blink This is exactly what happened to me. I haven't even started an image for over a year. It used to be about expressing what words couldn't. Then everyone else's work seemed technically so much better, so I started pushing that aspect, buying books, doing practice pieces, buying more software, and still perceiving my stuff as junk.

The Cinema forum kept me trying, with encouragement and suggestions, but when someone decided to go through my gallery and point out my complete lack of skill... it was the excuse I needed to just give up. It also made me realize I was striving for "acceptance", rather than expressing anything heart-felt.

Maybe one of those old renders is a place to start over. A totally shameless portrayal of pure, sappy emotion, with decent (not perfect) elements, and nit-pickers be hanged.

Thank you so much for this thread: there's slight hope the last render hasn't been choked out of this machine. ;)