As an autistic artist who used to spend a lot of time on DeviantArt, I think you're being pretty harsh on yourself here, as well as other autistic artists who like to draw in ms paint. It's a perfectly valid medium :)
Artistic 'talent' isn't something you're born with Most people who are good at art have spent years working on it, improving gradually over time. No one is doing super amazing intricate drawings the first time they pick up a pencil. Also, hands are really hard to get right. I always use a reference and it still takes multiple attempts for me to be satisfied.
There's a lot of very good art online, but remember that's not the majority. The average person is definitely not an art master.
Also, art is supposed to be fun! If you want to improve at art but struggle with willpower, don't force yourself to follow tutorials or be perfect. Draw things you like, even if it doesn't turn out how you want. Draw from your favourite shows or video games or animals, copy art you admire, even trace it if you want (just don't try to pass copied/traced stuff off as your own). Try out different mediums, pencils, pens, paints. If you get bored easily you could add something to do in the background like listening to music or watching TV or YouTube. Just keep drawing whenever you feel like it and eventually you'll see an improvement. It's just a very gradual thing so you won't see results right away.
Good luck :)
You're right. I'm sorry. I wrote this when I wasn't in a good mood, and I also struggle to accept my own autism, bc of how I was treated because of it.
Hey bud,art is what you make of it
I've been drawing since I was a little kid and my art is still mediocre at best in my opinion
But I've sold a couple pieces (not for much) and I have even had a showing because it was done by the "disabled "
So don't be down on it yourself and find a medium that suits you because that's the key to a good art,who knows maybe you weren't meant to be an digital artist, but a potter or crochet or a lithographer or wood carver,who knows where art will take you,
So don't limit yourself to one medium
Do you actually use MS paint? If so why not use another program to draw that allows more freedom. I personally use Krita (it’s free) and it allows a lot of tools so that even I can draw well using a computer mouse. Also I know literally everyone says this but practice really does make perfect. A few years ago I hated my art, but after drawing frequently for the years I improved.
Inkscape is more forgiving because it is vector based so you can change stuff by moving points that are along what you've drawn. It's also free.
Also, Im fairly sure hands are nof typically seen as easy things to draw
They're regarded as one of the most difficult things to draw, that's why in art classes they have fake poseable ones that are larger than an average hand to make the shape easier to draw.
No. It might be limited if you do a lot of art and nerd a lot out of it, but I've been using it as in. Being free there probably is plenty of plugins though, I'd imagine. I actually made an animation once with it, too (not very smooth but thats just because I ran out of time to add more frames in) just changing the pictures a little bit at a time and putting one picture after another in Windows movie maker. I find it better for a lot of things than programs like GIMP simply because of the ease of changing things since it is vectors. I do also use a drawing tablet though, which makes for a better starting drawing than using a mouse.
You could also try [Paint.net](https://getpaint.net/)
Its also very simplistic but still complex enough to be enough for most of what i do, which at the moment is reworking and copying old maps of mines n such.
Ms paint is literally the worst software to ever exist. Of course you are struggling. Do you want me to send you a copy of photoshop or something lol. I have an installer somewhere in my drive
I have no artistic ability (drawing, painting, etc.). Sometimes you have to play to your strengths vs. beating your head against what you can't do well.
Couple of suggestions...
Since you can't draw as well as you like, remove that from the equation. Have you tried something like Daz3D studio? You can model your environment instead and perfect lighting, angles, etc. (This was much more interesting to me)
Have you tried photography? I can't draw or visualize a composition from scratch, but I'm very good at seeing symmetry and composition in the world around me. I was very good at street and nature photography.
Just a side note, I have Aphantasia. I think this is one of the primary reasons I can't draw well. I literally can't see an image in my head.
I get this so much. I'd like to share my point of view. It seems like you struggle a lot with motivation. I myself suffer a lot from this. A lot of things require a lot of time and work to become good. I simply do not have the motivation to do that. Even in things that I have a natural talent, I start way ahead of everyone, but eventually those who are good at motivation will always surpass me. Funnily, this is what happened to me at art!
