Fellow 3D/2D artists, how do you overcome mediocracy?

[Luc1nda]

Hello Actualized.org forum, not sure if there are many on this forum who're in the rabbit hole but, whether you're someone who's starting out, or on their journey or perhaps works in industry,

what's your journey been like? I'm particularly interested in art for films, animation or games.
So 2D or 3D art, like 3D Modelling & Texturing, Animation & rigging, VFX, perhaps even concept art.

In such a competitive industry, how did you make it/how are you making it?

Since, I'm doing a computer animation course, and I only started to really learn skills seriously about a year and a half ago, like using softwares like Maya, Zbrush, Unreal Engine 5 and Houdini. (Yes, not Blender! I have yet to learn it after my student subscriptions expire)

I think I've genuinely fallen in love with this craft, I had originally been set on wanting to do engineering or physics, but little did I know I would love this even more.

However, surrounded by so many people who had started learning years before me, or even started at the same time as I did(and are twice as skilled as me), I can't help but feel incredibly inadequate no matter how much I work. Even if I push myself, working often from the crack of dawn to midnight, I can never escape mediocrity in my work. Everything I make I hate, and don't want to show to a single soul (unless its for feedback for improvement). I'm not attached to my work, since I'm well aware the skills matter a thousand times more, but I can't help but feel so demoralized by everyone else who got an early start getting so much more approval, recognition and even guidance and help than me.

Now, I try not to compare myself to others, as I know its a massive trap, but it really is so devastating to work so hard, put so much effort, thought and love into your art and then people just think its "mid" or "okay", and for others to be praised and put on a pedestal for being top students. Sometimes being mediocre feels worse than being objectively bad. Yes, I have only been learning this for a short period of time, but, who else feels something similar? The immense pressure and anxiety (especially with all the discourse, lack of jobs in the industry currently) to improve and rise to the top in terms of skill. Sometimes it really feels like, as someone who's new, I really do not stand a chance competing for jobs against these child prodigies that learnt blender when they were 8, or could draw extremely well at a young age, or learnt to code the matrix fresh out of the womb. Yes, I need to work harder for a long period of time to get to where they are now, it just feels like theres a glass ceiling I have to break through.

My end goal is to get so good people will come to me to do their work, I want to be so efficient, skilled and knowledgeable so I truly have the freedom to create whatever art I want. I want to create art so deep with wisdom and substance, it'll influence people so deeply and rock their perspective on the world. My skills are my greatest asset, and I'm investing in them so one day I can create an animated series or comic, I've been wanting to do this for 5 years and only now I'm slowly acquiring the skills and knowledge to do so, this is my greatest battle, and I am EXTREMELY serious about this.

So, I'll re-phrase the question:

How do you overcome the need to overcome mediocracy?

Since, I don't want to give a shit what others are doing, whether or not they're beasts at what they do, will get snapped up for a job instantly, or are by miracle so much better than me despite working less. I just wanna focus on myself and making the things I love most and learn from those around me, but a part of me still can't let go of wanting to be the best, and its a form of self sabotage which is stopping me from focusing on learning and robbing me of happiness.

Anyone else had similar things?
Please let me know! I'm super interested in hearing anyone else's stories or obstacles they've had to overcome, whether or not you're even working in this industry.

Thanks for reading!

One last thing, any stupid comments about generative AI will be ignored, I don't care for AI unless it genuinely has something to do with this discussion.

[Hojo]

How can you say you only have been doing it a year and a half but you have worked so hard and so long?

No body cares about your art work but you,That means you decide if its mid.

You are doing it for social approval that dosent work with art.

The people who you think are good have been doing it for 30  years. Having experience with something over years part time will improve you x100 over grinding every day for a year. If you do both you become a God at it.

You need to do it for yourself. Simple answer is stop showing your art to other people and do art without thinking.

If you cant do it it will suck your soul, and if you do art for money it will suck your soul.

This man said when he was a kid he was angry and  hated the world so he stayed inside drawing all day for years and now he is a God of perspective.

 

Edited November 20, 2024 by Hojo

[Luc1nda]

18 minutes ago, Hojo said:

How can you say you only have been doing it a year and a half but you have worked so hard and so long?

