Am I 'Too Old' to Succeed with Art?

The answer is No, but you probably assumed that... we're diving deep into how long it realistically it takes to be "good" at art and making a career out of it, and we're using a beloved JRPG to get there.

[wirlogx]

Just found this video, I'm a 35 year old guy who works 12 hours a day in oil field extraction, but it was my life dream to make a comic, to tell a story.
Two years ago I started to put work into it despite the short time I have per day, even doing small doodles and sketches in sticky notes at work. But I've made some progress thanks to a friend who is a comic illustrator for a magazine, he's been teaching me a lot and your videos help me to visualize what I want to do.

[HadrianaOliveira]

Thank you Brookes! Excellent and inspiring video! I'm in my 40's and just got enrolled for the first year of a 3 year Animation Program.

[Jennifer-wrsi]

These comments from teenagers and twenty-somethings thinking they're too old are unreal...

[WulffDen]

3-7 years sounds like a long time. IT'S NOT. THE SOONER YOU START, THE FASTER IT WILL GO.

I remember hearing Adam Savage say he thought he was too old to learn welding at age 18. I think he ended up learning it at age 29 lol

Also I remember hearing that Chris Oatley / Chris Campbell interview some time ago! It's a very good motivator. People should google that shit

[lovingintenttarot]

Great vid thank you :) I'm 50 and yes I have panicked about trying to make art my career. At the moment I am really busy doing fan-art commissions and am looking forward to continuing for as long as I can

[Cometstarlight]

This question has been a constant worry with me. I see teens and pre teens already excelling and I worry that me, being almost 23, will never be able to catch up and be as great of an artist. Seeing this though was just what I needed. Thank you.

[karenjacquez]

My daughter was very uncoordinated and rather talentless in Tae Kwon do, but she loved it. She proved every doubter about her skills after years of love for the art and sport. When she chose to leave it as a sport she was competing at the international level. Through her hard work she succeeded. It is what has given me the drive and determination to make a living only from my art. Yes, the child teaching the parent. It is never to late to learn or change.

[Barada]

I'll be 45 years old this year and I still haven't given up on learning and trying to improve my art.  People only grow old when they decide to grow old.

[madmanzeek]

I thank you you have put to rest my anxieties I am a 27 yr old 2nd year art student Who loves drawing and dreams of making my own comic book series I know I'm pretty young but I feel like my younger class mates are 10 times better than me but watching your video really set my mind at ease you are right it takes time and practice to become an artist yes some people have natural skill and talent but that doesn't mean you can't learn it this is a great video😊

[gingerbreadbirdy]

I'm grateful to you that you made this video. I'm almost 18 and my art skills don't seem to be doing too hot. I will put in the hours this year though.

[VioStarclad]

"The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second-best time is now."

[shackledgaming]

this video really helped me thank you, im 28 and have been self taught in drawing all my life but when i got my first job the motivation really started to fade away, im at a point where i want to revisit the thing i used to do on a daily basis and loved but i just dont have the confidence to say after a 5 or 6 year gap of not drawing properly that id be doing well at it or if id even stick at it, i would often come up with excuses to give up and not bother trying and recently it has been my age and seeing this video and hearing what you said really helped my mindset, i would also tell myself that in order to be successful with art youd probably have to have an education in it with degrees and such which i dont and that would hold me back from trying. my name is gerry and i work in a timber yard and i want to draw again but much more than that i want to learn new techniques and color and more that i havent tried yet. thank you so much for this video.

[CharacterDesignForge]

How many of MY games from the pile are YOUR favorite games? I hope very few!

[loupax]

I started drawing about a year ago, and I'm 33 married with a 2 month old child.

I don't have the time I'd want to put into it now, hardly 30 mins per day, but I must say that starting from not being able to draw a straight line makes the progress more visible even if it's slow.

I wonder how the next year will look like.

[lhawkins]

Excellent video, you are never too old, or to young to succeed in Art!

[oic]

I'm nearly 40, I've tried drawing in the past, in my youth I was more into landscape/cityscape type of drawing. More technical than freehand. I never thought that I'd be able to draw anything else but straight lines for the most part. Your videos are awesome and extremely helpful. I still suck, but I have some hope, lol. Please continue doing everything you're doing, your videos are tools I'm using more and more...

[usyugxs]

I'm 21 and it dawned on me after 2 years at community college art. I'm not as good as I think I am and I spent way too much time taking 5 classes at a time and trying to get good grade so I could sail through and transfer and not actually learning. I also spent too long too afraid to draw and make mistakes so I didn't keep a sketchbook. I know I'm still "young" but my Instagram feed is full of people my age or younger and I feel overwhelmed

[selma]

Im 15, and yes I guess im really young. The thing is, I only just started drawing a lot 1 year ago. Basically every art-youtuber I watch has stated that they've always drawn a lot since they were like 6-7 years. It's also kind of demotivating when you see people at your age, or just a few years older, that are really talented at making art. I imagine that might be the reason other teens and people in their "twenty-somethings" think they are too old. Thats definitely what is going on in my head lol :P

[mischiefmakerstudios]

Dude, I am 54 & I still draw each & every day. Drawing brings calmness & peace. I do hope to become a professional artist & I might have gotten there a lot quicker if it wasn’t for the pandemic, but I am not giving up yet. I feel I can become an artist. All this pandemic did for me was give me even more free time to focus on my art.

[craigmontgomery]

I'm not a visual artist, at least not actively pursuing it in the way you speak about, but I just wanted to say that you have a really fantastic way of building frameworks for thought. A+ content and frankly applicable outside of the field. You're talking about doing the work, and that exists no matter where you look.