#i haven't felt genuine fulfillment in finished art in so long

[hypnowave]

making proportional, neatly lined, colored and shaded art pieces of my original characters is not enough i need to vomit brightly colored paint all over cheap art store canvasses & make 7 billion wonky clay pots that will explode in the kiln & weave ropes into intricate macrame textiles just to set them on fire & sew together unsightly clothing articles of clashing patterns and textures & make handmade recycled paper & build wooden plane miniatures while trying not to choke on wood chips

[melontoyo]

Your art is nothing short of AMAZING. I always get so happy when I see your art on my dash! I used to love to draw and seeing your art has reminded me how much I miss drawing. I stopped because I felt very self-conscious (I have a disability and a lot of people tend to boil down what I can do to "oh wow! you have a disability and you did that!" which often is meant kindly but it...hurts and feels not good) and like I wasn't allowed to do/be good at art. Do you have any advice for getting back into art? Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your art with us!

Hi!! First of all, thank you for liking what I do!

I've been thinking about this ask for a long time, and sadly I don't think I'm qualified to give any meaningful advice, since I have never dealt with disability myself, so take this with a big grain of salt.

All I know (based on other disabled artists out there, and the reactions towards their art) is, that when people say "Wow you did that despite [disability]?", they are 99.99% of the time genuinely impressed by the craft, and the effort and love the artist put into their work. I saw this very clearly when I looked up a blind painter and everyone was so fascinated by how the love for his craft enabled him to overcome even the biggest obstacles. I can absolutely understand how it may be uncomfortable for the artist, but in the end, the art we create is always about us. And I'd say, the more unabashedly "you" your art is, the more unique and impressive it will be.

Regardless, there is always the option to only share your art with a selected audience or share your art under an alias without providing any info about yourself, or even not sharing your art at all. It depends on what is personally fulfilling to you.

Which brings me to my second point: Unless you're pursuing art or illustration as a career, your goal should always be to make yourself happy. Be real self-indulgent. Do the art that *you* want to see. Do art that simply *feels good* to you. Art doesn't even need to have a clear purpose! Lots of artists do work where personal fulfillment comes from the process of creating, not the "finished" work. Think of experimental techniques such as paint pours.

So yeah I believe the best way to get back into it, is to simply experiment and figure out what's fun for you (if you haven't already)!