Since it feels like Its been one hell of a journey ahaha
I've had to overcome a lot of things. That and, I'm 20.
I have been practicing art in general for all my life every now and again, its only a year and a half ago since i've really started to take it seriously.

Quote

No body cares about your art work but you,That means you decide if its mid.

And yes, as the work I'm doing is no where near industry quality. Super stage orange to look at it that way but, Its helpful to know what will get you a job or not.

Quote

You are doing it for social approval that dosent work with art.

Yes and no, part of it is approval, but it all started as genuine inspiration and the need for expression and making some really cool things for self fulfillment.

Quote

The people who you think are good have been doing it for 30  years. Having experience with something over years part time will improve you x100 over grinding every day for a year.

Of course, however I'm referring to people my age who're insane at these kinds of things. 
 

Quote

If you do both you become a God at it.

My exact intention!

Edited November 20, 2024 by Luc1nda

[Raze]

25 minutes ago, Hojo said:

 

This man said when he was a kid he was angry and  hated the world so he stayed inside drawing all day for years and now he is a God of perspective.

 

he died a couple years ago

[Hojo]

@Luc1nda The people who work in this field do not like their jobs. Doing art for other people is like talking to God through another person. It will crush your soul. It will be like having to sit at a computer for 12 hours a day wishing you got a job that you could be active in. The human body needs to be active or it will become depressed especially when your passion becomes a chore because you wont be making your own art.

Edited November 21, 2024 by Hojo

[ryoko]

It's a mistake to prepare for a job, especially in art. Since you're in this forum. I'll give you my unfiltered opinion. 

It all depends on you in the end. But making a portfolio is not the best way to learn. Learn by letting yourself free, learning whatever you feel an affinity for. Become a generalist, it's essential to widen your horizon before you go deep.

Start with Blender, why encourage the stupid fantasies of industry? Industry, look at the word itself, industry is a place of mass production. It kills the meaning of art. It's now reduced to a commodity. Blender has a great community. Like minded communities is essential for learning. 

Use AI (not genAI), for learning. AI is a great tool for learning, and researching. It's also great for getting your head right, gaining clarity, strengthing your mindset. But just prime the AI to be on your own level, because by default it's adjusted to the biases of our current world. 

One final thing, you need to be okay with not doing anything. In fact, I highly recommend you consciously do nothing, and simply be like a cloud. Silence is an essential part of art.

You're either guilty about not practicing art or you're worried you're not good enough when practicing art. You need to be okay with simply being and not improving at all. The whole paradigm needs to shift, to be able to get so good.

You will eventually stop comparing yourself with others, once you build your own unique skills, by being silent and acting spontaneously. We compare when we are made to beleive we need to compete with someone. This is not true. Why fight for the same pie when there's infinite pies to pick from. 

You can't make great work by having the same mindset as the your employer or leads. You need to lead. You are free, to make art or not make art. 

[ryoko]

https://blog.flippednormals.com/why-i-hate-demo-reels-gavin-goulden/

In this article the author describes how much he hates it when students are becoming generalists(in a sense), I found it hilarious. This is what you call conditioning students for a job, and making them narrow minded. It's not good.

You might wanna look at lesser known artists who are more holistic. 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4ZR92iL9G0EH2VmoXrPDUF0FdTh8RhZM

 

[darkpencil1]

Hi, I'm a fellow 2D artists, and been working on this thing for 9 years.

I have very similar end goal to yours in terms of being masterful and can create anything I want etc.

Your question was how to overcome the need to overcome mediocrity. (And to do this while keeping the eye on the big end goal.)

I can't give you an answer to your question, I can only sympathize with my experience.

Back when I started it seemed like a straight cut solution just to buckle it up and get to that industry-standard. For me it felt (and still feels) very hard to present myself as something less than I thought myself as capable of. So why not just grind the skill where it needs to be? Well, time has went on and I'm still not where I want to be. And I'd like to create stuff very much. So what do I do? 

My main focus is still in practice, most of all for the joy of the craft and also to make it this economically viable life path. But I sprinkle in every now and then some creativity projects to create something and not just practice. And I have noticed they make me superbly happy.

But as I said, I don't have an answer how to overcome the need, I can only share the difficulty.

All the best for your artistic journey =)!

