Being an artist can be super hard, but never forget your reality check: its just a job. You're not solving world hunger or curing cancer. You're making pretty pictures for a disposable entertainment product and 90% of the time you may hate your job. So, start treating it as a job (or studying for it). Art requires dedication and training just as with every other job, and there are fun parts and atrocious, brutal obstacles to overcome. This may sound super harsh but here's comes the good part: anyone can become a great artist this way!

Sure, talent and a feel for art are a plus, but did you ever meet a lawyer that got a natural talent 'for pointing out criminals and wrong laws' without bringing any evidence to the table whatsoever? Studying and training your art skills will eventually bring you to a higher level, there's no magic behind it. Even a scribble a day may improve your skills. Even so, I know how frustrating it is when a painting doesnt work out the way you want it. But this is no different from a programmer who realizes how badly written his code is, or a long distance runner that gets out of breath half the distance he had to run. You're not alone in this, and feeling like giving up is natural. You can treat art either as something that you want to do for fun and let go of that anxiousness or treat it as a means that will food to the table. The romanticized picture of an artist as a highly creative individual who doesnt care about the fact that he is poor is wrong. The classical painters such as Da Vinci all worked for clients and did paintings they sometimes didnt like. And they also felt like giving up sometimes. Art is cool and all, but at the end of the day is just plain o'l work you're doing. The first phase (sketching, compositing) may be highly creative but finishing up a painting is usually a bit boring.

You ARE gonna make it if you whittle away your incompetence every day, bit by bit. Relax, sit back and vary in subjects you like to paint and the ones you dont like but have to learn. Compare you work to others, exchange information and thoughts and relax with a movie or game sometimes. One day, you may look at you work and say: 'this is okay'. Because there isnt and artist on this planet that isnt looking up to another artists. We're all in on this together:)

And behind this, you have to think about the tons of works and failures, good illustrators or concept artists encounted to reach this level. So if you have time, i invite you to read this written well short story about fear of failure ;-) http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/10/be-friends-with-failure/

Yeah I feel like that some times. In such moments I go back to my recorded sketchbook and observe the progress I've done so far. This helps me overcome the though that I'm never going to make it, because i see that even though pretty slowly, I'm advancing. After that it becomes clear to me that everything I need to do is just to keep pushing forward, every day, as much as possible. So cheer up and keep pushing man!

littleju, yeah ive seen that comic, thanks for reminding it to me ;)

and the others, thanks alot :)

Peter, that was a damn good read. :)

Thanks for sharing that comic @littleju, very awesome.

And funny enough, my name is Jeffrey as well! :p

If youre feeling like giving up, maybe challenge yourself to learn a new style or draw something different, like if you usually draw vehicles, draw something..organic.

and who cares if you never "make it"? even those who we consider to have "made it" struggle with the same things we do.

besides, it's lonely at the top. I'd rather hang at the bottom or middle with everyone else :p