| Professional visual artist (filmmaker) for the last two decades here. Much sympathy - what you're going through is genuinely tough. Suggestions: 1) Therapy, if you can afford it. You're doing this because you love art, right? And you're getting to do art daily? And it's making you unhappy. That's something that's worth exploring with a trained professional, because clearly there's something sub-optimal going on there. 2) How much do you feel it's OK to suck? Is it OK if one of your finished pieces is pretty awful? What about 3 in a row? One of the problems with art is that it's an incredibly stressful field to work in professionally because of the level of competition and the perceived standards. If you're not completely OK with sucking from time to time, it'll be a hell of a drag on you. 3) Are you releasing your art? Are you getting feedback on it? Making stuff into a vacuum is draining. If at all possible, try to release it. Also, are you working on concepts for other people and projects, or just doing practise stuff? Getting feedback is pretty vital, not least because otherwise you'll tend to be overly critical of your own stuff, and also often critical in the wrong areas. 4) https://vimeo.com/24715531 . Seriously, watch that once a day or so - and despite what it says at the start it's not just for beginners. :) ANOTHER reason that art is really hard is "the gap" as Ira Glass refers to it. A finished piece never looks quite like it did in your head. Hope that all helps, and good luck! |