Here's my portfolio if you're interested: https://www.artstation.com/darkpencil1

[Basman]

It takes years to really get good at a craft. The only solution is to keep practicing consistently, talent be damned. Make a portfolio for you and yourself only where you catalogue all your finished projects so you can view in real time your gradual improvement (I use Onenote for this as I work in 2D). The sense of improvement is highly rewarding as you slowly inch towards your aspirations. It helps with your motivation as you are reminded that its possible to improve.

It could take 5-10 years before your work is "good enough" to be used professionally, but don't trust your own judgement completely. Though you are probably correct in feeling that your art isn't good enough in comparison to professional work, you are probably being harsh on it due to having a higher standard than non-artists in your field. And that standard keeps rising as you improve, speaking from experience. I have works that I thought where "decent" when I made them but are comparatively trash right now. Your artist mind tries to push you to improve via bullying in a sense. Just see it for what it is.

You shouldn't really care if people like it or not that much, more so if you enjoy making it and if its gets the job done. I don't post most of my work because I don't want social media algorithms to dictate my artistic sensibilities. I'll post something if I feel like sharing it.

[DianaFr]

On 21/11/2024 at 1:25 AM, Luc1nda said:

How do you overcome the need to overcome mediocracy?

I'm not a digital artist but I've learned one thing that's universal in different industries - no matter how good you are, there will always be somebody better. And that's fine. If you're surrounded by brilliant, talented and skilled people, it's only natural to start feeling uncomfortable because you want to be in their position but perceive yourself as less. But it's a game one can never win. Over the years I've learned it's better to get to know yourself inside and out through your work, develop your own unique way and make your strengths work for you, not against you. Another beautiful thing you can always rely on - as much as you are creating your work, your work is creating you. Just surrender to this often messy, chaotic, confusing and yet so satisfying process of doing your thing and it will take you somewhere. If you give in to the process like this, the concept of mediocracy becomes irrelevant. 

Edited December 1, 2024 by DianaFr

[Staples]

Jumping in because I went through this phase:

1. The base skillset you need to get a job is far lower than what you will learn in your course. Don't overthink your skills, just get a job.

2. If you're passionate and talented, you will rival or surpass your role models in about 5-10 years of full time work.

3. Drop the needy optimistic kid energy. It doesn't serve you. Be a professional.

4. People skills and having a good vibe beats nerdy technical talent, but having both is a superpower.

Edited December 3, 2024 by Staples

[Luc1nda]

On 11/28/2024 at 1:02 AM, ryoko said:

It's a mistake to prepare for a job, especially in art. Since you're in this forum. I'll give you my unfiltered opinion. 

It all depends on you in the end. But making a portfolio is not the best way to learn. Learn by letting yourself free, learning whatever you feel an affinity for. Become a generalist, it's essential to widen your horizon before you go deep.

Start with Blender, why encourage the stupid fantasies of industry? Industry, look at the word itself, industry is a place of mass production. It kills the meaning of art. It's now reduced to a commodity. Blender has a great community. Like minded communities is essential for learning. 

Use AI (not genAI), for learning. AI is a great tool for learning, and researching. It's also great for getting your head right, gaining clarity, strengthing your mindset. But just prime the AI to be on your own level, because by default it's adjusted to the biases of our current world. 

One final thing, you need to be okay with not doing anything. In fact, I highly recommend you consciously do nothing, and simply be like a cloud. Silence is an essential part of art.

You're either guilty about not practicing art or you're worried you're not good enough when practicing art. You need to be okay with simply being and not improving at all. The whole paradigm needs to shift, to be able to get so good.

You will eventually stop comparing yourself with others, once you build your own unique skills, by being silent and acting spontaneously. We compare when we are made to beleive we need to compete with someone. This is not true. Why fight for the same pie when there's infinite pies to pick from. 

You can't make great work by having the same mindset as the your employer or leads. You need to lead. You are free, to make art or not make art. 

First and foremost thanks for the reply! it's been a while since i've checked this forum so sorry for the late reply.

