At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

At 6/12/25 08:30 PM, Thetageist wrote:

At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

...Jeez. Two for two with people coming to me in different threads this evening, talking about how they've gotten a lot of hostile comments.

Has the Art Forum really gotten this toxic towards quote-unquote "bad" artists?

I recommend you take a break from the BBS for a while, if not the entire site. It sounds like you need a hiatus for your mental health.

At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

At 6/12/25 09:58 PM, AldilusRex wrote:

At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

I was gonna reply in the thread, but it got locked. Draw Like A Sir is my go-to for tutorials. He will, however, tell you to practice the fundamentals first. You don't need to draw realistic or overly detailed art. Fundies just teach you how everything connects. Try this video.

Do you enjoy drawing with a mouse? You can always draw on paper and post the pic if it feels more comfortable.

At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

At 6/13/25 12:41 PM, switzrr wrote:

At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

Yup, I remember my first time asking for advice on here when I was starting out ... ended up getting called "an incel for drawing", whatever that means. I'm not going to tell you to "toughen up" or anything like that, but I will tell you that after enough time on here you kind of start to adapt to the "acceptable" manner of requesting advice on the forum. Some lessons are best learned the hard way. That being said, there are alternative ways to get advice if you find the NG forums too harsh. I agree with the person who suggested you take a break from the forums - I did the same and even made a new account (which you don't have to do; I had made such a fool of myself on the forums by that point that I didn't want those posts to follow me around in the future).

As for my thoughts on your thread (which is locked now), all I'll say is that while it's perfectly fine to aim for a simplistic art style, I would still recommend practicing drawing real-life objects/people/animals anyway - "learn the rules before you break them" and all that.

At 6/14/25 05:07 AM, AsAnAsterisk wrote:Kinda just rambling

I think I'm fairly decent at art, while I still struggle with perfectionism and overall composition (detracting from and not properly emphasizing what should be the focus) and also that I sort of have a "comfort zone" I'd do well to try to break out of, I'm generally not too disheartened with my art. I've been drawing every day for 9 and a half years at this point so I'm pretty proud of that too.

I am rather discouraged with the lack of traction I get. I know that shouldn't really be a focus, but the reason I initially started to make art was to eventually be able to make really great fan art for obscure shit no one cares about because those are the types of games/anime/manga that interest me the most, and the people who share that interest could see something incredible for an interest of theirs that normally, well, garners no interest. Seeing art from a guy called l_aciel on pixiv about this game I like Gingiva was a big inspiration for that, it looked super professional and for a game that lesser known it was amazing to see. It's only natural for that kinda stuff to not get much traction (and to be honest I mainly just draw original characters nowadays) but the initial inspiration to go heavy into art was to express these things I have an interest in and share them, and I desire at least the level of engagement from an audience to know that that feeling is reciprocated, if that makes any sense.

Really a big problem of mine is social media itself, I'm kind of addicted to not using it. For the longest time I would post only to tumblr and very irregularly at that, it's only fairly recently that I began posting regularly and have branched out to pixiv and Newgrounds. These are all relatively underused platforms (compared to, y'know, twitter etc) and even then I still just use them solely to post art and immediately leave, I think I have a tendency to compare myself to others which makes it too tempting to not really look at or engage with what anyone else is doing.

I know that if I actually interacted with others and formed friendships online I'd probably be able to get much more of a following but to do that I'd have to force myself to use social media, even though I do genuinely enjoy the art of others, forcing myself to do so and befriend people for the ultimate goal of self-promotion would just make the entire exchange feel very transactional and scummy. I'm probably overthinking it, as the whole "appreciating the art of others and befriending them" thing is something I'd genuinely enjoy on its own, I'd still have trouble not feeling slimy about it.

So ultimately while I know what a lot of my problems and bad patterns of behavior are, actually stopping them and getting out of that way of thinking is easier said than done.

At 6/14/25 05:07 AM, AsAnAsterisk wrote:Kinda just rambling

I think I'm fairly decent at art, while I still struggle with perfectionism and overall composition (detracting from and not properly emphasizing what should be the focus) and also that I sort of have a "comfort zone" I'd do well to try to break out of, I'm generally not too disheartened with my art. I've been drawing every day for 9 and a half years at this point so I'm pretty proud of that too.

