I feel like everything i make looks shitty, I’m not satisfied with any work that I’ve made for the past couple months. I’ve only been doing 3D seriously for a little over 1 year now and I’ve never been so dissatisfied with my art like i am now. I’m not sure what to do in a situation like this, I’ve thought about taking a break but i feel like I’ll just get worse and be even more dissatisfied when i start again
. Have any of you been in a situation like this before? If so what did you do to get out of it? Thanks for reading any advice is greatly appreciated.
Hi @kesanmits48
Sorry you’re going through this! It’s not uncommon for artists to go through phases like this where nothing seems to be working.
You may not want to hear this, but a year is not a very long time when you’re talking about an artistic discipline. You can pick up a lot of technical knowledge about 3d processes and workflows in that time, but the underlying artistic component is something that can take years to develop, and that only if you’re actively working on it every day.
So make sure you have realistic expectations of yourself. The equation for improvement is time+ repetition, and you’re just a bit short yet on the time equation. Try to evaluate yourself not only against where you want to be, but also against where you started. I think if you’ll look back at the sort of things you did when you first started out compared to where you are now, you’ll see how far you’ve come.
It’s important to work every day if possible on some sort of learning or artistic output. It’s also important to challenge yourself, and work outside of your comfort zone to learn new things–don’t neglect that anatomy! However, if you get to the point doing this where you’re just not enjoying what you’re doing on any level, then it can be good to step back, and find something you really enjoy doing to remind yourself why you started pursuing this path in the first place. If you’re just not enjoying what you’re doing, your output will suffer.
I really enjoy making giant robots, and have since I was a kid. It’s something I fundamentally enjoy across many artistic mediums, and I’m pretty good at it. If I’m ever down about stuff, sometimes I’ll treat myself to creating a nice giant robot just to remember why I love doing it, and also to give myself a chance to succeed at something I’m good at. We can’t only work on things we’re very comfortable with or we’d never get any better. But sometimes it can help get back on track after experiencing setbacks.
So maybe find something you really enjoy doing, and just do that for a while for the sheer joy of it. Allow yourself to enjoy it for a while, but then start working other more challenging things as well. Balance the effort of reaching with the comfort of the familiar.
Good luck, and I hope things improve for you! 
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Perhaps Ryan Kingslein can help.
Artistic Obstacles - The Valley of the Suck
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Learning process is long for many things. 3D Modeling since 1998…
EXPOSURE TO/ AWARENESS OF/ GOALS TO FOCUS ON…
DO IT!