, or got on a ladder and hit your ceiling.
i get a lot of comments saying how much they looove the way i draw the wolf/wolves
or how cute or cool i draw this character. or how pretty the way i draw the eyes... etc.
if my readers love the weird plot/premise/the way i draw things as they are
then this kind of support is more than enough to keep me going : >
even though i'm more than aware that there are many others a million times better than me.
this is just
good enough for me 
Well, I'm doing it all because I'm bored with my life and apart from drinking, there is absolutely nothing to do IRL around here. And I don't care if I'm bad at things I do, until I have fun with it 
The reason I continue drawing webcomics despite knowing there are people out there better than me is because STUFF YOU, I LIKE MAKING THEM, WEBCOMICS BANZAI (just kidding I love you, but webcomics banzai nevertheless).
My main goal here is that I'm trying to leave behind something meaningful, in the hopes that other people will read my art and find something meaningful.
Mortality is scary, so I'm using a backdoor method of keeping myself alive a little bit longer if I ever die early. So in this sense, it doesn't matter if someone is better than me at something - as long as I get the chance to make something and present it to the world and have people respond to it in meaningful ways, it's all g. Yep, all g. I'm sorry, I just finished reading Ashita no Joe and man it is so hype, here's an image:
I am aware that there's always someone better, but I enjoy what I create and try to improve on the way not to be better than that other person, but for my own work to be better. Comparing yourself to other people is a shortcut to a burnout, since you'll always be frustrated you're not as skilled as that other artist.
When you find someone better, you learn from that person. Maybe you won't ever be the best, but you'll be much closer than if you simply gave up.
Almost 10 years ago, a friend and I got one of our projects critiqued at Comic Con. We had been working on it for close to 2 years, and we were REALLY proud of what we had accomplished. We got shot down, however, and were basically told to mimic their best-selling author at the time.
I was FURIOUS, and that anger led to determination, which led to me redrawing everything we had at that point. I bypassed their artist and looked at even better ones to see where I could improve. As a result my artwork and storytelling are infinitely better today than they were back then. I'm happy I tried, because that's more than most people will ever do.
Revenge must taste so sweet, and that's very human 
I love it.
I agree about leading your anger and energy to something beneficial.
I cant worry about someone being better than me; if I waste too much energy consumed with what someone else is doing, it takes away from the energy that I'm supposed to do things with. I'm trying to be the best version of me that I can be; each day I become better than yesterday's version.
We just want to improve, get better at being ourselves! And ouserlves involve art, so we try to get better at art. Who cares if we're not the best in our field? It just means we can learn more. It's not the end result that is interesting, it's the path to getting there 
I think as a creator I think it's important not to try and compare yourself to who is better than you. Yes, there will always be someone better than you BUT that doesn't mean what you're doing isn't good. It doesn't mean that your work won't impact someone, and it won't bring joy to whoever is reading it.
As long as your making a solid effort to do the best you can and take whatever opportunities you can to improve, then that's all that matters. Being a creator isn't some massive contest (unless ya know you're actually in a contest) of someone has to be #1, it's about doing what you love and bringing something into the world that someone will enjoy or even just doing it for yourself! It doesn't even have to be about anyone else. If it moves and inspires you then you're doing what you should be.
Comparing yourself to others can be a positive and negative thing. Some can use it to motivate themselves, while it can be very damaging for others. With that in mind, do what best for you and just keep creating.
I like to subscribe to the two cakes theory:
Even if what you make is 'inferior' to whatever is 'superior', someone somewhere out there enjoys the stuff that you do. Just think of it as adding another cake to the party. Who knows? It might just be the work that someone falls in love with or inspires them.
And also, even if your work isn't great now, it will be in the future if you keep learning and keep working on your craft. Your work will always be 'inferior' if you stagnate and don't do anything to improve or imagine! The 'bad' work you do now has plenty of merits, including building the foundation of better work in the future.
So don't lose heart, creators!
They are so radically different from you though its no point in getting upset over it. When I see an artist thats better than me all it does is give me the drive to improve. So far all the artists I looked up to as a kid i've surpassed in some way or came close in skill level. It's all about not giving up.
This may sound cliche, but everything is about your personal mindset.
So you see someone better than you. Who says that has to be discouraging? Instead, I try to be inspired by those people.
So you know you will probably fail at something. Who says failure has to be painful? I try to see failure as a friend who helps me to learn.
So you know you may never reach a goal. Why do you need a goal to be satisfied? I try not to live for the sake of goals, but to do things for their own sake, because I enjoy it and because I can. A goal is only a means, not an end.
If you maintain the right kind of mindset, you can keep going despite all these 'problems'.
You might not ever be the best, but you can certainly live to be better, can't you?
Because art isn't pass/fail! Nor is life! If you get an A on the test and I get a B+, did I fail? No! And someones drawing being better than mine doesn't make me a failure either!
I think it's also important to recognize that there's something wrong with taking a positive about someone else and using it as a negative against ourselves. I say this as someone who'se been on the receiving end of jealousy from a friend and perfectly talented artist, and it was deeply crushing, not remotely flattering.
"Never enough" philosophy is kind of true because art relies on perception. There is NO way to make everyone happy because everyone has different aesthetic necessities. Nobody can say that they are is appealing to everyone and their work is perfect. You can even question if those top artists are really better than you. For example, There are artists that make such perfect drawings that I honestly find them uninspiring, I much rather watch "Imperfect" art that has a heart or that is surprising. There is no perfection in that sense but that doesn't mean you are set up to fail.
Be satisfied with the best art you can do right here right now. The art that makes you happy. If nothing makes you happy, is more likely an attitude problem, not an art problem. Maybe you can improve and start disliking what made you happy previously, that inevitable too, but for now, enjoy your art. The purpose is not to be perfect, the purpose is to express and move emotions.