I am rather discouraged with the lack of traction I get. I know that shouldn't really be a focus, but the reason I initially started to make art was to eventually be able to make really great fan art for obscure shit no one cares about because those are the types of games/anime/manga that interest me the most, and the people who share that interest could see something incredible for an interest of theirs that normally, well, garners no interest. Seeing art from a guy called l_aciel on pixiv about this game I like Gingiva was a big inspiration for that, it looked super professional and for a game that lesser known it was amazing to see. It's only natural for that kinda stuff to not get much traction (and to be honest I mainly just draw original characters nowadays) but the initial inspiration to go heavy into art was to express these things I have an interest in and share them, and I desire at least the level of engagement from an audience to know that that feeling is reciprocated, if that makes any sense.

Really a big problem of mine is social media itself, I'm kind of addicted to not using it. For the longest time I would post only to tumblr and very irregularly at that, it's only fairly recently that I began posting regularly and have branched out to pixiv and Newgrounds. These are all relatively underused platforms (compared to, y'know, twitter etc) and even then I still just use them solely to post art and immediately leave, I think I have a tendency to compare myself to others which makes it too tempting to not really look at or engage with what anyone else is doing.

I know that if I actually interacted with others and formed friendships online I'd probably be able to get much more of a following but to do that I'd have to force myself to use social media, even though I do genuinely enjoy the art of others, forcing myself to do so and befriend people for the ultimate goal of self-promotion would just make the entire exchange feel very transactional and scummy. I'm probably overthinking it, as the whole "appreciating the art of others and befriending them" thing is something I'd genuinely enjoy on its own, I'd still have trouble not feeling slimy about it.

So ultimately while I know what a lot of my problems and bad patterns of behavior are, actually stopping them and getting out of that way of thinking is easier said than done.

At 6/15/25 02:45 AM, EudaemonArts wrote:I need to open up about my self imposed pressure with art. I feel really exhausted with creation. Like, I have plenty ideas and plenty of plans to improve and express, but the constant input of energy into my work is burning me out. Every single day, in some way or another I'm pushing myself to make humongous progress on some part of my art or creative skills as it is. The worst part is, when I try to take a break even for a day, it's like I can't live without the hobby and I have to create. I can't tell if this is incredibly good discipline or a sign I have unhealthy expectations for my input with creating as an artist.

I think my self-imposed perfectionism with my art is a double edged sword, since I'm adapting to new skills about line weight / clarity, fundamentals and design work, but the trade off is that art consumes my life. I'm OK with that, since I'm committed and willing to be great, but I feel like if I'm not an industry professional within the span of a year, I feel like my world will collapse. Everything is a balancing act that I'm handling so well but it's a layer of stress that I need to work through. Like, I feel like I need to be as good as my idol mangakas - which is good as a goal, but an unhealthy expectation. I've barely been doing art for two years and I feel like I need to have 10 years of experience. What should I do? Is my work good enough and am I working hard enough or do I need to reposition myself. I'm not sure if I just have a toxic self-image or if I need to take my time and trust the art process better.

In the meantime, I'll be working on my studies to regarding form and perspective to make add more stylistic realism to my image and work on 3D spaces for my art to do comic work. I understand sometimes things just seem hard or get hard in life and you just need to suck it up and work through it. I'm not against feedback (Hence why I use these forums a lot) - I'm mature enough to have the humility to understand like 80% of art feedback is out of people wanting to see you succeed. I'm also watching some YT vids on form and perspective, so I am doing a bit of self imposed teaching. I'm moreso just confused on whether my exhaustion is a good or bad sign. Sorry if this was long!

(P.S. I apologise for my previous post in this thread a few days ago - I don't feel like I properly communicated how I was feeling at the time and there might have been a lack of humility, which is obviously problematic since that may discourage other already discouraged artists.)

At 6/15/25 05:17 PM, Thetageist wrote:

At 6/15/25 02:45 AM, EudaemonArts wrote:I need to open up about my self imposed pressure with art. I feel really exhausted with creation. Like, I have plenty ideas and plenty of plans to improve and express, but the constant input of energy into my work is burning me out. Every single day, in some way or another I'm pushing myself to make humongous progress on some part of my art or creative skills as it is. The worst part is, when I try to take a break even for a day, it's like I can't live without the hobby and I have to create. I can't tell if this is incredibly good discipline or a sign I have unhealthy expectations for my input with creating as an artist.