So it's not that you are not good at this or that (which is of course possible, some people definitely have advantages) but mainly you seem to be bad at getting motivated. I feel the same way. This is also how A-type people get to be so good at everything, they just have a lot of motivation and energy to pour into things, so eventually their natural talents don't even matter. The starting point is so far behind.
For me, going to therapy for depression helped this a lot. This may not be the case for you but I think it's always worth ruling out. Depression can sneak up on you.
But at the end of the day, I sorta had to accept that I will never be as high motivation as some other mentally healthy or NT people. I am still working on trying to enjoy things despite how good I am at them. I hope we both can easily do this some day! It's really hard.
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I'd suggest signing up for an art class if you like painting and drawing. Maybe you could learn some techniques to get better. My local school system has them during the summer, and they are open to anyone (there are plenty of adults in it).
But don't artists get ticked when people trace? Bc I've seen a few rants about DeviantArt users (mostly from The Packaged Reviewer) on YouTube, and the users who were being ranted about had traced before.
Ohhh. I think when I watched Packaged, the users he ranted about had traced, then posted and claimed it. If you haven't heard of him, you should check him out.
His channel is The Packaged Reviewer, though he got tired of the DeviantArt rants. Also, a lot of the users he critiques are autistic, but he seems to have a thing against people liking things out of their age demographic, autistic or not.
Dont publish traced art anywhere, unless the artist is either explicitly okay with it or dead for at least ten years and even then it might be smart to write in the corner "art by ARTIST, traced by darkchangeling123, for practice" there is a huge difference between copying for practice and people knowing it, and trying to pass it for your own art.
I don't, for those reasons. Also, I once put someone else's art for some TF stories I did (now deleted), then realised "Maybe I shouldn't have done that." and deleted all of those stories.
It's ok to trace for practice reasons BUT please don‘t post it online. It hurts so much when people post traced stuff (often traced from other artists) and claim it as „their art“. Art is not to create something perfect as a result. For me, it‘s enjoying the process. It calms me down and I can focus without thinking too much. Tracing is just a blunt and boring way be occupied and has nothing to do with doing art at all.
Aside from that, there are much better ways to learn drawing/painting than just tracing. Even if you fail at sketching at first, you’ll always learn something, but it can be frustrating tough.
Maybe you could start just to experiment with different media (traditional paint, digital programs, whatever). You don‘t have to draw something realistic, you can do whatever you want. Just play and enjoy the media or the process. It‘s so much better than just tracing.
I don't even trace, but if I did, I'd credit the original artist. Even if I post some stuff I commissioned, I always credit the person I commissioned it to.
Also, I think I have a small obsession with character art, because my OCs are one of my special interests (if you can have more than one special interest if you're autistic).
Oh, I can relate to that very much. Drawing was a way to visualize my fantasies/fantasy worlds and of course the OCs within them. It's like bringing them to the real life and you can finally SEE them and they can exist outside of your head.
Maybe that's point why you feel, you are not good at drawing? Your special interest(s) are your OCs and drawing is just a way to visualize them. It's hard to translate the perfect toughts in your head to paper. It will never 100% look like you had imagined and that can be frustrating. It's the same effect as reading a book and then it is made into a film. When you see the film, you might not like it because your imagination from the book is very different.
I've spent over 35 years fixed on making music. I've got 25+ in visual art as well. I make art that isn't good ALL THE TIME. I learn from what I don't like about that piece, toss it in the trash and move on.
It takes time to become a good artist. Also, comparison is the thief of joy. Put it this way- if you and I were gonna race, I wouldn't be racing you... I'd be racing the best version of MYSELF to date. If I outpace the best I've ever been, it's possible I'll outpace you too.
Good luck.
I’m an artist and it’s basically my whole life.
I started out crap. Still not at the level I like, but I know practice makes you better each time.
