When I was in the Army we called this “failing up”. Whatever it is that you want to learn or improve in, jump in and do your best at it. If the result was bad then review what went wrong and what went right. Then adjust fire and drive on. The main thing part is that you don’t quit when going through adversity. This mentality allowed me to create my first 200 pg manga volume. It was terrible. The art wasn’t great and the storytelling was hit garbage. What got praised the most was the characters personalities and interactions. I’ve since canned that project and took the strong points to start a few practice one shot manga for practice. Now I’m getting ready to start working on another manga series. Gotta enjoy the process, even the not so fun parts. Thanks again for another inspiring video. You pump me up, Mr. TK!
Having released my first solo game after 2 years of development and failing to even reach the miminum to receive from steam, watching you share the same, warms my heart a little bit, thank you. At the end of the day, even if I cannot make another game due to my environment (living in a 3rd world contry) I am still here, alive. Failure didn't kill me, there is still another day tomorrow to try something else, even if only to survive it.
Hey congratulations for at least seeing a big project through! You didn’t just have an idea. You made a full blown finished product. That’s incredible. Don’t sell yourself short
Thanks for this video I was struggling really hard with this comic I was working on. This video gave me the inspiration to start working on it again. I realized that I was to concerned about length while I should of just focused on making a good story even if it isn't as long as I wanted it to be.
This may be a little unrelated, but this video brought it to mind. I used to have a classmate at an art school who came and went at odd times. He'd be in for a few weeks, then he'd be gone for a few weeks. He was a semi truck driver in his... mid 50's maybe early 60's. I think he was a truck driver for a long time. He was really good, and literally everything he did was related to a story that he'd been developing for years and years about little bat people. On his breaks, before bed, in school, outside of it, he just chipped away at it whenever he could. It had this sort of... heavy metal/ferngully thing going for it stylistically. Every time I think about when I have to do work unrelated to my passions, or do art for someone else and set my personal work aside, I think about him. It makes it a little easier sometimes.
yep just keep trying and failing, failing is not actually a bad thing, it can be so helpful to reflect on what went wrong and then try again and possibly succeed or finish something
Once again, there are many good takeaways and interesting topics in this video. It's true that the more completed projects you have, even if it's just a few finished commissions the more seriously you are taken. For this reason, I'm now at a point where I'm choosing clients who offer me long-term projects with more caution, especially if they don't have that much experience with their material yet. While I'm always happy to help aspiring people with their indie game projects, I prefer to do my research beforehand and make sure they're actually experienced, even if their portfolio have just a few small finished hobby projects to show. Early in my freelance career, I met a lot of nice clients who had a whole bunch of great but overambitious concepts for their games that ended up being put on ice mid-process for a variety of reasons, mostly because they lost interest after hitting some walls. In the end, it doesn't help my portfolio because the project went nowhere and my contributed assets had to be kept under lock and key, so I'm not allowed to show anything because of contractual agreements. I admit, back then I felt demotivated by it, and it felt like a waste of time. However, I realized that I learned a bunch of valuable things from the practical creation process and collaboration. Additionally, I have developed an intuition for new inquiries for long-term project offers and always ask beforehand whether the clients have, for example, a completable, feasible to-do list for all the required assets - because often times the problem with these overambitious projects was that the tasks were formulated in a very wishy-washy and open-ended way and in the end no milestones could be actively approached towards. These conditions already gave a good indicator of how well the requesters really planned the whole projects through. From my experience, the most promising project managers I worked with so far, had a rather simplistic and small project in the making that was easy to oversee for them and who have also shown that they had a good grasp of how challenging even those minor milestones for each team member can already turn out and need to be adjusted, as soon as things are taking shape. But yeah, you have to differ from case to case anyway, and I agree on the aspect, that, when it comes to advices and experiences it's important to contextualize.
yknow whenever i'm feeling unmotivated, or down or like i'm not achieving my goals fast enough, i always come back to your channel. you've got some wise words and amazing experiences, and it's really just incredible that you take the time to share them with the world. i actually was brought to tears when you were talking about it being a tragedy if miyazaki had given up after being rejected, and how you wonder how many people out there could be in similar situations. it really did re-invigorate me, so thank you Trent
God this video hit just when I needed it. I recently been doing self imposed 1 month challenges. (The idea came from things like Inktober and New Year's resolutions don't last so just try for a month.) I decided for November I would challenge myself to make an entire Zelda-like game and publish it on Itch no matter the condition. And I did it. I feel like a failure cause so many things are missing or are just a buggy mess of spaghetti. I only got about half as many assets made for it as I wanted, the dungeon is way too big for how little content I was able to make, half the AI doesn't behave how I want, and the boss had all it's attacks but one cut cause I couldn't finish the animations for the other attacks in time, and so on and so on with things I want to go back and fix and change cause I learned so much just from that one month of going at it. I think the best part is, I don't feel like a failure, cause my mind is more focused on trying to figure things out on how I could improve rather than sulking about it not being how I want it to be.
