@Wakusei Aoshi:

Sorry, fell off the face of the planet for a bit.

What an awful thing to tell a 13-year-old =/ It's like they don't realize art comes through skill/training. And I think people don't realize until they try. And if they fail they say "Well, I guess I just don't have the talent for art." Not many do, we build on it. But it does get tough to keep at it when there's a lot of competition and many non-artists undervalue our skillsets.

True enough. When you enjoy something, you don't often wanna spoil it by introducing to people XD;

That's great to hear =D Keep at it =^_^=

@Kitty K.O.:

Nah, I totally get that. I remember on gaia online I asked if my art was good enough for a 13 year old (dunno why, what a stupid question) and everyone told me no and that I should give up because I had no talent and that people much younger than me were way better than I was. It was such a weird thing to say to someone. It did hurt me a lot, I still clearly remember it, and it made me give up a little bit, but the people on theO helped me a lot to keep going so I never gave up.

Yeah, it's pretty weird isn't it. I wonder if everyone has that one skill they love but feel very insecure about. Or maybe it's at a certain point in learning where we don't feel we have a lot of control on the thing that we love yet, so when we're asked to fix it we just have a melt down.

I've been improving a lot more, so if somebody told me that my movements were too tired, slow, off beat, etc, I know how to correct it.

@Wakusei Aoshi:

True, it's all about what you do next in those situations. And I beat myself up too often or take it to heart too much.

I'm a bit old, so I'm more stressed out about whether or not art will work as a career. I also don't want to be stuck in a job I hate for the rest of my life just to pay the bills. Heck, it was somewhat depressing to see someone on Quora ask "I'm 14, am I too old to start learning art?" I'm like... excuse me, that's the age I started drawing... o_o; But I didn't use my time wisely. Had I studied more from the moment I started trying, I'd probably be much further along now.
I'm not too old to learn, but I have less time to implement that into a career, unless I'm self-employed (i.e. Patreon)

Sorry, I went off on a tangent.

Yeah, I feel the same about singing. I don't like to sing in front of people, but I love singing and music, but if someone told me I was horrible at it, my heart would break. I actually got some voice training courses on Udemy so when I'm able, I can take those lessons and push my voice further. Maybe there's dance courses on there as well? I'm lousy at dancing cuz I'm too self-conscious, but it's likely just like anything else: you practice at it, you get better. =) Even if you're already good at something, there's always something else to learn to improve, right? =D

@Kitty K.O.:

I think it's something you gotta actively tell yourself. Like when you receive the failure or criticism it hurts at first, but then before you start beating yourself up stop and be like 'why do I have to make myself upset when I could make myself happy instead' and eventually you'll see the good in it.

I've only ever gotten people to tell me I will fail about my dreams, so I latch on to every opportunity I get and because I know I will fail, if I fail and learn from it I know I'll do better and get closer to my dream.

But when it comes to dance, like, hella I'ma drop everything and just give up and cry in a corner. That's one thing I've been bullied about so I get if there's just some things that are hard to take criticism on. Maybe it's the frustration that you want to get better but you don't know how to improve or fix the things that were criticized, that's how I am about dance, because I really don't have the troubleshooting skills yet so it feels like when I get criticized it's knocking down my table while I'm still building it.

@Wakusei Aoshi:

True, but it's a difficult thing to learn to be okay with. Especially if you have an aversion to criticism because you've been criticized for a lot of different things (not just art)

One day it would be nice to hear and see the bad parts for what they are: a teachable moment.

@superstarpanou:

Thank you so much! I'll keep trying my best as long as I can!

I feel like if they made a more mobile-friendly version of this site then it'd be more easy to use. I couldn't reply to any of these comments until now because I couldn't press submit on my phone.

@moonlit dream:

Thankies! I think it's just one small step, but I'll keep going as far as I can go with it!

@Kitty K.O.:

I have learned though that failures are more helpful than successes. Only getting failures or only getting successes are both disappointing. On the one hand you feel like you just generally suck, on the other hand, you could potentially suck and nobody is telling you.

Anyways, for me so far, failure has been really helpful because it tells me what I did wrong so I can do better next time, and then because I did something or made something it doesn't feel as difficult to try again. I've already written my comic about 5 times.

I think frustration comes it when you fail, but don't know how to do better next time, which I have also gotten a bit of recently...but then that means I know what parts make me the most stuck and where I need to practice so that I will now how to fix it.

@Keba Si Rota:

Actually I remember you! So no worries! I've seen you a lot around theO! Thanks for the comment!

@toyotami kun:

Ya gotta pump yourself up to do the things you want to do no matter how scary they seem. I think the best thing is to try things as much as you can so that you know what you are doing and it feels less scary. Like writing a ton and eventually you'll get used to how to make a good coherent plot structure that you can play with etc. Creating things isn't magic, it's a lot of failure.

That's incredible! Congrats to the max! I myself have been just creeping here and there all the time, but I don't think I'll ever be truly gone from theO. However, I hope you'll keep us updated too! You've done so well!

Holy crap wakusei!!!! That's incredible!!!!!! I know you've wanted this for a long time & have worked really hard at it and making connections and things, so I'm so proud of you!! 😭💖💖💖💖 Congratulations and best of luck to you!!!!!

So nice to hear from you, and congratulations!! It's really awesome what you've been able to accomplish Wishing you the best!

Oh wow, congratulations, Waku! (It's been a long time X3) I'm glad to see you're moving towards your dreams =D

I appreciate what you said about feeling sad about failure and then wanting to do it more after the sadness. That's true. Although it still sucks failing a lot =^^;=

Much luck to you on this new journey! =D

This was really inspiring to read. You probably don't know me, but I'm really happy for you!

That's wonderful to hear! Congrats, I hope that you can get published! You're words are also very encouraging. I myself have been wanting to work on a comic, but I have to admit I get intimidated because lack of self confidence, and fear of being committed to something that might be a failure. ( in my eyes) but you make a point, just do it otherwise you'll never know. Anyways I hope you can get published and learn a lot! Also don't worry about getting in trouble, I don't see anything wrong with you sharing this, unless they are super strict?