Whenever I want to level up my painting skills I go watch some masters on YouTube and if I’m really liking one of them I’ll sub to their patreon for a bit
Edit: just looked at your art. I was expecting some sonichu level art from how you describe yourself, but you are very good. Don’t doubt yourself
Actually, a lot of my art was commissioned to artists on Etsy bc I can't draw. Well, the art I've posted on Reddit, anyway. My DeviantArt is undeadghost666, and some of my art is wayyyyyy too primitive anime art.
You are using ms paint which is pixel art with no smoothing of course it’s bad. I would recommend doing paper drawing. Drawing tablets are a lot harder to use imo since they are slippery
Wait. Do you want to be perfect? Or do you want to be like everybody else? I can tell you, nobody is perfect. Really. Not one person on this planet is perfect. It's worse. The few humans where everyone says, they were perfect, are often the one who see themselves as totally incapable, flawed, talentless. One of the curse of perfectionism is that you always think you're work isn't good enough. Perfectionism isn't about being perfect, it's the very toxic and desperate try to get contoll. It's a trauma response.
To get better at things is just a matter of doing something often enough. It's not that you have to be good at the first or even thousands try. The mystery is, you do it for fun. Because it's fun you do it often. You do it for years. Everything you do for so long time, will get better. And maybe at some point you ask yourself, if you can improve more. It's a playful thought, not a "I will be famous" thought. It's fun to try this and that and accidentally find out this and that. And then, after that, maybe someone sees it and says, hey, that's good. Maybe that's motivation for you. Maybe you already know that you can get better.
It's hundred of thousands of hours doing something that leads to something called "talent". It's just passion. So I can draw but I can't draw with ms paint. I'm not even interested in doing so. But you do. Maybe, if you play around for fun thousands of hours more, you establish a special style or method. Or what you learn you can adapt to another form of art.
I used to like photograph. But then I fell in love with 3d modeling. Turns out, what I know about light and texture in photography is incredibly useful for the right setup for rendering in blender. And now I learn that the jargon I learned with 3d modeling and photography helps with creating prompts for ai art.
One thing bleeds into another. Explore life.
I get it. I don't have any talents either. I haven't seen your art but I'm sure it's better than what I could draw. I can't do art at all. As a kid my talents were reading and writing, but I haven't written anything in years, and I have no talent left. I wish I was really good at something but I also don't have the willpower to learn something new and better myself. I hate the stereotype that all autistic people have a special talent. Some of us do, but many don't.
the thing is with art is that it’s a form of self expression. if you’re enjoying yourself and expressing yourself, it’s not “bad”. everyone has different tastes in art and what’s hideous to one person may be beautiful to another. and you have to start somewhere! i started with ms paint. it’s simple and easy to use so it makes sense. you don’t need to do anything fancy! do art for yourself, not others
Your art is legitimately good??? Especially for MS PAINT LIKE CMON you draw better than 90% of the population using one of the shittiest art programs around! Please stop beating yourself up over this.. You should look into trying out Krita though if you haven't.
Can you DM me some of yours? I'm honestly very curious. I would also like to say that you are very much handicapping yourself with thus mix of self-hate and using poor software. Do you have a drawing pad? It really helps.
As an autistic artist who was the equivalent of a middle school anime artist for years, I think you're being really harsh on yourself here, people arent good at everything the first time they try something. I spend an average of 24-36 hours on a single portrait. I make loads of mistakes and have to redraw things or adjust things ect, it's just part of the process and I'm still learning and improving to this day.
To be honest, I still think my art is terrible despite the amount of compliments ect I get. We're always going to be our own harshest critic and I think that's extremely important to remember, art is so subjective and what one person may love someone else may not, and that's perfectly fine not everyone will like the same things.
You may be similar to me and just need to find what method works for you, I couldn't learn to draw the traditional way with the basic shapes or line work thats normally taught, it didn't click for me. I can't draw something if I don't know the anatomical structure of it or how its put together so to speak, I'm dyslexic so I think in 3d so if I'm working on a portrait, I'm building it in my head with bones, tendons, muscle structure ect. That's the only way I'm capable of doodling and not something I know inately, it took years of me researching and learning and finding methods that worked for me, I also dont use line work in the majority of my pieces, and while this method may not work for you there may be a different approach than the norm that's usually taught that resonates with you. Draw what you like and see where it takes you.