I think my self-imposed perfectionism with my art is a double edged sword, since I'm adapting to new skills about line weight / clarity, fundamentals and design work, but the trade off is that art consumes my life. I'm OK with that, since I'm committed and willing to be great, but I feel like if I'm not an industry professional within the span of a year, I feel like my world will collapse. Everything is a balancing act that I'm handling so well but it's a layer of stress that I need to work through. Like, I feel like I need to be as good as my idol mangakas - which is good as a goal, but an unhealthy expectation. I've barely been doing art for two years and I feel like I need to have 10 years of experience. What should I do? Is my work good enough and am I working hard enough or do I need to reposition myself. I'm not sure if I just have a toxic self-image or if I need to take my time and trust the art process better.

In the meantime, I'll be working on my studies to regarding form and perspective to make add more stylistic realism to my image and work on 3D spaces for my art to do comic work. I understand sometimes things just seem hard or get hard in life and you just need to suck it up and work through it. I'm not against feedback (Hence why I use these forums a lot) - I'm mature enough to have the humility to understand like 80% of art feedback is out of people wanting to see you succeed. I'm also watching some YT vids on form and perspective, so I am doing a bit of self imposed teaching. I'm moreso just confused on whether my exhaustion is a good or bad sign. Sorry if this was long!

(P.S. I apologise for my previous post in this thread a few days ago - I don't feel like I properly communicated how I was feeling at the time and there might have been a lack of humility, which is obviously problematic since that may discourage other already discouraged artists.)

This is my suggestion:
I think you need to take a break, maybe two weeks or so, from receiving feedback (NG hiatus or similar) and use that time to really dive deep into that emotional hole you're trying to fill with art. Try to put your finger on what the "what happens if I'm not good enough" worry is and what drives it. Then once you understand where that insecurity lies that's driving you to fear failure so strongly, you can start to get at the root of the problem and start working on helping yourself heal and grow.

If I've learned anything from my therapist, it's that it's easy to distract yourself and avoid actually taking time to take emotional inventory with myself. Find out what you're feeling and why. Put it into words and understand it. Don't judge yourself for it, but approach yourself with compassion.

At 6/15/25 07:00 PM, EudaemonArts wrote:

At 6/15/25 05:17 PM, Thetageist wrote:

At 6/15/25 02:45 AM, EudaemonArts wrote:I need to open up about my self imposed pressure with art. I feel really exhausted with creation. Like, I have plenty ideas and plenty of plans to improve and express, but the constant input of energy into my work is burning me out. Every single day, in some way or another I'm pushing myself to make humongous progress on some part of my art or creative skills as it is. The worst part is, when I try to take a break even for a day, it's like I can't live without the hobby and I have to create. I can't tell if this is incredibly good discipline or a sign I have unhealthy expectations for my input with creating as an artist.

I think my self-imposed perfectionism with my art is a double edged sword, since I'm adapting to new skills about line weight / clarity, fundamentals and design work, but the trade off is that art consumes my life. I'm OK with that, since I'm committed and willing to be great, but I feel like if I'm not an industry professional within the span of a year, I feel like my world will collapse. Everything is a balancing act that I'm handling so well but it's a layer of stress that I need to work through. Like, I feel like I need to be as good as my idol mangakas - which is good as a goal, but an unhealthy expectation. I've barely been doing art for two years and I feel like I need to have 10 years of experience. What should I do? Is my work good enough and am I working hard enough or do I need to reposition myself. I'm not sure if I just have a toxic self-image or if I need to take my time and trust the art process better.

In the meantime, I'll be working on my studies to regarding form and perspective to make add more stylistic realism to my image and work on 3D spaces for my art to do comic work. I understand sometimes things just seem hard or get hard in life and you just need to suck it up and work through it. I'm not against feedback (Hence why I use these forums a lot) - I'm mature enough to have the humility to understand like 80% of art feedback is out of people wanting to see you succeed. I'm also watching some YT vids on form and perspective, so I am doing a bit of self imposed teaching. I'm moreso just confused on whether my exhaustion is a good or bad sign. Sorry if this was long!

