how do i get more confident in my art?

confidence is a big thing i lack when drawing, and i feel like it really makes itself evident. im nervous about stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things to draw because i know ill be upset they don't look right first try, unfortunately. ive been trying to work on this, but in the meantime, any advice?

So for starters, it can help to realise that nearly everyone feels this way. Even people who have been drawing for years professionally. I am not a pro myself, but I've sure watched enough content from pros to know that they say that all the time. If people didn't feel nervous, everyone would be drawing all the time, akin to how we are as children. 

So, obviously, since limited experiences, children have no judge of if their art doesn't match what they were attempting to draw, they just do it. Unfortunately, as you get older, that sense of 'it just doesn't look right' starts developing and that's what puts people off going any further with art. That, and obviously combining that with the social ideas of 'talent' and occasionally bad experiences of feedback. 

However, if we didn't have that sense of 'it just doesn't look right', we would also all still be drawing trees like lollypops and humans who are bigger than those trees and the houses they supposedly live in, so it's a double edged sword!

The overall advice I've found from many, many hours of content I've consumed, and not just related to art but literally any hard endevour (including STEM subjects such as engineering and computer science) is get used to the feeling of failing as quickly as you are able to. Because if you can pick yourself up from that and keep going, then not only will you learn extremely quickly, you will be doing what a majority of people give up on doing almost at the start. A good quote I saw was 'A master has failed a thousand more times than a beginner has'. 

So that's all good in theory, but the emotional burden can be quite heavy. In my experience as a beginner, I do three things currently to combat that:
1. I do drawings without references or tutorials where I try my best to connect to the child-like 'I want to draw that' and just fill a big page full of ideas and sketches of things, most of which look bad but at least get the idea across, and see what I really struggle to draw. In this way I learn what I really struggle to recall from memory, AND I realise that my brain isn't just boring, I do actually have some pretty wild ideas, I just can't draw them that well yet. The only thing about this process, especially at the beginning of trying it, is that it can feel extremely frustrating and make you anxious. See 'Draw a Box' website for this idea, he suggests making 50% of your time in drawing dedicated to just doing this and talks about it at length.
2. I have a lot of books, websites and places I can go for tutorials, and I do them regularly for that 'instant win', because that takes all the brain work out of picking colours, compositions, etc. out of the picture so you can just get that feeling of making something and having a good result at the end. Another easy win for me is drawing birds, I absolutely love birds and I draw them well because I've practiced them a lot, so I will do this for that instant good feeling too.
3. I study concepts and then try to apply them. For example, I use Line of Action and other figure drawing books to study people and their shapes. Because my thought is if I can draw people well, anything else I learn afterwards will feel a lot easier. Or, if I've identified I can't draw something in step 1, I'll maybe study that (like I found out I can't draw dogs for example). This can be extremely heavy on my brain though.

The combo of these three keeps me going with drawing and painting. This is just how I deal with feeling unconfident, so you may find the specifics to be not right in your case and need to adjust some stuff. I've now clocked around 300 hours of drawing and painting, not including time I spent as a child and teenager as I have no way of estimating that, and I have actually found it significantly easier recently to just start and 'enjoy the process' rather than focus purely on the result. I now lose hours just drawing and painting and don't even notice the ugly stages as I go through them, and I often enjoy my results too even if they do look weird and aren't drawn accurately. I love being able to actually fill a sketchbook instead of them just sitting there unused the most!

The only other thing to say is, and this may not apply to you at all so don't mind me if it doesn't, I lost a lot of my 20s to endevours like this because I was struggling along with undiagnosed C-PTSD. I've also had 100+ hours of intense therapy at this point before I could really get started with art, as my reactions to failure were really quite extreme beforehand. So if you are finding no matter what you do, you absolutely loathe what you've created, and you can't find any joy in the process at all. Also especially if you find that your very ideal of happiness itself is tied to the thought of recognition as 'something', be it as an artist or whatever, then it may be worth seeking out professional help alongside of doing art. 

I hope that helps and I haven't rambled on too long ^^; Keep going, I'm sure you're doing great!

I agree with the post above !! to add to the childlike drawing thing, I am a HUGE perfectionist but I've been seeing artists say they start expressive and loose, intending to add structure and 'realism' later (realism is a goal for me but very far away LOL). I liked knowing that the structure and technical fixes could come later, I just dont want to be putting people on a blank canvas, so starting with an abstract mess can still add a lot of depth to whatever is put overtop. I never wanted to be expressive in my art because that isn't what I enjoy looking at, I started being inspired by the D&D player handbook.

I've found success with planning the structure, and then going nuts overtop with experiments. I think having an emotional connection to the art is effective in making yourself feel pride or maybe even just nostalgia to the time I did the art. Trying to include things like my favorite color at the time, or a style I'm into, or even an intention/affirmation I like a lot if I'm feeling emotional lol In my experience, it FEELS so static in the moment, but a year later I'm a whole different person and can remember when I was OBSESSED with pink and used flowers to symbolize how I was feeling lol It applies to sketching too, even writing down ideas and quotes that spark your interest can remind you of where you were at when making it. 