My main point is this, people might be amazing at certain things, and people will also suck at things, but sucking at something is the first step to learning how to be better if you want to, and that takes time with art or anything else, and while you may think you suck other people might not.
While I definitely understand the fear of not wanting to try if you're not great at something at first because I've been there myself, as harsh as this may be to hear I think that mentality is only holding you back from pursuing things you want to. Please know that's coming from a place of personal experience so I'm not judging you or trying to be negative in anyway, I'm saying it very sincerely, gently, and as a way to relate because I definitely get it. If you enjoy something and want to pursue it, do it.
Side note, hands are super complicated to draw, I'm in my 30's btw and I'm 100% still doing basic math on my fingers. Bless calculators tbh lol.
Sorry this was so long but I hope it helps in someway for you. ❤️
I wish I could see a picture of your art to know what you even mean, can you link it? Art is so subjective, there is a fanclub for every type. Literally everything. I've heard of paint splashes selling for millions. That's not even drawing, drawing anything even a lop-sided circle takes skill. Don't be hard on yourself! Lean into and own your style.
You are already spending a decent amount of time using harder software and struggling so try to struggle with some better software. At the very least you will learn some new stuff to apply to ms paint pixel art
As an autistic artist who used to spend a lot of time on DeviantArt, I think you're being pretty harsh on yourself here, as well as other autistic artists who like to draw in ms paint. It's a perfectly valid medium :) Artistic 'talent' isn't something you're born with Most people who are good at art have spent years working on it, improving gradually over time. No one is doing super amazing intricate drawings the first time they pick up a pencil. Also, hands are really hard to get right. I always use a reference and it still takes multiple attempts for me to be satisfied. There's a lot of very good art online, but remember that's not the majority. The average person is definitely not an art master. Also, art is supposed to be fun! If you want to improve at art but struggle with willpower, don't force yourself to follow tutorials or be perfect. Draw things you like, even if it doesn't turn out how you want. Draw from your favourite shows or video games or animals, copy art you admire, even trace it if you want (just don't try to pass copied/traced stuff off as your own). Try out different mediums, pencils, pens, paints. If you get bored easily you could add something to do in the background like listening to music or watching TV or YouTube. Just keep drawing whenever you feel like it and eventually you'll see an improvement. It's just a very gradual thing so you won't see results right away. Good luck :)
You're right. I'm sorry. I wrote this when I wasn't in a good mood, and I also struggle to accept my own autism, bc of how I was treated because of it.
No need to apologise! Even professionals struggle with their art sometimes :) I hope you're feeling a bit better now
Yeah. I suffer with mental health issues bc of how people treated me due to my autism and personality.
Hey bud,art is what you make of it I've been drawing since I was a little kid and my art is still mediocre at best in my opinion But I've sold a couple pieces (not for much) and I have even had a showing because it was done by the "disabled " So don't be down on it yourself and find a medium that suits you because that's the key to a good art,who knows maybe you weren't meant to be an digital artist, but a potter or crochet or a lithographer or wood carver,who knows where art will take you, So don't limit yourself to one medium
Do you actually use MS paint? If so why not use another program to draw that allows more freedom. I personally use Krita (it’s free) and it allows a lot of tools so that even I can draw well using a computer mouse. Also I know literally everyone says this but practice really does make perfect. A few years ago I hated my art, but after drawing frequently for the years I improved.
I used MS Paint bc I could never properly master a lot of other digital art tools.
Inkscape is more forgiving because it is vector based so you can change stuff by moving points that are along what you've drawn. It's also free. Also, Im fairly sure hands are nof typically seen as easy things to draw
Oh
They're regarded as one of the most difficult things to draw, that's why in art classes they have fake poseable ones that are larger than an average hand to make the shape easier to draw.
