Improving/goal setting

[split pewter]

I feel like I made similar posts to this in the past… but the thing is, I feel like I need to improve in art somehow. Everyone I see draws so well and all their ocs look good and everyone really likes them and when I post mine, they don‘t receive the same hype. I know I‘m not as good as them and can’t make characters as good-looking as them but it brings me down and makes me feel really envious at times. Someone told me I should set specific goals and start there, but I have no idea where to even start. I don‘t have any goal in mind I could follow because everything needs to be improved at once and it‘s just soo much… I‘d appreciate some advice.

Ill leave some sketches/doodles/artworks of mine here for variation

Theyre in backwards order tho lmao

[unique grail]

Well what specifically is it about your art youre not satisfied with? Dont just say stuff like “well others are better than me so i want to get better” be specific. Is it your coloring? Lineart? Composition? What specifically are you not satisfied with

[split pewter]

I don‘t know tbh
A lot of things like artstyle, character design, rendering, composition

I feel like looking at one thing wont solve my problem

But I think if I had to say one thing it would probabyl be the fact that my style looks simple and childish while everyone else uses soft rendering and very thin lineart and thats why their art looks like an adult made it

[unique grail]

Not saying only look at one thing. However if you look too broadly youll overwhelm yourself and wind up giving up because of it. Also age does not determine what your art looks like. How much dedicated experience you put in to improve is what determines it. There are 60 year olds who draw like an 8 year old

[split pewter]

I‘ve been drawing for 6 years and it still feels like I‘m a beginner 💔

[unique grail]

And i totally get it. Its the amount of deliberate practice, not the years that determines your experience

Ik people who are 30 who have not improved hardly at all since middle school because they havnt truely invested their time into deliberate practice

[split pewter]

I want to practice as well but I have no idea where to start

[signal torrent]

Ok so here's the real issue, why are you comparing yourself to other artists?

Listen, you're not going to improve at the craft comparing your art to others, just draw what you enjoy. If you always compare yourself to other artists, you'll hate your own art and not want to draw, which leads to stagnation. If you really want to improve, keep drawing and don't worry about how your art looks right now, you'll get better

And if you want me to be 100% with you, I don't know what you're talking about, your stuff looks good.

[split pewter]

Yeah but I feel like my artworks look like less in other people‘s eyes because they look simple
I know you just draw for yourself and shouldn’t worry abt what other people say, but sometimes in servers my art receives like one comment and then someone else posts and they get lots of reactions and comments
I try not to think about it too much, but it really brings me down and makes me feel like my art is worth less at times

Also I barely see big artists using cel shading

[signal torrent]

That should be a good thing, that makes you different

[split pewter]

[split pewter]

Okay so alternatively if I wanted to change my cel shading style into this soft rendering style, how would I go about it?

[signal torrent]

I'm probably not the best person for that