Does anyone else ever feel a little intimidated when looking at someone else's art? There are a lot of days when I surf through dd and find lots of comics with much better art than mine. It makes me sad.

Not really, I'm happy with my art. Anyways, there will always be someone better than you.

What does get me sad is when I work hard on a page and I get ignored, while some piece of crap that was probably put together in 3 minutes gets more comments. That always pulls me down. :(

.: Myxomatosis :.

I'm basically happy with my art for the current story I'm telling. However if I was telling something a lot more serious I'd have to make the art a lot more realistic.

I'm never happy with my art. not 100%
for me competetion with other artists helps to create better art

I need to work on my art. A lot. It's my fault I don't do anything about that though.

Myxomatosis
Not really, I'm happy with my art. Anyways, there will always be someone better than you.

What does get me sad is when I work hard on a page and I get ignored, while some piece of crap that was probably put together in 3 minutes gets more comments. That always pulls me down. :(

Seconded! When I linked to my comic I got.. 1 reply.. while the next sprite comic got like 3 =/ I mean seriously, I spent so many hours doing this and nobody cares? wtf..

As for people being better than me.. meh, then there's still something to work towards =/

Oh, but as for intimidation, yeah of course. I'm indimidated by every pro comic out there (except perhaps Rob Liefield's) as well as a large majority of popular webcomics.

And some artists just freak me out with their skills, like whoever can do some amazing piece with MS Paint and a mouse.

I to get a little intimidated by professional art, But I don't let that slow me down or feel bad, I use it as something to strive towards, to learn from. I see what they do to make their work so good, and what I can do to improv mine in retrospect. If you look at an artist you admire's sketches you can learn a lot.

I just finsihed looking at Hawk's sketches from Appelgeeks, and I believed I've Improved a bit on my lips and eyes, especially for girls.

I also could probably help my case a lot if I added color or at least some black and white shading.

I too get a little frustrated when I work 3 plus hours on something, and still over shadowed by a comic that looks like it took 3 secs to make.

Masamune Shirow is a pro who does all his own stuff at every stage. At least that's what I've always read. There are quite a few non-US artists that're one man shows (in Europe, South America etc.), although I think that in Japan one man deals like Shirow are still pretty uncomon.

I'm usually pretty happy with my art (pencils at least) I only get feeling horrible when somone close to my age or younger is so much better than me

When you get older, saddly, you get used to it.

I see a decade younger than me doing better stuff than me. Its sad really. Sort of puts things into a totally different perspective.

I look at a lot of art, and so does my partner. I constantly get depressed when I look around at other people's art that kicks my ass. But It doesn't stop me from continuing to draw and trying to improve. If I see some technique that I like, I'll try to figure out how they did it. Or if they've got some stylistic flourish I adore, I might try to apply it myself. Basically learn from everyones stuff I'm all jealous of.

Its about all I can do really. I mean, they are better than I am, not much else to do about it.

Ha! When I see something I'm really jealous of, I try and work out how they did it, and then I work out if I could do it myself or not, and if I'd even want to.

No one is ever really better than you, they’ve just created art you’re envious of and want to be able to do yourself. And if you want to work like that badly enough: practise until you can! Otherwise, just be happy in your own style and get as good as you can at it.

I used to really admire Manga and I had a couple of goes at drawing in that style, but I was hopeless at it… And than I realised that own style was good enough, and even if I haven’t got the patients to master manga, I know I’m still bloody good at my own thing. So I just let others be manga experts, and I’ll stick to being good at doing what I do.

But it's a double edged sword. 8)
Not really, I just have to get that quote in.

I always compare my work to Rob Liefield, then I don't feel so bad.

I'll never compare my writing to Alan Moore. God damn that guy does his homework.

ozoneocean
No one is ever really better than you, they’ve just created art you’re envious of and want to be able to do yourself. And if you want to work like that badly enough: practise until you can! Otherwise, just be happy in your own style and get as good as you can at it.

Sorry but I have to dissagree with that. People can be better than you in art, they can have a better understanding of form and shape, a better undestanding of how shadows fall, better knowlege of perspective, and on and on. Even more so in comics, they can know how to tell a story better with panels, keep their characters looking constant througout a story.