Dude, this hit home more than you could know. I’m working so hard to get my comic and art out. I get down and depressed, but I need to keep pushing and finish the first short intro comic to my world/characters. Your video really helped me with motivation. Thank you so much.
I knew I needed to hear something and this was it. Bro what a real Heart to heart video this is, and just before the new year too!! Just gotta keep going, trust the process and keep studying!!
I heard something about catching horses that was pretty interesting. Since a horse will be ALWAYS stronger than the person trying to catch it, the only moment where you can actually catch it is when the horse thinks he's already caught. I think it illustrates the classic only when you give up is when you trully fail.
This might be THE most important video you have made so far. At least it is for me, right now, at this point of my life and career. This helped me so much to remember, that I need to keep doing this. _Sincerely_ thank you. And thank you for you doing this content in general.
Hey Trent! It's great that you are sharing content to inform artists on how to see and use failure as a springboard toward success. Thank you again for content that not only focuses on the technical skill but dives into teaching artists how to think about their work and take action based on mindful strategies. Take care!
I started making my own indie game but it's really project aimed to be free game more than serious commercial one because I'm at a stage where I learn what works and what doesn't.
Hey Trent I just wanna give you a huge thank you, I’m current studying concept art in school and finding your Chanel was a saving grace for me. For a while the only videos I was finding were about why I shouldn’t become one and it really discouraged me but watching your videos has helped me so much. Thank you
Very good points you made. Like you said...I took a different approach to some of my designs and because of it people are noticing what I have to offer.
Hi Trent, thanks for the great video (and also super cool art) I published a game last week for a game jam (it was like the final exam of an digital art course) and ngl the game sucks, but it was such a great experience, working with a timer and leading other members towards creating stuff while programming like a madman. I learned a lot of stuff and I don't regret anything from it. I hope I can keep rolling this stone and keep improving, I wish you a great day! Cheers from argentina.
Thanks for this man! I always come to your channel whenever I feel dejected in pursuing a creative career or to being creative at all. Appreciate your wisdom 🙏
I've always said that we made a massive mistake in society by trying to avoid failure as much as possible. We've made failure such a major event to avoid that we ended up not doing so many things we've dreamt of. But failure is not only an incredible way of learning (not only in how to do something but also possibly learning that we shouldn't do something), it can even be more fun than actual success if we approach it right. But regret? That's the soul killer. There's nothing worse than looking back and saying, "If only I'd..." Don't fear failure. Fear regret.
[huge comment warning] Gosh, I don't think I ever listened to a video so intensely. This idea, of having huge potential but being unable to bring it to the world, it's my and my mother's biggest frustration. We both have mood disorder, and it's considered one of the most invalidating illnesses out there. It's not just going in and out of depression - we are very, very "high maintenance", because our environment is a huge factor in our mood. Basically, if even one thing isn't right in our life, it can mess up our whole hard-earned, often inexistent "stability". And yet, we yearn to create, to make an impact on the world, to express ourselves and put our abilities to good use. (having this illness allows us to have a very different view on the world, and a different/enhanced set of abilities, in general, like high emotional intelligence). My dream is to be able to bring my world and stories to life. I want to make the most immersive "interactive experiences" ever made. Give a whole new dimension to storytelling and immersion and stuff like that. I chose games after wandering a bit in novels and comics. I'm a solo dev, so I need to learn about a lot of things, and I'm actually quite excited about that - however, everything always sinks down because of my disorder. I can never finish anything I set out to do, because I stop halfway, and when I come back it's either too old to pick back up (when it's just a practice project, not my long-term ones) or I've improved in some areas so I just can't continue working on something so ugly/badly coded/designed when I can do much better now. These past few weeks have been really strange for me, because even through these hardships I was still believing in my ability to eventually succeed. It might be because of my slightly depressed emotional state, but I started to really, really doubt myself, for the first time ever. "Can I really pull it off?" "Is it really worth it?" "Is this really what I want to do??" and just for info, my long-term game projects are very small in scope and are well within my ability, the main disadvantage being time, because of my inconsistency. So it took me by surprise. What triggered this was success stories I've been coming across - indie devs getting funding and launching successfully because of a good prototype, comic creators getting publishing deals, etc etc. It made me feel like the only reason they were successful is because of their consistency in creating no matter what. And consistency is the only thing I might never be able to pull off. Sorry for rambling. Writing this is kinda helping me gaining clarity... To the part actually relating to the video: after this strange crisis, I've been trying to be more clear about what was happening (mostly through writing like this- it's really helpful, try it out when you feel overwhelmed!). I found out that I need to be focusing more on MAKING SOMETHING, something serious but so small in scope I can't help but finish it. Something that's not another test run, but an actual product similar to what my main goal is. "Start with something small" like said in the video, and most importantly, focus on FINISHING no matter what. I thought if I could do this, it would clear up a lot of things, because I'll have gone through the whole process. I'll know for sure whether that's what I want to be doing, what I could do better, what was unnecessary. And since it's small, it won't stay unfinished like the rest of my stuff. And since it's actually related to my main goal instead of just being a "tech test" then I'll have more incentive to go through with it. And finishing it... will be proof that I can do it, as much for myself as for others. I realize now, it's better to have a lot of finished, small working projects behind you, when working on something bigger; than start that big project now and work on it for years on end (I mean, for an audience-building perspective). In my case, I'm pretty sure people would give me a chance in my bigger projects even if it takes really long because of my disorder, if I already have working, public proof-of-concepts out there. Ideas just don't cut it now... This video came at just the right moment, to reinforce me in this direction. I still have a lot of figuring out to do, but I'm more and more inclined to just start with whatever and go with the flow, instead of preparing for the perfect thing. (also, it's certainly not the first time your channel's videos have helped me gaining clarity and confidence - I'm a ghost viewer. But this really made the biggest impact on me, probably because I'm almost at my lowest.) Thanks for the video, and thanks to whoever made it this far. Definitely considered erasing everything more than once. But maybe it can help others! Stay safe!
