Do you hate your artwork?
 

Was gonna post this in the Art section, but seeing as how that seems to only be for actual art...this ended up being here instead.

So - are you the kind of person who hates your own drawings/paintings/designs, etc., but loves everyone else's? I find that I always loathe my work and criticize it the entire time I'm working on it, and I'll notice every single little thing that's even slightly off about it. But after it's done, and after I leave it for a while and eventually look at it again, I'll think to myself, "Huh. Not bad." But of course, that's just me personally.

I'm wondering if anyone else here is similar? And another thing I'll ask is, if you don't like your stuff, what motivates you to continue working? What inspires you to progress?

I don't hate my artwork nor love it but I do feel that there's always room to improve and I'm okay with that.
EDIT* There is work that I've done that I enjoyed working on and its a mixed grab bag of fanart, ceramic work, and digital work. Fair warning - a good deal of my fanart does contain quite a few OOC moments.
My digital photo manipulated work is also on the weird side.

Not exactly. I think I'm okay BUT, I can only draw with pen and pencil, I have absolutely no idea how to draw with a computer, or anything like that. So since now everyone's artwork looks entirely professional and mine by comparison looks like cave drawings, nobody but my wife will ever see it.

I mean, by most standards it's "okay", I mean when I was a kid I was "The one who could draw", but what people can do with technology now amazes me. So I just sketch or draw to relax sometimes and that's it.

Kind of envious of what everyone else can do but I will never have time to learn all that stuff. ((Shrug)) I do kind of miss people telling me I had "talent", but time has passed me by. Ah well.

I think most artists are pretty dissatisfied with their work most of the time. I never work on a project that I feel is completely finished. There is always some improvement that can be made. I guess that is the nature of the artist.
Over the years I've had to train myself to accept the fact that when the client says it's done, it's done...then on to the next one.

A big problem is the expectation in our head on what the work should look like. And we always strive for masterpieces.

I hate most of my art, but every now and again I'll see something I did that I like.

I try not to think about it any more, honestly. In the past, hatred for my own artwork would lead to long periods of not drawing at all, and because of that, I wouldn't improve, so next time I tried drawing, I'd hate it, and the cycle would repeat.

So I don't think about it. Instead, I think about what I'm going to draw next while I'm drawing, so I can get to work on the next one immediately.

This is me all over. I never think my cartoons are ever good enough. No matter how many people say different.
Problem is, I don't draw enough. I read once on the internet to just keep drawing. Draw till your fingertips bleed lol.
I think that's my downfall. I never get enough time to just sit down and doodle...

No, but I rarely like them.

Nope. I'm not always proud as pieces age & I improve, but overall, I am happy with my output.

My suggestion: try to squeeze in a scheduled time to draw something every day. Even if that drawing is just a two minute sketch or stupid doodle. One small drawing a day.

Another suggestion would be to doodle something while you're talking [physically] to somebody. Where they can see it, and laugh or something. I had a friend who would doodle characters reacting to the conversations I was having with her, and I loved it. It also gave her lots of doodling experience.

I know this is supposed to be about drawing, but I consider writing as art, too, so I'm going to answer this question as a writer. There are times where I'll write a story or a chapter of a story and I'll think it's not good enough after I've posted it. But then I get reviews saying that people liked it, and that cheers me up immensely. And reviews and encouragement are the things that keep me motivated to keep going. I look back at my very first TMNT fan fic and realize how horrible it really was, but then I look at my current work and realize how far I've come from that first story. I've gotten better at writing, and I'm proud of that.

I think doing art takes practice and as long as you have people who like your work, that's all that matters.

This is such an excellent post. I definitely feel writers should weigh in on this as well as artists [speaking as someone who does both] and I'm glad people give you encouragement.

Sure, a lot of artists write or draw for themselves, but getting feedback when we post it online is really, really important. It tells us by people that aren't us what work is good and what work can be improved upon. Having different sets of eyes on our work is important and can be the difference between someone continuing and someone giving up.

Yes, I do write for myself, but I love getting feedback, and if people like my work, that's good for me because it keeps me going. That's what we all should strive for.

I will say that I generally like my writing most times. I'm never satisfied with it but I think it's pretty good.

i don't have artwork but i do program apps, and it is the same thing i hate my creations when they are finished because i want to do more,make them look better, or i think they are just too plain... but i get complements and decent ratings so i guess they are alright ;)

Likewise. Yeah, drawing consistently is really the cure-all method. It (A) makes you improve at an exceedingly higher rate, and (B) gets you in the habit of drawing quickly enough to care a lot less about the way something looks. So that's really the best thing you can possibly do for yourself in that situation, and it's something I've been trying to do too, but - as you say - not enough hours in the day. I can usually only do mass drawings during holidays or breaks or what have you. That's why Summer is basically also known as "Drawing Season" for me.

And thanks for the advice Netkeeper. Haven't tried that, but sounds effective.

Well, I can't say I blame you. Your stuff looks professional and you continuously manage to get commissions/ business deals. Not to mention it's praised pretty much unanimously. So I imagine you must be doing something right. :trazz:

Writing is most definitely an art form. And you're absolutely right about it being easier to have confidence in your work if you have people's complements to back you up. I draw to impress myself more than I do it to impress other people - but if other people like my work, then it's a whole lot easier for me to like it too. Although, there have been some instances where I love something I make that everyone else looks at like, "Ehh." Which is unfortunate, but hey. :lol:

And I write a little bit myself (or I used to, anyway; I'd like to start that up again), so I completely get where you're comin' from.

Nope. I like my stuff.

I usually think my stuff looks pretty good until I scan it. Once it's laying flat on screen, it seems I notice every single imperfection or skewed symmetry. Fortunately... we live in the age of digital touchup.

I like it. Some of my stuff is even surprising to me. I'm like "Ya know this looks a lot better than I thought it would". Every once in a while I would draw something that I hate, but then I tear it up and start from scratch.

*high five* We're in the same boat, my friend.

You know, ironically, I keep everything I work on and never scrap hardly anything, regardless of how I think it looks. Probably so I can look back and laugh at it sometime down the road.

^ This is a more recent behavior. And I use that term loosely as ten years is hardly that recent. Before that I would keep EVERYTHING: doodles in class, Joke sketches I did for my friends, etches in books, everything. But I still have some of my stuff from when I was like 4 or 5 and I cringe a bit but in a weird a*hole tastic way I still say to myself "meh, still better than most 5 years olds."
Hell back in what... 5th grade I started making my own tmnt comic that went on for 60 some pages until I realized I just made the comic version of a video game (Just the Turtles beating up on Footsoldiers until they got to a Mutant Boss, rinse repeat) laying around somewhere.

At first I used to be like that but once you are tossed in a few hundred critiques, you learn to not criticize yourself. You just need to try and accomplish the goals you set for yourself to the best of your abilities.

^^I get that. But when you know that what you just drew is not as good as you can make it, and you still have the desire to re-do it then why not?
Plus to me at least some stuff isn't worth keeping around. Some drawings though, take me back to that time and place when I worked on it. Kind of a cool. There is a certain nostalgic reason to keep stuff.

I like my art and I think I'm slowly improving, but the moment I share it with anyone I start noticing all these little problems and I slowly lose my confidence. :tanime:
When I share something (online or real life), I occasionally have this little voice in my head that tells me I should destroy any evidence that I ever existed and to go live in a cave alone the rest of my life. :lol:..