And don't fall back on "oh its my style" just because you dont know these things. If your going to say its just your style, you better be ready to prove that you can do all I've mentioned as well.

Lucky
And don't fall back on "oh its my style" just because you dont know these things. If your going to say its just your style, you better be ready to prove that you can do all I've mentioned as well.

I stand behind what I say 100%. Art is easier than people think. We constantly set traps and limitations for ourselves: "Oh, I'll never be able to do that..." "Oh, that's so much better than I'll ever be able to do!".

We fool ourselves. You can do pretty much anything you put your mind to, (and I'm not talking about stupid stuff like magic or running faster than Ben Johnson etc.). Don't throw up barriers.
If you see an artistic creation that you really want to be able to produce yourself; you bloody well keep trying and working at it until you can do it! And then you better improve on it!

You can be happy with this, "oh, it's just because it's better than what I can do" crap. But that's not for me.

Also; neither the triumph of your achievement, nor its objective should be in imitation.

I do agree with that whole hartedly. I'm just saying that if you beleive that no artist is better than any other, you'll never get anywhere.

Somone is better than me becuase they know perspective, or the lines it takes to create beleiveable buildings. Once I learn the steps they take to do these things, they are no longer better than me

I understand what your saying, but saying no artist is better than any other dumbs down us as artists, and lets people create "Modern art" and sell it for thousands at museums. (but I wont get into that debate either)

Very simple I think. Everyone has their own style. No one can really copy your art line for line. They can get close, but not copy. So you should be happy you have your own style. Heck there is this comic called White Ninja. Horrible art....but his style and writing is great and that is why he is popular.

I Doubt it has anything to do with his art that makes him popular, his comedy is enough to carry the comic.

Well, from what the professional say, I've picked up that you shouldn't develope a style until you know how to draw realistically. Now of course all of us here have basically destroyed that rule, but it just means we're gonna have to do more work to break out of our current styles and into the more realistic zone if we want to be pros.

subcultured
I'm never happy with my art. not 100%
for me competetion with other artists helps to create better art

I think this is the guy any aspiring artist should listen to. I agree with him.

Dissatisfaction with your art is actually a healthy attitude for an artist who wants to improve his skill. I mean, it's okay to kick back and be a little proud of artwork you just finished, but if you ever start ignoring or denying mistakes, you're setting up a roadblock in your progress and growth.

Those other artists that intimidate you should become learning tools. There's no rule saying you can't analyze their techniques and test them out yourself.

Hell yes! but that's what keeps me drawing, about a year ago i'd basically given up drawing because i was one of the best in my grade, i had no competition. Then i met a girl who was 2 years younger than me and could draw stuff with far more skill than i could. So that was my inspiration to draw again, i didn't want to be out done by a 13 year old. Me and her are real good friends now, but i still plan on surpassing her.

I think making a webcomic's a great way to force yourself to practice... you have to update it constantly, and if you look, you'll see a steady improvement as the pages go.

Arson

Myxomatosis
Not really, I'm happy with my art. Anyways, there will always be someone better than you.

What does get me sad is when I work hard on a page and I get ignored, while some piece of crap that was probably put together in 3 minutes gets more comments. That always pulls me down. :(

Seconded! When I linked to my comic I got.. 1 reply.. while the next sprite comic got like 3 =/ I mean seriously, I spent so many hours doing this and nobody cares? wtf..

As for people being better than me.. meh, then there's still something to work towards =/

third-ed. it's like those crazy random internet stars...the numa numa kid, what the hell was that?

This is a great topic I think. I know that I am far to critical of my own work, and can not help but become dissapointed when I see someone else's work blow mine out of the water... In fact, when I first came to the Drunk duck, I began to draw a comic with the intention of posting, it some 5+ months ago. But when I began to browse around, I became so intimidated that I chickened out at the last moment and scrapped the whole project, and story. Had something like 30 pages written too hah.

But anyways, the thing that really dissapoints me is when I find someone younger than me who is more skilled than me....

Meh i dont ever care if anyones better then me or not, im just doing this for sheer pelasure.