Hey Bro i maked a comic book last year a short intro for the main series that was gonna be released this year February well its December and i didn't push through, its mostly cause i felt i need to improve and am scared cause i became fully aware of the competition out there in the indie space for comics and my drawings were trash 😂🤣 but putting it out got people into the story and i got few people who wanted to assist and seeing your video has made me realize that i gotta try again and improve more in the process and not hold back. Thank you
After hearing this am even more fired up to start my short animated film next year. I was able to run a 3 short projects which weren't even noticed. But I still wanna do more
I've already decided never to give up my creative pursuits. (Currently working on my second comic even though my first one was ABYSMAL!!) My main problem has been trying to find a decent day job in the meantime. :(
I’m a high schooler and been making indie games for 4 years. And I have not completed and sell a project because I’m scared of the financial and the important stuff. I’m currently working on two games and plan on finishing them.
I'm curious what you don't like about Miyazaki? Were you referring to his work/films.. or him as a person? I definitely have reasons for not liking Disney, but i'm curious to hear your thoughts on Miyazaki! I fell in love with his work about 18 years ago! Love your work as well! Thanks for doing what you do! Stoked to play some Twilight Monk! :D
fairly new to drawing in the digital world (coming from pen n paper). bought the XENCELABS medium bundle when it was on sale during black friday. first impressions are actually very good, in combination with sketchbook pro and certain brushes (including yours). do you have any exp with the XENCELABS drawing pad? any thoughts from your side? (being the pro with years of exp)
this is me. I made a feature film (called luna on my yt) that I was hoping would propel me to the "big leagues" but no festival wanted it. Even online only ones. I was hurt. I threw it up on yt, corona hit and started rethinking everything. Kinda realized that even before that I was falling out of love with live action but told myself I don't have the art skills for animation. Since then I've learned 3d animation and on the journey to make my own 3d animated films, already doing it with someone I found online after putting up a post to find collaborators. I licked my wounds and found a different way to make movies, but it took a long time to accept live action was not for me, though I still love being on set and working with actors. Even if i go back to live action, I have more tools in my belt to tackle new problems and so I'm thankful for what happened, as painful as it was. Good luck to everyone! Focus on practice and the fundamentals!
Just got up from 12.5 hours, of fail stacked on top of fails, 13 files tonight on the same character but I'm good as gold, because I can look at my saved files and see how I've progressed .
If you don’t mind me asking, what college degree did you pursue. I want to get into art and possibly make an anime later. I just want to know whats the best degree to pursue for art and maybe dabble in game design.
I lost a small job to AI recently... It honestly was devastating I haven't drawn in over a month now and I don't know how to get my will to continue back. I've been in this pit since.
i am starting to finish something "shmall" Gonna actually launch my first collection on Art station soon =O its just been this back burner, unfinished social site, fer years.. but now i got something "shmall" done
I really feel for the guy who released a game, and its performance is perhaps stalling his entire career. Who cares if he learned everything and then some more stuff? He can't get a job to use it. I had a lucrative career dry up on me, and it sucks and you feel helpless because no amount of effort or anything else is going to bring that career back. If that guy is reading this - I feel you, bro. But, there HAS to be work for you (though it will probably be speculative). There are indie teams out there dying for an experienced person to jump in, join in, and be an important part of their team. Best of luck. Honestly, I felt the shape and the "motion" of the shape of this sketch was a bit more interesting and dynamic at the beginning than the way it ended up. One guy's opinion, not trying to slam.
People who start companies usually don't "look for jobs" though. They CREATE jobs. More artists need to let go of the idea that they need someone else to create a job for them and shape their own future. This is especially true these days.
How did you learn all the shortcuts for the stuff you do in Photoshop? Did you take a course or was it trial and error? I struggle learning all the shortcuts in Photoshop and I don't want to have to look up a how to video everytime I want to do something.