Being a generalist is exactly my plan. However, I feel like getting a job is a great way to learn production techniques and inside information that a blender youtube tutorial cannot teach. My plan would be to get a job, learn as much as I can, then leave to do my own things after about 1-4 years. That's when I plan to do nothing. To be in solitude and do all the contemplation and apply all of the knowledge I have learnt from being in industry. It's moreso a case of, why not try? So I have a more holistic approach and perspective of the industry in order to use it to earn my own money. If its crap and godawful working in a large studio, then I have the freedom to leave, or when I get laid off (which is very likely nowadays) or when my contract ends if I had a contract. Best part is, if I have experience, then I always have that backup plan and a way back in the industry if things don't work out. 

So long term, yes I totally agree with you, being stuck in industry for 5-20 years will be soul destroying, but I want to try be strategic about this. If you think I'm wrong for thinking this, fair enough. Although this is a plan more suited towards how I work, because I have ADD, I feel like, if I don't get a job, if I don't learn how to be disciplined and learn how to execute on projects rigorously, and if I just stay at home, I'll fall into a rut, get addicted to watching YouTube, playing video games, doing fuckall with my life and just fall into complacency and laziness; and it'll be so difficult for me to get out of it. For others who are genuinely disciplined people, could probably spend 5 years of their life with no industry job, being a blender guru on their laptop while travelling the world and doing all their work remotely; ideally, that would be my dream. However, I don't trust myself enough to not waste my life doing all the shitty things I did as a kid (brainrot on youtube for 7 hours a day). Of course, I'm expecting myself to do the worst and lowest thing, in reality I would probably still make art because I can't stop myself from doing it whether I like it or not. This is just my biggest fear and something I want to avoid at all cost.

I know a guy in my year who also literally does freelance work on Blender on his own and earns a living from it, and he can barely get by paying for his own food, and he's studying while working a job for an independent creator on youtube. His work is really fucking good aswell. So this just makes me think that I gotta be a little smarter about this.

Who knows what might happen though. 5 years might pass, I might be an animation or VFX supervisor, or I might be a bum still living at their mother's house so lost in content addiction that I don't have time or patience to do any art. I might be actually successfully be independent and make my own things that genuinely impact people in a positive way.

Thanks for the advice, it helped!

[Luc1nda]

On 11/28/2024 at 9:45 AM, darkpencil1 said:

Hi, I'm a fellow 2D artists, and been working on this thing for 9 years.

I have very similar end goal to yours in terms of being masterful and can create anything I want etc.

Your question was how to overcome the need to overcome mediocrity. (And to do this while keeping the eye on the big end goal.)

I can't give you an answer to your question, I can only sympathize with my experience.

Back when I started it seemed like a straight cut solution just to buckle it up and get to that industry-standard. For me it felt (and still feels) very hard to present myself as something less than I thought myself as capable of. So why not just grind the skill where it needs to be? Well, time has went on and I'm still not where I want to be. And I'd like to create stuff very much. So what do I do? 

My main focus is still in practice, most of all for the joy of the craft and also to make it this economically viable life path. But I sprinkle in every now and then some creativity projects to create something and not just practice. And I have noticed they make me superbly happy.

But as I said, I don't have an answer how to overcome the need, I can only share the difficulty.

All the best for your artistic journey =)!

Here's my portfolio if you're interested: https://www.artstation.com/darkpencil1

Hello! Saw your artstation, you have an awesome eye for character art
I really like it.

Thanks so much for your reply! I really appreciate it.

I know I just need to be patient, I think I just posted this at a time where I was really frustrated with my progress and haven't been seeing a lot of improvement. I have to keep reminding myself to create a fun and pleasant but still challenging habit of practice, not worrying so much about comparing myself to others and just enjoying the process.
 

On 11/28/2024 at 0:54 PM, Basman said:

It takes years to really get good at a craft. The only solution is to keep practicing consistently, talent be damned. Make a portfolio for you and yourself only where you catalogue all your finished projects so you can view in real time your gradual improvement (I use Onenote for this as I work in 2D). The sense of improvement is highly rewarding as you slowly inch towards your aspirations. It helps with your motivation as you are reminded that its possible to improve.

It could take 5-10 years before your work is "good enough" to be used professionally, but don't trust your own judgement completely. Though you are probably correct in feeling that your art isn't good enough in comparison to professional work, you are probably being harsh on it due to having a higher standard than non-artists in your field. And that standard keeps rising as you improve, speaking from experience. I have works that I thought where "decent" when I made them but are comparatively trash right now. Your artist mind tries to push you to improve via bullying in a sense. Just see it for what it is.

