Getting back into drawing?

Nightweaver20xx
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
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Happy Derpy! -
Platinum bit -
Emerald -
Artist -

Evil
So I’m thinking of getting back into art after, let’s see… more than 5 years? Yeah, I guess it has been that long. But I’m having trouble getting motivated because every time I think of drawing something, I visit DA or here and see amazing stuff by artists way younger than I and get discouraged. I have a degree in art, so I should be a good artist, right? I should be skilled, I should know what I’m doing. But I’m afraid I’m so rusty it won’t matter how hard I try, I’ll just get frustrated and scrap everything and stop again. One of the main reasons I stopped last time was the whole kerfuffle with FurAffinity that led to me getting banned from there. I think you all know the story by now. Suffice to say I felt like nobody wanted to see my art, so I just said “Screw it, if all I’m going to get is ignored or ganged up on in comments sections, I’m not going to waste my time putting myself out there.”
 
So I guess in order to not make this post entirely about me, let me ask you guys: How many of you have taken a break from art before for whatever reason, and how did you get back into drawing? Because I am finding it rough.
Stoopedhooy
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
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Sad Confused Artist.
Hello there!
 
Well, first of all, if you want to attract some attention, you could always draw what You and what Others love at the same time…  
If you do that with canon characters then it’s even more imminent, hahah.  
That is the easiest way - to make pics you and your potential watchers will love.
 
As for the question…
 
It’s truly more about motivation, yes.  
My problem usually consists in the lack of spiritual calmness while being irreligious, cynical and overally not very nice person.  
I’ve been taking a break when feeling down for about month or two at most.  
Usually that was lasting until someone boosted my ego with compliments or by giving me quality feedback, yeah, something like that. Even cooler if the person who made that particular commentary is competent in being nice (yes, I’m not joking!) and know how to draw.  
It may be cool if you find yourself some buddy or even a friend with whom you can share some interests, sketches and ideas. For example, some ideas may sound like garbage to yourself but pretty good to other person. Or you can both improve your own ideas and concepts together.  
For me that’s depressing to draw nsfw stuff with no one close to share their thoughts with about that. Make me think of myself as a mental freak or something, lol.
 
For now, however, I’m more confident about myself and in order to avoid stagnation in hand skills I make sketches, silly drawings, studies and such during these rare moments. For eye training I prefer to watch my favorite artists, search for more artists, watch real horses, anatomical studies, veterinary vids, etc.
 
Well, considering all written above, I love giving my feedback to people who improve their skills, don’t receive much feedback and whose arts I adore :D  
Not something like typing “cool, nice, good” but just saying what you like in particular. Because most artists are missing such comments. This way I’m not feeling like an asshole while being the one XD  
And of course, the passion, you should be truly enjoying drawing something, be it oversized equine genitals or kawai chibi goodness, the choice is yours. If you like it, you would want it to look better, spend more time learning, therefore - improvements in technique.
 
What motivates me even more is when I feel that I succeed in being better artist than me in the past.  
That’s a very cozy feeling :3
 
Hope that my answer will help you in some way.
Nightweaver20xx
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday
Happy Derpy! -
Platinum bit -
Emerald -
Artist -

Evil
@Stooped_hooy  
Holy crap someone actually replied to this. Thanks for the thoughts. In the next few days I’m going to try hard to push something out for the site. I’m trying to redevelop my style, so we’ll see how that goes.
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