Hi Trent . Yesterday I purchased one of your bundle lessons . I used the code you provided on this video but I didn’t receive the discount. How do I go about this ?
@@TrentKaniuga unfortunately i made the purchase that day already. should i ask for the refund ? and re purchase or is there another way that perhaps i just receive the discound back in my card.
Honey, I know my game is going to fail. And that I won't earn even 2 percent of what I spent. But the thrill is not in this, but in the process. I'm a professional fiction writer (it's not profitable in Russia either), I've worked with world-class games as a screenwriter. But the real thrill is the very process of creativity. When something comes out of nothing. And I won't be able to publish anything in Steam. I won't be able to pay the fee. Not because I have no money, but because I am in Russia and my money is not needed by steam.
and dont watch on views likes on instagram. Happened to me while I was getting like 19 likes on instagram I get over 250 likes on artstation with the same pictures
I will never understand that idea of doing something knowing that you will fail... I have a comics I want to make, I've been writing a script and working on my art for 6 years and.... Yeah if I do my comic right now, if I start drawing it.... it's gonna be shit The story will be weak, the character and illustration will be goddamn awful, charadesign will be basically non-existent and I'm not even talking about background.... What's the point ? To learn a lesson ? Yeah the lesson will be that I clearly wasn't good enough to do it to begin with. I want to draw comics so that people would read it and experience what I experienced when I was a kid reading comics and manga and novel. They won't feel any of these with my shitty drawings and basic writing
If you maintain this belief, then you will never finish anything. Atari games suck by today's standards. But if we didn't have atari, we would not have Playstation 5. No God of War Ragnarok!
@@TrentKaniuga So I'm supposed to just not care about what I'm doing ? Just release the shittiest comics ever made like that and throw it as if it didn't matter ? What's the point ? Honestly asking. I already know that my art in general isn't good, that my character design is awful, that my background skills are basically non-existent and I'm not talking about my lineweight, my colors, my expressions, hairs, hands (let's not talk about hands).... I already know I'm bad at those things, what would be the point of doing a whole comics that would basically be a summary of everything I already know is wrong ? Atari games suck by today's standard because the standard became higher, but when Atari games were first released, they were amazing for the time. My comic would suck, period.
My humble suggestion would be to practice with basic drawing before making comics. That form of art is the "endgame", especially if you have high standards just like you described. We're in the same boat, I understand what you're saying and honestly there's not a right answer, especially since art itself is subjective. The right mindset is not taking it seriously and going with the flow, while learning: its more enjoyable and you will stop bashing yourself.
@@yopomdpin6285 I think finding something of appropriate challenge is a good place to start. It's like saying, "I want to climb mt everest but I know I can't", it's not that it's not possible, you just might have to climb 20 other mountains first.
The lesson isn't so much a moral lesson as actually gaining experience in the field of work you're wanting to excel in. You aren't going to make good art the first time, you're not going to make a great or even average game the first time. You know why? Because you don't deserve it. You didn't put in the effort and then fail like everyone else. You're acting as if success is handed to people. You're either born a winner or born a loser. That's not how the world works. I put in a lot of time and a lot of effort to fail over the last two years for art and I'm actually seeing large improvement. Why? Because I kept pushing through the failures and dissecting why I failed. I kept coming back after giving up. I'm going to be a good artist one day because I deserve it because I'm putting in the hours and pushing past the pain. No one is going to hand me talent and success because no one can. No one is going to do that for you. So you can either feel sorry for yourself and be bitter about those around you, or you can choose to fail as many times as it takes to become successful.
When I was in the Army we called this “failing up”. Whatever it is that you want to learn or improve in, jump in and do your best at it. If the result was bad then review what went wrong and what went right. Then adjust fire and drive on. The main thing part is that you don’t quit when going through adversity. This mentality allowed me to create my first 200 pg manga volume. It was terrible. The art wasn’t great and the storytelling was hit garbage. What got praised the most was the characters personalities and interactions. I’ve since canned that project and took the strong points to start a few practice one shot manga for practice. Now I’m getting ready to start working on another manga series. Gotta enjoy the process, even the not so fun parts. Thanks again for another inspiring video. You pump me up, Mr. TK!
Nice insight mr. Renzo
Yeah you have to fail efficiently. Trying to hide mistakes leads to not understanding them and not being able to overcome em.
I shall keep this comment of yours for future reference. As a reminder to myself 👍
@@luckyadrian100 Thank you. Hopefully my words could help in some way.
@@CinzaChumbo I’m glad you found value in my words. If I was able to help even a little I’m happy.
I'd like to refer to you as the Art Philosopher and Patron Saint of Artist Entrepreneurs! Thanks again, Trent!
Having released my first solo game after 2 years of development and failing to even reach the miminum to receive from steam, watching you share the same, warms my heart a little bit, thank you.
At the end of the day, even if I cannot make another game due to my environment (living in a 3rd world contry) I am still here, alive. Failure didn't kill me, there is still another day tomorrow to try something else, even if only to survive it.
