Ever since I’ve been on Scratch in the past couple of years and have really built relationships with people and have established my art around the TFC + general Warriors community, I’ve had/seen several messages along the lines of this: “I’ll never be as good as you, I should just give up.” “We all know […] is/are the best artist(s), so there’s no point.” “I’m just so jealous of your talent, I’m giving up.” “[…] is the best artist, I could never be like them.” This last one may seem like a compliment, but it hurts. I won’t be naming names, because I’ve forgiven the people who have spoken to me this way or have written things like this in other messages/projects. I just wanted to address something: Do you think you’re the only one? I didn’t really have YouTube or access to the internet browser (aside from Scratch) until I was around 11-12. I’, completely self-taught. My entire art journey, I constantly compared my art to others’ and stared at my own for hours at a time cursing myself that ‘why can’t I be nearly as good as people half my age?’. And if you’re reading this, you have a single clear sign: I haven’t given up on art yet. All these years of being dissatisfied in my work, I’ve told myself to just give up and try and find a new hobby, because I wasn’t getting anywhere. Constantly yearning to improve, hating my art and my skill, comparing my own pieces to others’ who didn’t have half the years of experience as me. Here’s the blunt truth: It takes practice. For instance, one of my uncles is a tattoo artist, and the other the head chef of an exclusive, 5-star restaurant. Both of these jobs- both forms of art- take time, effort, and dedication to get where they are. Do you think one just picked up an ink-gun and splattered some random lines on someones arm and magically became good at it? Do you think the other decided to apply for a job as a chef without going to cooking school and hardly any experience? No, that’s not how it works. You can’t pick up a pencil- whether it be a N02 or a digital pencil-, put it to screen/paper and expect amazing pieces to suddenly appear. It’s not as easy as putting what’s in your head onto your canvas, no matter how hard we want to believe that. I believe everyone is an artist in one way or another, some just haven’t rediscovered it yet. About three years ago, I saw this YT short once by Rishi Draws, one of my personal favorite artists out there. Here’s what it said: Take this story from Howard Ikemoto: “When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college, that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, ‘You mean they forget?’” I love that story. It reminds me of a Picasso quote, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Hidden in both of these messages is the simple truth that we don’t need to become artists, we already are artists. Plot twist, we’ve been artists all along. The challenge is to be brave enough not to forget. — That simple short encouraged me to keep going. It reminded me we can’t all pick up art and already be good at it. Though we’re all natural-born artists as our Creator shaped us to be, you have to remember that privilege and practice it until you realize it’s truly what you want to do. I don’t want to be a knockdown for people who compare their art to mine. I want to be an inspiration, for people to take my art and see it and say “Wow, I want to be that good one day.” And instead of giving up halfway, keep pushing through. Learning, growing, and shaping your own art into something special to you and you alone. Something that continues the cycle, and something that’ll make the younger generations pick up your own art and go, “Wow, I’d love to draw like that one day.” So here’s my final point: Keep going. Don’t compare your art- or yourself- to others, whether they’ve had years more experience or much less experience. This only brings us down, and as a famous quote once said: “We’re our own worse critics.” This couldn’t be more true. Try and see your creations from a different perspective, from how others view it. See how it could be improved, and what everyone loves about it. Never give up something if YOU believe you want to do it. Thanks for your time. - Norway