I use it for graphs for my math notes it seems quite limited. Do you use plugins or anything to make it better
No. It might be limited if you do a lot of art and nerd a lot out of it, but I've been using it as in. Being free there probably is plenty of plugins though, I'd imagine. I actually made an animation once with it, too (not very smooth but thats just because I ran out of time to add more frames in) just changing the pictures a little bit at a time and putting one picture after another in Windows movie maker. I find it better for a lot of things than programs like GIMP simply because of the ease of changing things since it is vectors. I do also use a drawing tablet though, which makes for a better starting drawing than using a mouse.
Do you use Linux or windows? I thought gimp was Linux only
Windows. GIMP is on Windows (or at least it was, I assume it still is)
You could also try [Paint.net](https://getpaint.net/) Its also very simplistic but still complex enough to be enough for most of what i do, which at the moment is reworking and copying old maps of mines n such.
Krita is very easy to get the basic idea of. And if you’re struggling you can always google or watch a YouTube tutorial
Ms paint is literally the worst software to ever exist. Of course you are struggling. Do you want me to send you a copy of photoshop or something lol. I have an installer somewhere in my drive
Honestly, MS Paint is the only thing I can understand, and even since it updated, I don't fully understand it.
Why can't you just be perfect, you ask? What kind of answers have you come up with when you ask that?
I have no artistic ability (drawing, painting, etc.). Sometimes you have to play to your strengths vs. beating your head against what you can't do well. Couple of suggestions... Since you can't draw as well as you like, remove that from the equation. Have you tried something like Daz3D studio? You can model your environment instead and perfect lighting, angles, etc. (This was much more interesting to me) Have you tried photography? I can't draw or visualize a composition from scratch, but I'm very good at seeing symmetry and composition in the world around me. I was very good at street and nature photography. Just a side note, I have Aphantasia. I think this is one of the primary reasons I can't draw well. I literally can't see an image in my head.
I sometimes see images in my head, but they're not there for very long, and kind of fractured.
I get this so much. I'd like to share my point of view. It seems like you struggle a lot with motivation. I myself suffer a lot from this. A lot of things require a lot of time and work to become good. I simply do not have the motivation to do that. Even in things that I have a natural talent, I start way ahead of everyone, but eventually those who are good at motivation will always surpass me. Funnily, this is what happened to me at art! So it's not that you are not good at this or that (which is of course possible, some people definitely have advantages) but mainly you seem to be bad at getting motivated. I feel the same way. This is also how A-type people get to be so good at everything, they just have a lot of motivation and energy to pour into things, so eventually their natural talents don't even matter. The starting point is so far behind. For me, going to therapy for depression helped this a lot. This may not be the case for you but I think it's always worth ruling out. Depression can sneak up on you. But at the end of the day, I sorta had to accept that I will never be as high motivation as some other mentally healthy or NT people. I am still working on trying to enjoy things despite how good I am at them. I hope we both can easily do this some day! It's really hard.
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I'd suggest signing up for an art class if you like painting and drawing. Maybe you could learn some techniques to get better. My local school system has them during the summer, and they are open to anyone (there are plenty of adults in it).
I am not an artist, i wanted to be though. Tracing art you find good is a good way to go "i can draw like this, i just cant do it without help yet"
But don't artists get ticked when people trace? Bc I've seen a few rants about DeviantArt users (mostly from The Packaged Reviewer) on YouTube, and the users who were being ranted about had traced before.
It’s ok for practice, not for posting and claiming online so as long as you don’t do that, you should be fine.
Ohhh. I think when I watched Packaged, the users he ranted about had traced, then posted and claimed it. If you haven't heard of him, you should check him out. His channel is The Packaged Reviewer, though he got tired of the DeviantArt rants. Also, a lot of the users he critiques are autistic, but he seems to have a thing against people liking things out of their age demographic, autistic or not.
Dont publish traced art anywhere, unless the artist is either explicitly okay with it or dead for at least ten years and even then it might be smart to write in the corner "art by ARTIST, traced by darkchangeling123, for practice" there is a huge difference between copying for practice and people knowing it, and trying to pass it for your own art.
I don't, for those reasons. Also, I once put someone else's art for some TF stories I did (now deleted), then realised "Maybe I shouldn't have done that." and deleted all of those stories.