Hey congratulations for at least seeing a big project through! You didn’t just have an idea. You made a full blown finished product. That’s incredible. Don’t sell yourself short
@@paulh3892 Indeed, thank you for the kind reminder
Thanks for this video I was struggling really hard with this comic I was working on. This video gave me the inspiration to start working on it again. I realized that I was to concerned about length while I should of just focused on making a good story even if it isn't as long as I wanted it to be.
This may be a little unrelated, but this video brought it to mind. I used to have a classmate at an art school who came and went at odd times. He'd be in for a few weeks, then he'd be gone for a few weeks. He was a semi truck driver in his... mid 50's maybe early 60's. I think he was a truck driver for a long time.
He was really good, and literally everything he did was related to a story that he'd been developing for years and years about little bat people. On his breaks, before bed, in school, outside of it, he just chipped away at it whenever he could. It had this sort of... heavy metal/ferngully thing going for it stylistically. Every time I think about when I have to do work unrelated to my passions, or do art for someone else and set my personal work aside, I think about him. It makes it a little easier sometimes.
yep just keep trying and failing, failing is not actually a bad thing, it can be so helpful to reflect on what went wrong and then try again and possibly succeed or finish something
Once again, there are many good takeaways and interesting topics in this video. It's true that the more completed projects you have, even if it's just a few finished commissions the more seriously you are taken. For this reason, I'm now at a point where I'm choosing clients who offer me long-term projects with more caution, especially if they don't have that much experience with their material yet. While I'm always happy to help aspiring people with their indie game projects, I prefer to do my research beforehand and make sure they're actually experienced, even if their portfolio have just a few small finished hobby projects to show. Early in my freelance career, I met a lot of nice clients who had a whole bunch of great but overambitious concepts for their games that ended up being put on ice mid-process for a variety of reasons, mostly because they lost interest after hitting some walls.
In the end, it doesn't help my portfolio because the project went nowhere and my contributed assets had to be kept under lock and key, so I'm not allowed to show anything because of contractual agreements. I admit, back then I felt demotivated by it, and it felt like a waste of time. However, I realized that I learned a bunch of valuable things from the practical creation process and collaboration. Additionally, I have developed an intuition for new inquiries for long-term project offers and always ask beforehand whether the clients have, for example, a completable, feasible to-do list for all the required assets - because often times the problem with these overambitious projects was that the tasks were formulated in a very wishy-washy and open-ended way and in the end no milestones could be actively approached towards. These conditions already gave a good indicator of how well the requesters really planned the whole projects through. From my experience, the most promising project managers I worked with so far, had a rather simplistic and small project in the making that was easy to oversee for them and who have also shown that they had a good grasp of how challenging even those minor milestones for each team member can already turn out and need to be adjusted, as soon as things are taking shape.
But yeah, you have to differ from case to case anyway, and I agree on the aspect, that, when it comes to advices and experiences it's important to contextualize.
yknow whenever i'm feeling unmotivated, or down or like i'm not achieving my goals fast enough, i always come back to your channel. you've got some wise words and amazing experiences, and it's really just incredible that you take the time to share them with the world.
i actually was brought to tears when you were talking about it being a tragedy if miyazaki had given up after being rejected, and how you wonder how many people out there could be in similar situations. it really did re-invigorate me, so thank you Trent
Excellent video, brother! Much appreciated. Keep Trenting Trent
Always a joy when Trent uploads while you are painting :)
God this video hit just when I needed it. I recently been doing self imposed 1 month challenges. (The idea came from things like Inktober and New Year's resolutions don't last so just try for a month.) I decided for November I would challenge myself to make an entire Zelda-like game and publish it on Itch no matter the condition. And I did it. I feel like a failure cause so many things are missing or are just a buggy mess of spaghetti. I only got about half as many assets made for it as I wanted, the dungeon is way too big for how little content I was able to make, half the AI doesn't behave how I want, and the boss had all it's attacks but one cut cause I couldn't finish the animations for the other attacks in time, and so on and so on with things I want to go back and fix and change cause I learned so much just from that one month of going at it. I think the best part is, I don't feel like a failure, cause my mind is more focused on trying to figure things out on how I could improve rather than sulking about it not being how I want it to be.
another thing that i think is overlooked is the concept of never stop never stopping never stopping stopping never stoping stopping.
This information hits every feeling I have. I know to push myself to finish my project even if it fail.
Thanks again for the encouragement!
I really needed to hear this before 2023 rolls around, thank you! Never stop never stopping!
I'm currently doing a portfolio for an art school and this video gave me motivation to continue it and finish it. Thanks trent!
Dude, this hit home more than you could know. I’m working so hard to get my comic and art out. I get down and depressed, but I need to keep pushing and finish the first short intro comic to my world/characters. Your video really helped me with motivation. Thank you so much.
I knew I needed to hear something and this was it. Bro what a real Heart to heart video this is, and just before the new year too!! Just gotta keep going, trust the process and keep studying!!