I've found it makes me look back more fondly, especially because I'm so focused on art I rarely journal/take memory photos/etc. Going through old sketchbooks isn't an opportunity for me to critique my old art anymore, it's just me flipping through memory lane :)
Instead of remembering everything I got wrong, I remember the moments that I tried something weird and it gave me an idea, or if something didn't work, well it was worth trying !! That started to build my confidence that I can create things I'm comfortable with, not necessarily proud, because I probably have too much of my value as a person tied to art and my progress lol. This is coming from someone who recently loosened up from the structure and anatomy books I've been pouring over the past few years, mostly by experimenting with WHEN I experiment and let things be in the ugly stage, instead of putting pressure on it working out or looking good. 

I also have found a lot of success trying to focus my energy on allowing my art to start super bad, like comically bad. I'm not sure if you've come across Zezhou Chen before, but the way they show the development of the paintings was SO helpful for my silly, stubborn, recently found to be autistic, brain. If I haven't seen an artist do something, I have a lot of trouble convincing myself it will turn out.

Sometimes when I'm staring at a blank page, I force myself to draw the fastest face I can ((just a lil :) and a circle)) and take a 5 minute break, then when I come back the goal is to fix the bad face, which feels SO much better than just trying to do it right the first time.

I have an ADHD/Autism cocktail going on in my brain so the 'project' approach has always been signing up for failure for me, but treating it like something I'm doing to archive things I enjoy and prioritize what my eyeballs like, has made it a little more exciting for me I think. Worst case I dont like it halfway through and just go nutty with colors to see if it sparks anything, if not, that's ok, practice is practice, wisdom is gained by trying and failing IMO so if it's hard to stay confident, keep trying!!

what is confidence?
a feeling. 

when do you feel confident?
when you believe in yourself and your capabilities and picture successful results and appreciate what youve accomplished and find things to be grateful about whats been done and whats been learned. you recognize that you are good enough now, and that you will continue to get even better the more you learn and do.
they imagine praise and compliments. they imagine awards and applause and sales and recognition. they imagine winning what they want to win.
they are in a habit of making themselves feel good.

someone who lacks confidence, is thinking negative thoughts and imagining negative outcomes, such as, ill never get better, i suck at this, it looks ugly, its too hard, i cant do it. i should be better, im not good enough.
they may project past incidents onto their future by recalling moments they were insulted or felt ashamed, etc. 
they are in a habit of making themselves feel bad.

feelings are largely determined by what thoughts we think, and by what pictures we imagine, and what stories we believe about ourselves.


each of our life stories make this varying levels of difficulty to change, when we truly decide to notice and change our patterns. 

its up to you to do what you will with that info. 
there are plenty of resources out there to help you when you are ready to help yourself.

one of the best is self hypnosis, where you put yourself into a relaxed state and think and imagine and especially FEEL FEEL FEEL the positive thoughts/changes/outcomes you now choose for yourself. with 10-20 mins a day of this positive emotional day dreaming seeing yourself and what you do as good, you can begin noticing a difference in your automatic thoughts in as little as 3 days, and real differences in 2 weeks. ideally you will do it for 10 mins each when you first wake up, the middle of the day, and again as you are about to go to sleep, but doing ANY, once per day, will begin to transform you.

this works in all areas of life.

you were given the desire to create because the world wants and needs your creative vision.

i wish you the very best.