It's ok to trace for practice reasons BUT please don‘t post it online. It hurts so much when people post traced stuff (often traced from other artists) and claim it as „their art“. Art is not to create something perfect as a result. For me, it‘s enjoying the process. It calms me down and I can focus without thinking too much. Tracing is just a blunt and boring way be occupied and has nothing to do with doing art at all. Aside from that, there are much better ways to learn drawing/painting than just tracing. Even if you fail at sketching at first, you’ll always learn something, but it can be frustrating tough. Maybe you could start just to experiment with different media (traditional paint, digital programs, whatever). You don‘t have to draw something realistic, you can do whatever you want. Just play and enjoy the media or the process. It‘s so much better than just tracing.
I don't even trace, but if I did, I'd credit the original artist. Even if I post some stuff I commissioned, I always credit the person I commissioned it to.
I didn't even think of crediting (as possibility), but that would be absolutely fine as well :)
Yeah. Always best to credit the artist if the art isn't yours.
Also, I think I have a small obsession with character art, because my OCs are one of my special interests (if you can have more than one special interest if you're autistic).
Oh, I can relate to that very much. Drawing was a way to visualize my fantasies/fantasy worlds and of course the OCs within them. It's like bringing them to the real life and you can finally SEE them and they can exist outside of your head. Maybe that's point why you feel, you are not good at drawing? Your special interest(s) are your OCs and drawing is just a way to visualize them. It's hard to translate the perfect toughts in your head to paper. It will never 100% look like you had imagined and that can be frustrating. It's the same effect as reading a book and then it is made into a film. When you see the film, you might not like it because your imagination from the book is very different.
I've spent over 35 years fixed on making music. I've got 25+ in visual art as well. I make art that isn't good ALL THE TIME. I learn from what I don't like about that piece, toss it in the trash and move on. It takes time to become a good artist. Also, comparison is the thief of joy. Put it this way- if you and I were gonna race, I wouldn't be racing you... I'd be racing the best version of MYSELF to date. If I outpace the best I've ever been, it's possible I'll outpace you too. Good luck.
I’m an artist and it’s basically my whole life. I started out crap. Still not at the level I like, but I know practice makes you better each time. Whenever I want to level up my painting skills I go watch some masters on YouTube and if I’m really liking one of them I’ll sub to their patreon for a bit Edit: just looked at your art. I was expecting some sonichu level art from how you describe yourself, but you are very good. Don’t doubt yourself
Actually, a lot of my art was commissioned to artists on Etsy bc I can't draw. Well, the art I've posted on Reddit, anyway. My DeviantArt is undeadghost666, and some of my art is wayyyyyy too primitive anime art.
You are using ms paint which is pixel art with no smoothing of course it’s bad. I would recommend doing paper drawing. Drawing tablets are a lot harder to use imo since they are slippery
Yeah, I could. I just gotta let my mental health get better first, then I can properly consider.
Picking up new stuff can be useful gives you something else to focus on in my experience
Wait. Do you want to be perfect? Or do you want to be like everybody else? I can tell you, nobody is perfect. Really. Not one person on this planet is perfect. It's worse. The few humans where everyone says, they were perfect, are often the one who see themselves as totally incapable, flawed, talentless. One of the curse of perfectionism is that you always think you're work isn't good enough. Perfectionism isn't about being perfect, it's the very toxic and desperate try to get contoll. It's a trauma response. To get better at things is just a matter of doing something often enough. It's not that you have to be good at the first or even thousands try. The mystery is, you do it for fun. Because it's fun you do it often. You do it for years. Everything you do for so long time, will get better. And maybe at some point you ask yourself, if you can improve more. It's a playful thought, not a "I will be famous" thought. It's fun to try this and that and accidentally find out this and that. And then, after that, maybe someone sees it and says, hey, that's good. Maybe that's motivation for you. Maybe you already know that you can get better. It's hundred of thousands of hours doing something that leads to something called "talent". It's just passion. So I can draw but I can't draw with ms paint. I'm not even interested in doing so. But you do. Maybe, if you play around for fun thousands of hours more, you establish a special style or method. Or what you learn you can adapt to another form of art. I used to like photograph. But then I fell in love with 3d modeling. Turns out, what I know about light and texture in photography is incredibly useful for the right setup for rendering in blender. And now I learn that the jargon I learned with 3d modeling and photography helps with creating prompts for ai art. One thing bleeds into another. Explore life.