I heard something about catching horses that was pretty interesting. Since a horse will be ALWAYS stronger than the person trying to catch it, the only moment where you can actually catch it is when the horse thinks he's already caught. I think it illustrates the classic only when you give up is when you trully fail.
This might be THE most important video you have made so far. At least it is for me, right now, at this point of my life and career. This helped me so much to remember, that I need to keep doing this. _Sincerely_ thank you.
And thank you for you doing this content in general.
Hey Trent! It's great that you are sharing content to inform artists on how to see and use failure as a springboard toward success. Thank you again for content that not only focuses on the technical skill but dives into teaching artists how to think about their work and take action based on mindful strategies. Take care!
Great insights Trent! You can’t fail on your dreams and expect to win 💪
I started making my own indie game but it's really project aimed to be free game more than serious commercial one because I'm at a stage where I learn what works and what doesn't.
Thanks for the experienced outlook. Your words are pure gold🙏
Hey Trent I just wanna give you a huge thank you, I’m current studying concept art in school and finding your Chanel was a saving grace for me. For a while the only videos I was finding were about why I shouldn’t become one and it really discouraged me but watching your videos has helped me so much. Thank you
Very good points you made. Like you said...I took a different approach to some of my designs and because of it people are noticing what I have to offer.
This is a really great perspective, best of luck on your next title.
Hi Trent, thanks for the great video (and also super cool art)
I published a game last week for a game jam (it was like the final exam of an digital art course)
and ngl the game sucks, but it was such a great experience, working with a timer and leading other members towards creating stuff while programming like a madman.
I learned a lot of stuff and I don't regret anything from it.
I hope I can keep rolling this stone and keep improving, I wish you a great day!
Cheers from argentina.
Thanks for this man! I always come to your channel whenever I feel dejected in pursuing a creative career or to being creative at all. Appreciate your wisdom 🙏
I've always said that we made a massive mistake in society by trying to avoid failure as much as possible. We've made failure such a major event to avoid that we ended up not doing so many things we've dreamt of. But failure is not only an incredible way of learning (not only in how to do something but also possibly learning that we shouldn't do something), it can even be more fun than actual success if we approach it right. But regret? That's the soul killer. There's nothing worse than looking back and saying, "If only I'd..."
Don't fear failure. Fear regret.
Great Advice. I heard the whole video to the heart. Thanks Trent!!:D
Love you man.
A little off topic, but I love the fact that you took Marc Brunet's advice on thumbnails. Always listen to useful critiques💪
Thank you
I always come back to your videos whenever I feel lost in my art journey.
Great positive Speech thank you.
[huge comment warning]
Gosh, I don't think I ever listened to a video so intensely. This idea, of having huge potential but being unable to bring it to the world, it's my and my mother's biggest frustration. We both have mood disorder, and it's considered one of the most invalidating illnesses out there. It's not just going in and out of depression - we are very, very "high maintenance", because our environment is a huge factor in our mood. Basically, if even one thing isn't right in our life, it can mess up our whole hard-earned, often inexistent "stability". And yet, we yearn to create, to make an impact on the world, to express ourselves and put our abilities to good use. (having this illness allows us to have a very different view on the world, and a different/enhanced set of abilities, in general, like high emotional intelligence).
My dream is to be able to bring my world and stories to life. I want to make the most immersive "interactive experiences" ever made. Give a whole new dimension to storytelling and immersion and stuff like that. I chose games after wandering a bit in novels and comics. I'm a solo dev, so I need to learn about a lot of things, and I'm actually quite excited about that - however, everything always sinks down because of my disorder. I can never finish anything I set out to do, because I stop halfway, and when I come back it's either too old to pick back up (when it's just a practice project, not my long-term ones) or I've improved in some areas so I just can't continue working on something so ugly/badly coded/designed when I can do much better now.
These past few weeks have been really strange for me, because even through these hardships I was still believing in my ability to eventually succeed. It might be because of my slightly depressed emotional state, but I started to really, really doubt myself, for the first time ever. "Can I really pull it off?" "Is it really worth it?" "Is this really what I want to do??" and just for info, my long-term game projects are very small in scope and are well within my ability, the main disadvantage being time, because of my inconsistency. So it took me by surprise. What triggered this was success stories I've been coming across - indie devs getting funding and launching successfully because of a good prototype, comic creators getting publishing deals, etc etc. It made me feel like the only reason they were successful is because of their consistency in creating no matter what. And consistency is the only thing I might never be able to pull off.