(P.S. I apologise for my previous post in this thread a few days ago - I don't feel like I properly communicated how I was feeling at the time and there might have been a lack of humility, which is obviously problematic since that may discourage other already discouraged artists.)

This is my suggestion:
I think you need to take a break, maybe two weeks or so, from receiving feedback (NG hiatus or similar) and use that time to really dive deep into that emotional hole you're trying to fill with art. Try to put your finger on what the "what happens if I'm not good enough" worry is and what drives it. Then once you understand where that insecurity lies that's driving you to fear failure so strongly, you can start to get at the root of the problem and start working on helping yourself heal and grow.

If I've learned anything from my therapist, it's that it's easy to distract yourself and avoid actually taking time to take emotional inventory with myself. Find out what you're feeling and why. Put it into words and understand it. Don't judge yourself for it, but approach yourself with compassion.

I probably won't take time off creating since I'm in a really good workflow right now, however, I will use the time I'm creatin to make big improvements and changes to grow my style by using these feelings as fuel. I need to express my own positive self image and quality more through my art (By this, I mean a shift in style to better reflect the goals I want to achieve with my work) and I need to make some big adjustments to my style and consequently my quality to help reflect how I feel better so I don't get burnt out or lost from art.

I'm trying to use new references like models or the art of Hirohiko Araki to make my images appear more detailed and realistic imagery. Additionally, asides from using models for posing and detail, I highly suggest to people to listen to new music that reflects their style. I won't say too much, but I really just said to myself "I need to make my art gay-er". And now, I'm drawing lips, eyes, and muscles tons better. Your workspace and process should be like one solid flow, and multitasking or letting life's woes apart of that flow will drag you down. I think it's really healthy for artists to focus on workflow over constant creation IMO.

At 6/15/25 07:16 PM, Thetageist wrote:

At 6/15/25 07:00 PM, EudaemonArts wrote:

At 6/15/25 05:17 PM, Thetageist wrote:

At 6/15/25 02:45 AM, EudaemonArts wrote:I need to open up about my self imposed pressure with art. I feel really exhausted with creation. Like, I have plenty ideas and plenty of plans to improve and express, but the constant input of energy into my work is burning me out. Every single day, in some way or another I'm pushing myself to make humongous progress on some part of my art or creative skills as it is. The worst part is, when I try to take a break even for a day, it's like I can't live without the hobby and I have to create. I can't tell if this is incredibly good discipline or a sign I have unhealthy expectations for my input with creating as an artist.

I think my self-imposed perfectionism with my art is a double edged sword, since I'm adapting to new skills about line weight / clarity, fundamentals and design work, but the trade off is that art consumes my life. I'm OK with that, since I'm committed and willing to be great, but I feel like if I'm not an industry professional within the span of a year, I feel like my world will collapse. Everything is a balancing act that I'm handling so well but it's a layer of stress that I need to work through. Like, I feel like I need to be as good as my idol mangakas - which is good as a goal, but an unhealthy expectation. I've barely been doing art for two years and I feel like I need to have 10 years of experience. What should I do? Is my work good enough and am I working hard enough or do I need to reposition myself. I'm not sure if I just have a toxic self-image or if I need to take my time and trust the art process better.

In the meantime, I'll be working on my studies to regarding form and perspective to make add more stylistic realism to my image and work on 3D spaces for my art to do comic work. I understand sometimes things just seem hard or get hard in life and you just need to suck it up and work through it. I'm not against feedback (Hence why I use these forums a lot) - I'm mature enough to have the humility to understand like 80% of art feedback is out of people wanting to see you succeed. I'm also watching some YT vids on form and perspective, so I am doing a bit of self imposed teaching. I'm moreso just confused on whether my exhaustion is a good or bad sign. Sorry if this was long!

(P.S. I apologise for my previous post in this thread a few days ago - I don't feel like I properly communicated how I was feeling at the time and there might have been a lack of humility, which is obviously problematic since that may discourage other already discouraged artists.)