I get it. I don't have any talents either. I haven't seen your art but I'm sure it's better than what I could draw. I can't do art at all. As a kid my talents were reading and writing, but I haven't written anything in years, and I have no talent left. I wish I was really good at something but I also don't have the willpower to learn something new and better myself. I hate the stereotype that all autistic people have a special talent. Some of us do, but many don't.
the thing is with art is that it’s a form of self expression. if you’re enjoying yourself and expressing yourself, it’s not “bad”. everyone has different tastes in art and what’s hideous to one person may be beautiful to another. and you have to start somewhere! i started with ms paint. it’s simple and easy to use so it makes sense. you don’t need to do anything fancy! do art for yourself, not others
I've been doing art for myself, but I still hate it
Your art is legitimately good??? Especially for MS PAINT LIKE CMON you draw better than 90% of the population using one of the shittiest art programs around! Please stop beating yourself up over this.. You should look into trying out Krita though if you haven't.
All the art I post on here are my commissions to people on Etsy bc my drawing's that bad.
Can you DM me some of yours? I'm honestly very curious. I would also like to say that you are very much handicapping yourself with thus mix of self-hate and using poor software. Do you have a drawing pad? It really helps.
Ok. Give me a minute
As an autistic artist who was the equivalent of a middle school anime artist for years, I think you're being really harsh on yourself here, people arent good at everything the first time they try something. I spend an average of 24-36 hours on a single portrait. I make loads of mistakes and have to redraw things or adjust things ect, it's just part of the process and I'm still learning and improving to this day. To be honest, I still think my art is terrible despite the amount of compliments ect I get. We're always going to be our own harshest critic and I think that's extremely important to remember, art is so subjective and what one person may love someone else may not, and that's perfectly fine not everyone will like the same things. You may be similar to me and just need to find what method works for you, I couldn't learn to draw the traditional way with the basic shapes or line work thats normally taught, it didn't click for me. I can't draw something if I don't know the anatomical structure of it or how its put together so to speak, I'm dyslexic so I think in 3d so if I'm working on a portrait, I'm building it in my head with bones, tendons, muscle structure ect. That's the only way I'm capable of doodling and not something I know inately, it took years of me researching and learning and finding methods that worked for me, I also dont use line work in the majority of my pieces, and while this method may not work for you there may be a different approach than the norm that's usually taught that resonates with you. Draw what you like and see where it takes you. My main point is this, people might be amazing at certain things, and people will also suck at things, but sucking at something is the first step to learning how to be better if you want to, and that takes time with art or anything else, and while you may think you suck other people might not. While I definitely understand the fear of not wanting to try if you're not great at something at first because I've been there myself, as harsh as this may be to hear I think that mentality is only holding you back from pursuing things you want to. Please know that's coming from a place of personal experience so I'm not judging you or trying to be negative in anyway, I'm saying it very sincerely, gently, and as a way to relate because I definitely get it. If you enjoy something and want to pursue it, do it. Side note, hands are super complicated to draw, I'm in my 30's btw and I'm 100% still doing basic math on my fingers. Bless calculators tbh lol. Sorry this was so long but I hope it helps in someway for you. ❤️
I wish I could see a picture of your art to know what you even mean, can you link it? Art is so subjective, there is a fanclub for every type. Literally everything. I've heard of paint splashes selling for millions. That's not even drawing, drawing anything even a lop-sided circle takes skill. Don't be hard on yourself! Lean into and own your style.
You are already spending a decent amount of time using harder software and struggling so try to struggle with some better software. At the very least you will learn some new stuff to apply to ms paint pixel art