Anxiety and showing your work to others

[st.alpentine]

So, as you may not know, I'm very new to this forum. I just joined last night and after scoping out a lot of your artworks, I've come to the conclusion that you are all extremely talented and dedicated to your work and I wish all of you well. Because of that, I'm somewhat nervous about showing you all my own works, which I believe has just pulled out of my tried and true comfort stages. I also believe that it's quite boring and dull; people that simply stand around, not much in the way of settings, vehicles, animals, etc. I could go and on at how...amateur my stuff is. It's embarrassing! I'm afraid that you all may judge me. I'll post my art eventually, but I have this question to ask--

What I want to know is if this feeling is normal when you're around other artists that you believe are way beyond your own level? And if so, were you able to combat this feeling of inadequacy and how so?

[OtherMuzz]

Man we don't care if you aren't amazing, We just like people and want to help people get better at what they love doing.

Here look i was terrible too when i started.

http://polykarbonbbs.com/showthread.php?t=11326

Also

[Tygerson]

That is awesome, OtherMuzz. It's so inspiring to see the beginner work of experts. It gives me hope, and also makes me see other artists in terms of what they can become.

And st.alpentine, it's okay--I'm a beginner too, and everyone has been really nice.

Man we don't care if you aren't amazing, We just like people and want to help people get better at what they love doing.

Here look i was terrible too when i started.

http://polykarbonbbs.com/showthread.php?t=11326

Also

[MissLillyArt]

It's totally normal to be nervous about posting your art, but that won't go away if you never post anything. I used to be terrified of having other people see my art because they were better than me and I thought they'd just laugh.

The most important thing to remember is that everyone started somewhere, even the best artists. Feedback is your friend and critiques are really helpful.

[Psychotime]

It's totally normal to be nervous about posting your art, but that won't go away if you never post anything. I used to be terrified of having other people see my art because they were better than me and I thought they'd just laugh.

The most important thing to remember is that everyone started somewhere, even the best artists. Feedback is your friend and critiques are really helpful.

This this this.

[smrr]

Amazing, wonderful, inspiring quote OtherMuzz - thank you so much for posting it!

It's pretty much sums up how I feel about my work at the moment.
I know it sucks right now
But will it suck in the future?

I know that there are a buuuuutt-load of other artists out there that are better than I am - in CD and out of CD--! But you know, just gotta keep reminding yourself that they started somewhere too.

We're all at different stages in our art journey and believe me when I say: there is a mutual respect for anyone who is daring enough to start a sketchbook, to share their journey - the good, the bad and the ugly. There's that mutual respect between the pro, semi-pro and the new challenger because they were all in the same boat once upon a time.

We shouldn't be worrying about what people think of our work as we are starting out; it's this kind of negative energy that wears us out, makes us doubt ourselves and eventually knocks us over.
Focus on what's to come if you just keep pumping out work, day after day.
I saw a post by Dan LuVisi that made me laugh... and take a step back:

You know you need to organize your files, when you try to save a file and the file name "234243.jpg" is already taken.

The man has miles and miles of canvases trailing him on his path, on his road.
But take a minute to imagine how he was feeling as he typed in the number "1" and clicked "Save".

Edit: haha oh balls, I was so quick to type up a post I didn't see what I wrote had already been posted :3
high fiiiiveeees daggers! All on the same page hahaaa