This is my suggestion:
I think you need to take a break, maybe two weeks or so, from receiving feedback (NG hiatus or similar) and use that time to really dive deep into that emotional hole you're trying to fill with art. Try to put your finger on what the "what happens if I'm not good enough" worry is and what drives it. Then once you understand where that insecurity lies that's driving you to fear failure so strongly, you can start to get at the root of the problem and start working on helping yourself heal and grow.

If I've learned anything from my therapist, it's that it's easy to distract yourself and avoid actually taking time to take emotional inventory with myself. Find out what you're feeling and why. Put it into words and understand it. Don't judge yourself for it, but approach yourself with compassion.

I probably won't take time off creating since I'm in a really good workflow right now, however, I will use the time I'm creatin to make big improvements and changes to grow my style by using these feelings as fuel. I need to express my own positive self image and quality more through my art (By this, I mean a shift in style to better reflect the goals I want to achieve with my work) and I need to make some big adjustments to my style and consequently my quality to help reflect how I feel better so I don't get burnt out or lost from art.

I'm trying to use new references like models or the art of Hirohiko Araki to make my images appear more detailed and realistic imagery. Additionally, asides from using models for posing and detail, I highly suggest to people to listen to new music that reflects their style. I won't say too much, but I really just said to myself "I need to make my art gay-er". And now, I'm drawing lips, eyes, and muscles tons better. Your workspace and process should be like one solid flow, and multitasking or letting life's woes apart of that flow will drag you down. I think it's really healthy for artists to focus on workflow over constant creation IMO.

Yeah, I wasn't saying take a break from drawing at all! Just a break from the social media angle of it and having to respond to everything and post everything.
Sometimes I find that my best art workflow happens when I don't let myself have access to NG.

At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

At 6/25/25 12:26 PM, MrFlorida2050 wrote:

At 6/12/25 08:26 PM, PizzaPasta100 wrote:I know what I'm talking about ain't as serious as other's on this thread, but recently I started a forum for art advice. Overtime, through my fault and other's, it went sour. I then started another one so I could show more art thinking I got better with reflections and shading and not only did it turn sour, but it turned toxic. I was called "Turbo Austimo", a "waste of time", a "wee child", I was told to fuck off, that I could never get better, that I had an ego, and much more. It just felt soul crushing and the more I said, the more I was harassed. I went to sleep crying that night feeling like I could never get better, that I'm just stuck. All I wanted was just a thread that all of us could be nice to each other.

damn man i'm so sorry about what you've gone through, and yeah i've been through that type of bullshit before with online people because in reality when a online member sees a newcomer who just wants to make friends they either ignore you at best or start hating and making fun of you at worst mostly because they see you as nothing more then a annoying little cringelord child who doesn't belong in their circle of friends but then you got people who start liking you and your art at first but then they start favortizing other more overrated artist to put it lightly while completely ignoring you in the process, and let me tell you discord is infamous for having these types of people because thats where most of my experiences happened when i was starting out as a artist on the internet

i mean i've already talked a lot about my experiences here on theta's thread but if you really want my advice kid
a discord mod i was acquainted with once said before

you need to make art not to show off to people but for your own enjoyment and if someone does like what you make then thats a bonus man because at the end of the day it's not about how many people like it, it's only about if you like it

At 6/30/25 09:32 AM, Lady-Mystery wrote:Sometimes I get so tired of putting effort into art. It seems like no matter what I do, how much I do, it is never enough. Since the year began, I still have not one single piece of 3D art I'd consider good enough to post anywhere.

Instead, I have found myself split between three different projects, one of them in particular is a tag-along that has been dragging its feet for as long as possible, and is making work on the other two intangible.

It is a hand drawn and painted map and it has been taking literally forever. We're talking months. After putting the other two projects on hold, I have been going HAM at it and realized there is at least another week's worth of work left to do (mainly because the last section on it is this abso-fucking-lutely horrible detailed mountainous/cliff-type area). I can't just ignore it, because I NEED this map to make a 3D variant of it in both Unreal Engine and as a guide for future map illustrations for the setting most of my work is based on (so, I can't even finish the Gary Gygax 75 Challenge without it).

I feel so tired of this. So, so tired. I want just one thing, ONE thing I can get done and post. Anything! Feels like being a bug in a maze, picking away at things but getting nothing finished, going in circles forever...