Sorry for rambling. Writing this is kinda helping me gaining clarity... To the part actually relating to the video: after this strange crisis, I've been trying to be more clear about what was happening (mostly through writing like this- it's really helpful, try it out when you feel overwhelmed!). I found out that I need to be focusing more on MAKING SOMETHING, something serious but so small in scope I can't help but finish it. Something that's not another test run, but an actual product similar to what my main goal is. "Start with something small" like said in the video, and most importantly, focus on FINISHING no matter what. I thought if I could do this, it would clear up a lot of things, because I'll have gone through the whole process. I'll know for sure whether that's what I want to be doing, what I could do better, what was unnecessary. And since it's small, it won't stay unfinished like the rest of my stuff. And since it's actually related to my main goal instead of just being a "tech test" then I'll have more incentive to go through with it. And finishing it... will be proof that I can do it, as much for myself as for others.
I realize now, it's better to have a lot of finished, small working projects behind you, when working on something bigger; than start that big project now and work on it for years on end (I mean, for an audience-building perspective). In my case, I'm pretty sure people would give me a chance in my bigger projects even if it takes really long because of my disorder, if I already have working, public proof-of-concepts out there. Ideas just don't cut it now... This video came at just the right moment, to reinforce me in this direction. I still have a lot of figuring out to do, but I'm more and more inclined to just start with whatever and go with the flow, instead of preparing for the perfect thing. (also, it's certainly not the first time your channel's videos have helped me gaining clarity and confidence - I'm a ghost viewer. But this really made the biggest impact on me, probably because I'm almost at my lowest.)
Thanks for the video, and thanks to whoever made it this far. Definitely considered erasing everything more than once. But maybe it can help others! Stay safe!
Hey Bro i maked a comic book last year a short intro for the main series that was gonna be released this year February well its December and i didn't push through, its mostly cause i felt i need to improve and am scared cause i became fully aware of the competition out there in the indie space for comics and my drawings were trash 😂🤣 but putting it out got people into the story and i got few people who wanted to assist and seeing your video has made me realize that i gotta try again and improve more in the process and not hold back. Thank you
Thank u!
After hearing this am even more fired up to start my short animated film next year. I was able to run a 3 short projects which weren't even noticed. But I still wanna do more
This is beautiful. Every artist i know should watch this
Super helpful and inspirational, thank you Trent!
I've already decided never to give up my creative pursuits. (Currently working on my second comic even though my first one was ABYSMAL!!)
My main problem has been trying to find a decent day job in the meantime. :(
This is golden, something I needed to hear thanks!
I’m a high schooler and been making indie games for 4 years. And I have not completed and sell a project because I’m scared of the financial and the important stuff. I’m currently working on two games and plan on finishing them.
Wow. Impressive!
Hey trent, thanks.
Wow
you sure make an art of book
I'm curious what you don't like about Miyazaki? Were you referring to his work/films.. or him as a person?
I definitely have reasons for not liking Disney, but i'm curious to hear your thoughts on Miyazaki!
I fell in love with his work about 18 years ago!
Love your work as well! Thanks for doing what you do! Stoked to play some Twilight Monk! :D
Miyazaki has many views as a person which I do not agree with or respect. However. I do enjoy his films.
fairly new to drawing in the digital world (coming from pen n paper). bought the XENCELABS medium bundle when it was on sale during black friday. first impressions are actually very good, in combination with sketchbook pro and certain brushes (including yours). do you have any exp with the XENCELABS drawing pad? any thoughts from your side? (being the pro with years of exp)
this is me. I made a feature film (called luna on my yt) that I was hoping would propel me to the "big leagues" but no festival wanted it. Even online only ones. I was hurt. I threw it up on yt, corona hit and started rethinking everything. Kinda realized that even before that I was falling out of love with live action but told myself I don't have the art skills for animation. Since then I've learned 3d animation and on the journey to make my own 3d animated films, already doing it with someone I found online after putting up a post to find collaborators. I licked my wounds and found a different way to make movies, but it took a long time to accept live action was not for me, though I still love being on set and working with actors. Even if i go back to live action, I have more tools in my belt to tackle new problems and so I'm thankful for what happened, as painful as it was. Good luck to everyone! Focus on practice and the fundamentals!
Just got up from 12.5 hours, of fail stacked on top of fails, 13 files tonight on the same character but I'm good as gold, because I can look at my saved files and see how I've progressed .
If you don’t mind me asking, what college degree did you pursue. I want to get into art and possibly make an anime later. I just want to know whats the best degree to pursue for art and maybe dabble in game design.
I lost a small job to AI recently... It honestly was devastating I haven't drawn in over a month now and I don't know how to get my will to continue back. I've been in this pit since.
How do you know that you lost the job to AI? If thats the case, is there a way that you can incorporate AI into your art to work faster?
i can always count on you :)
How do I keep doing something if I can never bring myself to start it?
There is no answer; Create.
Great advice man, greetings from Guerrilla :)
i am starting to finish something "shmall" Gonna actually launch my first collection on Art station soon =O its just been this back burner, unfinished social site, fer years.. but now i got something "shmall" done
I really feel for the guy who released a game, and its performance is perhaps stalling his entire career. Who cares if he learned everything and then some more stuff? He can't get a job to use it. I had a lucrative career dry up on me, and it sucks and you feel helpless because no amount of effort or anything else is going to bring that career back.
