Damn, now I want to know who this artist is so I can look her up and judge all the art.

I saw a lot of this in art school. There were a handful of kids who had little to no improvement in their style and general comprehension of art from foundation studies to graduation. And I swear those kids all had the same chip on their shoulder in regards to self-entitlement with their work. It sucked and even if I wasn't "better" than them, I tried to at least be open to changing and developing instead of stewing in an I'm-So-Awesome bubble.

I both love and hate the whole "the best way to get better is to practice" mentality. Like... there are so many aspects that help nurture a creative soul. I'm not sure I can say doing the thing is the best way. Yeah, you need to do the thing at some point, but I remember how I spent two years not even once touching Photoshop in graphic design and typography classes. I learned from changing my perspective and trying different mediums. I learned from going to museums and studying anatomy and then flipping off structure altogether. I think there needs to be an understanding of what and why you're doing the thing before you ever come close to doing it. I'm also a massive fan of constructive criticism, which I know is like to fan creators today as garlic and holy water is to vampires, but legit, it helps if creative types want to grow. Remember those awesome potted plants you keep in your apartment? They grew because you watered them and got them bigger pots when they were root bound and made sure they got enough sunlight and probably fed them some yummy fertilizer now and then. They sure as hell didn't grow from you shoving them in a pot and ignored them forever (and I mean, if that's literally what you did, then damn, I'm impressed, but anyhow). People are no different. Yeah, the truth can be harsh and some people confuse critique with witch hunts for some reason, but how else do we develop ourselves if we're blind and deaf to the world we're influencing?

So instead of drawing a million hands a day (oh lord, I can hear my Life Drawing II professor now about goddamn hands), maybe grab a medical textbook and look at hand drawings in there. Photograph some hands. Go to a museum and look at every hand in the paintings and sculptures. Stare at people's hands when you're waiting in line at a cafe/concert/place where people wait in lines for things. Watch a stream/video of an artist illustrating hands. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes the most helpful thing for improving ourselves as creative types is doing anything but the thing we want to improve. I took a loom weaving class as a random elective one semester in art school and I swear I got more out of that class than anything else I took that year and my graphic design work improved because of it.

Also, while I'm more of an active writer than an artist these days, I do treasure every kudo and comment and reblog on my works. I would never torment someone if they left a comment like that. Screw that artist. I also say this and still worry now and then I'm bothering people when I comment on their stuff

tl;dr - I have feels about this and I just want to see you grow and be happy ♥