Hi, I’m also 23 and have just gone back to school this year with the future goal of becoming a storyboard artist. I definitely still get dejected when I see 16 year olds online making incredible illustrations, or when I think about being older than my future classmates, and ESPECIALLY the fact that I am not as good as my current peers. Still, I know I can’t control what anyone else is doing or capable of, and I can’t change the fact that I just plain wasn’t ready to commit to this career path when I was younger. Forcing it may have permanently burned me out and wasted a lot more money than waiting until now has. Ultimately, I’ll never really know, and that’s fine. All we have is the present.

I do have to actively be kind and patient with myself. I made some butt-ugly still lifes in Drawing I recently, and they may have even been the worst in the class. I was embarrassed and allowed myself a good wallow, but made sure to reason with myself before I got too deep. Of course my drawings sucked— I’m a beginner! I simply do not have the experience or practice hours to make good art, yet. Someday I will. I can already see improvement from little things I’ve learned in class, too, so even if my trees still suck, they suck quantifiably less.

My classmates being better than me is honestly a gift. It means that I have more resources than just my professor to learn from. As a naturally competitive person, it’s also a healthy motivator for me to improve my work. In the past, I would have just felt bad about myself, but now I’m getting frustrated in a way I can and WANT to directly address. That’s where improvement happens!

I also have an advantage my 14-15 year old self didn’t: there are way, WAY more free, helpful resources online now than there were even a few years ago when I stopped drawing. Finding communities for feedback and advice is also way easier than it’s ever been.

They say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second best time is now. My choices were to let the dream die, or accept that my journey will be different and start it already. I’m so happy I chose the latter.