If I were to be honest, I would say that I wouldn't notice... but that is only really because I don't think I've seen you post anything since I started watching you. :P

I think it would be a shame though if you stopped permanently... nothing worth pursuing has ever been all that simple to achieve. I've been in the same boat for quite some time... and only recently decided to sod it and keep trying anyway. Drawing requires an incredible amount of willpower, especially when you feel no one is even looking. It all comes with time and practice.

Sorry, I'm preaching. I'll get my coat.

I mean I really want to draw but I don't exactly have the incisive to do so, even through it is just a hobby at this point. I cannot take another break nor can I make any more excuses, that ship has sailed long ago. I kinda have to keep going at this point as I have too much stuff just sitting around gathering dust, I'm still fighting some bad habits such as feeling inadequate compared to others and not trying due to someone else having done it better. It's a dangerous cycle and I cannot fully break it yet.

Would you be able to tell me what things specifically are making you doubt yourself when it comes to even attempting your artwork? I'm somewhat curious to know if only so I could give you some decent and helpful advice.

Because I'd like to emphasize on my part that I can feel the same way you do. It has only been the last month or so I've broken a cycle that has lasted years. Not to say that I don't feel the same way now, just that I'm doing my best to ignore it.

I'm equally wondering what art programs you use and what you're trying to achieve art wise. The type of images you want to make. Because depending on scenario, I could try to find a way for us to do some drawing together via something like Open Canvas or DrawPile at some point.

I use grapicsgale for my art and I do everything small and pixeled cause it's easy to fix my mistakes and I'm impatient. It just feels like what I envision in my mind never comes out in my art, as if my skills can't keep up with my ideas. Sometimes it's so frustrating that I delete everything and stop drawing for days on end, I've made mistakes so constantly that I have an unnatural distaste for them.

Ah ha... so you're more focused upon pixel art? Huh... I've been working with pixels for the first 6 months of this year, and learned a few things about it on the way. It still requires some artistic knowledge to do effectively, I might be able to link you to a website that I found was pretty helpful in understanding how to put pixel art together... more for fighting games than anything, but the information transfers to any other type of pixel art. http://2dwillneverdie.com/tutorial/

And as for the hand and brain disparity... that happens with all artists, haha. It happens with me all the time. Skill level will play a part in this, but the other thing to keep in mind is that... you have to know that what your brain can come up with can be difficult for your hand to interpret - drawing from the imagination is a nightmare. Another tutorial I've been trying to follow that I was recommended by a friend is http://reversedough.tumblr.com/post.....avelingmadness

Unfortunately, results in general when it comes to art can be slow until you know all the tricks and techniques. It is hard not to get frustrated and throw your hands up... but then it depends on how much you really want to do the art. You mustn't beat yourself up if you feel you need the time away, it isn't excuse making... it is how all creatives feel at various points. I've done it a few times, just done nothing until I felt so restless that I had to do something again. Mistakes will be made, nothing is ever perfect... if you can work on a picture and finish it and move on to something else regardless of how much you like or dislike it, you're going to improve. By making those mistakes, you'll work out how not to make them again... if that makes sense.

Equally, I could see about looking at some of the stuff you have been working on, to try and see where things might be going awry? Sometimes, an outside pair of eyes can be invaluable in seeing what ones own cannot.

I've just been doing this alone for so long that I am out of excuses but I don't actually try due to the assumption that I'll fail, in fact this sort of thing has a habit of driving people away from me.

Yeah... people can have a way of abandoning ship when someone is so full of self doubt. But that is probably the biggest thing that is harming you at this point... you're damning yourself before you try. An understandable line of thought, I know I go through that myself a bit too often.

Don't think of it as making excuses. You're battling your own mood, and mood is pretty fundamental to wanting to do things you should enjoy. You've hit a wall, but you'll have your eureka moment where you'll get it.

Yeah, that's pretty spot on. Quite recently I did a dialogue experiment with two of my characters but I couldn't get much farther without visual aid such as pictures drawn by me. I'm often in the mood to draw but nothing fully comes out and I'm stuck with an increasing pile of junk I can't post, it's really discouraging to have that happen so often and now I just assume that it will always be that way.

Regardless of what you think, you do prolly need to be at least posting some of it, even in the form of scraps. And if I were honest again... it might not change, those feelings, but that is how it goes - doubt niggling in the back or front of your mind.

Visual aids are not a terrible thing to use, at least as long as they aren't simply traced. I could also suggest trying to break things down into simple shapes as a starting point. Think of em as foundations to build on rather than say... trying to draw straight from the imagination.

Yeah I should get on that soon, also mostly every character I've created is incomplete and I cannot slack off any more. I need to start slow then build back up to where I was, being impatient has burned me out over and over again.