If that guy is reading this - I feel you, bro. But, there HAS to be work for you (though it will probably be speculative). There are indie teams out there dying for an experienced person to jump in, join in, and be an important part of their team. Best of luck.
Honestly, I felt the shape and the "motion" of the shape of this sketch was a bit more interesting and dynamic at the beginning than the way it ended up. One guy's opinion, not trying to slam.
People who start companies usually don't "look for jobs" though. They CREATE jobs. More artists need to let go of the idea that they need someone else to create a job for them and shape their own future. This is especially true these days.
How did you learn all the shortcuts for the stuff you do in Photoshop? Did you take a course or was it trial and error? I struggle learning all the shortcuts in Photoshop and I don't want to have to look up a how to video everytime I want to do something.
I have been using photoshop for 20 years. So its from reading the manual, watching videos, working with other artists and trial and error.
And here i am still w8ing that my over a decade of art failing turns into skill and success =D
Hi Trent . Yesterday I purchased one of your bundle lessons . I used the code you provided on this video but I didn’t receive the discount. How do I go about this ?
There was an error for the first 24 hours of that code. It works now.
@@TrentKaniuga unfortunately i made the purchase that day already. should i ask for the refund ? and re purchase or is there another way that perhaps i just receive the discound back in my card.
That seems kinda crazy that anyone would reject Tortoro after he had already created Nausicaa, and Castle in the Sky...but I guess we have hindsight.
Honey, I know my game is going to fail. And that I won't earn even 2 percent of what I spent. But the thrill is not in this, but in the process. I'm a professional fiction writer (it's not profitable in Russia either), I've worked with world-class games as a screenwriter. But the real thrill is the very process of creativity. When something comes out of nothing.
And I won't be able to publish anything in Steam. I won't be able to pay the fee. Not because I have no money, but because I am in Russia and my money is not needed by steam.
Yeyyyy, Im the one hundred like!!!
and dont watch on views likes on instagram. Happened to me while I was getting like 19 likes on instagram I get over 250 likes on artstation with the same pictures
Vampire Survivors is fun af
👍✨💙🌊💫😎
I will never understand that idea of doing something knowing that you will fail...
I have a comics I want to make, I've been writing a script and working on my art for 6 years and.... Yeah if I do my comic right now, if I start drawing it.... it's gonna be shit
The story will be weak, the character and illustration will be goddamn awful, charadesign will be basically non-existent and I'm not even talking about background....
What's the point ?
To learn a lesson ? Yeah the lesson will be that I clearly wasn't good enough to do it to begin with.
I want to draw comics so that people would read it and experience what I experienced when I was a kid reading comics and manga and novel. They won't feel any of these with my shitty drawings and basic writing
If you maintain this belief, then you will never finish anything. Atari games suck by today's standards. But if we didn't have atari, we would not have Playstation 5. No God of War Ragnarok!
@@TrentKaniuga So I'm supposed to just not care about what I'm doing ? Just release the shittiest comics ever made like that and throw it as if it didn't matter ?
What's the point ? Honestly asking.
I already know that my art in general isn't good, that my character design is awful, that my background skills are basically non-existent and I'm not talking about my lineweight, my colors, my expressions, hairs, hands (let's not talk about hands)....
I already know I'm bad at those things, what would be the point of doing a whole comics that would basically be a summary of everything I already know is wrong ?
Atari games suck by today's standard because the standard became higher, but when Atari games were first released, they were amazing for the time.
My comic would suck, period.
My humble suggestion would be to practice with basic drawing before making comics. That form of art is the "endgame", especially if you have high standards just like you described. We're in the same boat, I understand what you're saying and honestly there's not a right answer, especially since art itself is subjective. The right mindset is not taking it seriously and going with the flow, while learning: its more enjoyable and you will stop bashing yourself.
@@yopomdpin6285 I think finding something of appropriate challenge is a good place to start.
It's like saying, "I want to climb mt everest but I know I can't", it's not that it's not possible, you just might have to climb 20 other mountains first.
The lesson isn't so much a moral lesson as actually gaining experience in the field of work you're wanting to excel in. You aren't going to make good art the first time, you're not going to make a great or even average game the first time. You know why? Because you don't deserve it. You didn't put in the effort and then fail like everyone else. You're acting as if success is handed to people. You're either born a winner or born a loser. That's not how the world works. I put in a lot of time and a lot of effort to fail over the last two years for art and I'm actually seeing large improvement. Why? Because I kept pushing through the failures and dissecting why I failed. I kept coming back after giving up. I'm going to be a good artist one day because I deserve it because I'm putting in the hours and pushing past the pain. No one is going to hand me talent and success because no one can. No one is going to do that for you. So you can either feel sorry for yourself and be bitter about those around you, or you can choose to fail as many times as it takes to become successful.
:D
Man, make another video about AI art and tell us that we will be okay.
Learn skills that AI can’t do. Draw hands, user interface and get good at design.