You shouldn't really care if people like it or not that much, more so if you enjoy making it and if its gets the job done. I don't post most of my work because I don't want social media algorithms to dictate my artistic sensibilities. I'll post something if I feel like sharing it.

I think you described it really really well. Genuinely, this is exactly how my mind works. "your artist mind tries to push you to improve via bullying" Ahaha very well put. It really does come with time, 5-10 years is a very good estimation. Even if you're practicing rigorously it still takes much longer than you expect to master something.
I would love to just sit down and not give a shit about my art being good or not, and do it purely for the sensation of either drawing or 3D modelling, regardless if what I make is shit or not. I think that's a stage artists should get to, because that makes them super flexible. 
Out of curiosity, what kind of art do you do? 
Thanks so much for your reply!

On 12/1/2024 at 7:54 AM, DianaFr said:

I'm not a digital artist but I've learned one thing that's universal in different industries - no matter how good you are, there will always be somebody better. And that's fine. If you're surrounded by brilliant, talented and skilled people, it's only natural to start feeling uncomfortable because you want to be in their position but perceive yourself as less. But it's a game one can never win. Over the years I've learned it's better to get to know yourself inside and out through your work, develop your own unique way and make your strengths work for you, not against you. Another beautiful thing you can always rely on - as much as you are creating your work, your work is creating you. Just surrender to this often messy, chaotic, confusing and yet so satisfying process of doing your thing and it will take you somewhere. If you give in to the process like this, the concept of mediocracy becomes irrelevant. 

"There will always be somebody better" Tell me about it, its a battle you can never win. But you really are right when you say it doesn't matter, because its a process, right? you slowly improve, find your style, find things you're exceptional in and pursue those in your own way, and use that to leave your fingerprint/impact on the world. 
I'm still finding my style, its the same with anyone who's a non-artist aswell. Depends what you do of course.
Thanks so much for your reply!
 

 

On 12/3/2024 at 2:41 PM, Staples said:

Jumping in because I went through this phase:

1. The base skillset you need to get a job is far lower than what you will learn in your course. Don't overthink your skills, just get a job.

2. If you're passionate and talented, you will rival or surpass your role models in about 5-10 years of full time work.

3. Drop the needy optimistic kid energy. It doesn't serve you. Be a professional.

4. People skills and having a good vibe beats nerdy technical talent, but having both is a superpower.

"People skills and having a good vibe beats nerdy technical talent" This is no joke. The people that got jobs in my industry were the people that reached out, went to recruitment events, regardless of their skill and got employed. I've talked to so many people who got employed and they all say to me "just apply, regardless of your skill" and they're right. You can make the perfect portfolio, have the best work, and have a lesser chance of getting employed if you don't reach out. Theres a guy in the year above who hasn't been employed yet, because he's so caught up in making the perfect project or portfolio that he's too shy to just apply and talk to people.

Very nice advice, very spot on, thank you!

[Basman]

1 hour ago, Luc1nda said:

I would love to just sit down and not give a shit about my art being good or not, and do it purely for the sensation of either drawing or 3D modelling, regardless if what I make is shit or not. I think that's a stage artists should get to, because that makes them super flexible. 

In my experience, enjoying making art is what makes it all come together. You have to find the techniques and processes that makes production more fun for you. If you obsess too much over perfection you end up making it stressful and tedious in my experience. I find working with transparent pens when making lineart to be more fun than opaque and stark lineart for instance.

1 hour ago, Luc1nda said:

Out of curiosity, what kind of art do you do? 

Hentai.

[Luc1nda]

3 hours ago, Basman said:

In my experience, enjoying making art is what makes it all come together. You have to find the techniques and processes that makes production more fun for you. If you obsess too much over perfection you end up making it stressful and tedious in my experience. I find working with transparent pens when making lineart to be more fun than opaque and stark lineart for instance.

Absolutely, like when I tried to get better at digital art, I tried to stick by a certain way/technique other artists typically use. It slowed me down so much, made me not wanna draw at all because it came out crap. Then I started to do it in a way I liked, and boom it became so much better. I'm way better at painting than I am at cell shading. 

3 hours ago, Basman said:

Hentai.

Great way to earn fat stacks LOL
If you do commissions that is