I’m 19, i ve imagined the same story for years, but i feel completely unable to turn it into art/make it somehow real
Hello everyone!
I hesitated about which subreddit to post this wall of text on.
Before starting, I’d like to clarify that I wrote this post in my native language and then translated it into English, to make sure of my words. Sorry if there are some small translation mistakes.
I feel like I’m at a dead end when it comes to drawing and creation in general. Ever since I was very young, I’ve liked imagining stories, and during my adolescence I imagined that this would go away as I grew up. Yet I am now 19 years old and almost every day, I think about a universe, a long story that doesn’t exist - mine. I think it is in some way a way for me to escape reality, but this story is becoming (actually, it has already become) quite a large part of my universe and of the person I am. It is what I think about by default, to the point that it has become almost unhealthy. It is obvious to me that something that has taken up so much space in my mind must now be brought into reality. But how? I have no skills or education in storytelling and, this is where the problem lies, this work is fundamentally visual. A novel or something else could not make it a good work nor satisfy me. Maybe it is a talent or maybe it isn’t, but I am able to imagine very precisely, very visually, what I would like to draw. Many character designs, settings, layout ideas within the framework of comics already exist in my mind. But I have absolutely no idea how to draw. I am really, really very bad, and I fear that I won’t have the time or the motivation to fully invest myself in this medium. I am studying something on the side that has nothing to do with it, which I don’t hate but don’t love either, but above all I sorely lack the mental strength that I would need to bring such a work into reality. My mind can only imagine it with drawings that are at least somewhat beautiful, requiring an artistic level that I could not reach unless I devoted myself to it for years. But I can’t manage to find the strength to accomplish something so ambitious. Moreover, I can’t talk about it to my family or my friends, at least not before reaching a certain level in drawing that would legitimize the fact that I am devoting myself fully to it. So I don’t know what to do. I can’t imagine my future any other way than by bringing this work into reality, but I am incapable of doing it. I feel like I am condemned to be unable to accomplish what I want to accomplish, to only be disappointed. But at the same time I refuse to give up without having brought into reality, given form to something so important to me. So what should I do? Do you know of some kind of program, technique to be able to draw effectively, without spreading myself too thin and while progressing in all aspects of this art? Are there people who were once in the same situation as me and who managed to turn their personal universe, almost their refuge, into a real work? What should I do to truly satisfy myself? Sorry if this is very confusing, I don’t even know myself what I am looking for or what to ask. I think I also needed to talk about it to people, because these questions are starting to weigh heavily on me. Thank you to those who read all of this, and a gigantic thank you to everyone who will try to help me, even if they don’t believe themselves capable of doing so. Simply seeing people help me get out of a situation that I consider to be a dead end makes me feel much better.
Posted Aug 14, 2026, 10:06 PM UTC