这个帖子下面的回复给了我很多信心，感谢发出帖子的人和发表回复的人！
恰好前几天我在尝试原创一幅完成度较高的作品，由于对各种知识都只了解了皮毛，我需要查找大量的参考和别人的画法才能把创作推进下去。我认为画画最令我快乐地方之一是它能给我即时的反馈，无论是临摹还是原创，看着作品一点点完善、越来越好看，这给我提供很多情绪价值。
但是就在我创作这幅作品的过程中，问题发生了，不管怎样尝试，我的画面都不能令我满意——它看起来有点丑，但我说不清问题在哪儿。当时我已经连续画了三小时，我的肩颈、腰背都很酸痛，脑袋昏沉，心情也烦躁起来，但我想着一定一定要把它画好看！于是我又开始找新的参考和教程，一边观察一边调整，过了很久终于变得好看了些，然而还是不能使我满意。这时我的身体和心理都已经要崩溃了。
后来的两天我除了在line of action上做简单的练习，没有再画画，我害怕那种失望的、失控的感觉，而且我不知道怎么办才好。我觉得并不是我的方法出了问题，也不是我不够勤奋，只是我的创作能力不太匹配我的期望……唯一的也是最靠谱的办法，就是继续画下去，同时也要调整，尽可能减少类似的坏场面发生。
恰好我前两天看见了这个帖子，对我很有启发。我开始反思我画画的动机，有时候我们画画是因为享受，或是需要休闲、释放，但我们每天都花时间做一些固定的、见效不快的练习，强忍嫉妒去认真研究他人的惊艳画作，是因为我们想要提高自己的画画技术，画出更好的东西。那么长期的努力和练习就是必需的，我个人的体验是：既然决定要长期做某件事，那么做这件事的过程中去放松和体验，要比总想着完成它、想看见效果更有利于坚持下去。无论是学习、练习、临摹还是创作，都可以用这个思路去调整，试着把它变得更加轻松、有趣，专注于过程而非着急要结果。比如说，我选择每天在line of action上练习20张人体速写，而不是30或40张，因为20张是我的舒适区，在这个范围内，我基本可以保证自己每天愉悦地完成练习。有关创作和临摹，我也打算缩减画面的篇幅，或是适当降低完成度，中国有篇古文《劝学》中写道：“骐骥一跃，不能十步；驽马十驾，功在不舍。”即使登天是我们的目标，我们也不可能在山脚下就一步登天，一步一步来，给自己一些时间，放松地慢慢走，相信我们都会进步的！
道理也许大家都明白，到实践的时候我们就会受挫，发现事情发展并不像自己以为的那样好。我也是这样，我至今仍然对自己的某些小失误非常敏感，以至于情绪爆发和崩溃，而且有时我对自己非常苛刻，总是想要“更好”，吝啬于夸奖，我想这些和画画还是我们做的别的什么事都无关，这是我们无论做什么都需要一直面对的课题。我知道自己以后还会反复地犯错，但我不会因此就放弃做自己想做的事，不会放弃让自己变得更好一点。希望看到这条回复的人也能更有信心一点，跌倒无数次就再爬起无数次，我们会越走越远的！

The replies below this post give me a lot of confidence, thanks to the person who sent the post and the people who posted the reply! 

Just a few days ago, I was trying to create a work with a high degree of completion. Since I only had a superficial understanding of various knowledge, I needed to find a lot of references and other people's painting methods before I could push forward my creation. I think one of the most enjoyable things about painting is that it gives me immediate feedback, whether it's copying or creating something, and seeing it get better and better and better gives me a lot of emotional value. But while I was working on this piece, something went wrong, and no matter what I tried, my picture didn't satisfy me - it looked a little ugly, but I couldn't put my finger on it. At that time, I had been painting for three hours, my shoulders, neck, back and back were very sore, my head was dizzy, and my mood was irritated, but I thought I must paint it well! So I began to find new references and tutorials, while observing and adjusting, after a long time finally became more beautiful, but still can not make me satisfied. By this time, I was physically and mentally breaking down.

 For the next two days, I did not draw any more except for simple exercises on the line of action. I was afraid of feeling disappointed and out of control, and I did not know what to do. I don't think my method is wrong, nor am I not diligent enough, but my creative ability does not match my expectations... The only and most reliable way is to continue to draw, but also to adjust, as far as possible to reduce the occurrence of similar bad scenes. I happened to see this post two days ago and it was very enlightening to me. I began to reflect on my motivations for drawing. Sometimes we draw because we enjoy it, or because we need to relax and release, but we spend time every day doing regular, unproductive exercises, and studying other people's amazing paintings in the face of jealousy, because we want to improve our own drawing skills and draw something better. Then long-term effort and practice is necessary, and my personal experience is that if you decide to do something for a long time, then relaxing and experiencing the process of doing it is more conducive to sticking with it than trying to finish it and see results. Whether it is learning, practicing, copying or creating, you can use this idea to adjust, try to make it more relaxed, fun, and focus on the process rather than rushing to the result. For example, I choose to practice 20 body sketches per day on the line of action, rather than 30 or 40, because 20 is my comfort zone, and within that, I can pretty much guarantee that I can do them happily every day. 

Regarding the creation and copying, I also plan to reduce the length of the picture, or appropriately reduce the degree of completion, there is an ancient Chinese article "Persuade to learn" wrote: "Steed leap, not ten steps; Ten times a poor horse, but not giving up." Even if the sky is our goal, we can not climb at the foot of the mountain, step by step, give yourself some time, relax slowly, I believe we will progress! Maybe everyone understands that when it comes to practice, we will be frustrated and find that things are not as good as we thought. I'm still very sensitive to some of my little mistakes that lead to emotional outbursts and breakdowns, and sometimes I'm very hard on myself, always wanting to be "better" and stingy with praise, and I think it has nothing to do with painting or whatever else we do, it's something we all have to deal with all the time no matter what we do. I know I'm going to make mistakes again and again, but I'm not going to let that stop me from doing what I want to do and getting better.

 I hope that the people who see this reply can also have more confidence, fall countless times and climb up countless times, we will go farther and farther!