ok just ranted about this on Tumblr but I wanna say it again
cept this one gets alll my context
so i used to mostly draw and participate in the adoptable community, it's honestly the first ever community I found and how I made my first friend on a social media.
with that being said, of course that made me hopelessly nitpicky about my own designs.
I was focused on making a good design immediately, and if I wanted to change I'd need to do a whole overhaul, because that's what everyone else did.
So if I ever said something like "this is the final design!" and of course it never ended up that way, I felt like I was breaking a promise to ... something?

then I got older, left the community (thank god. it was never for me.) and suddenly im just designing for myself now. Why am I upholding these things I don't enjoy? Who cares its for me?
oh my god. It's for me. Its always been FOR ME. Art, characters, this is all because I WANNA CREATE.
well, my current mindset just can't do. it's 2025(as of realization) and I've been trying to rewire my brain in general since 2024. let's experiment.
Now? I just let myself draw something. If I like the trait, I'll keep it! sometimes I just like it for one art, it's nothing major. I keep the characters fundementals the same. As long as I'm satisfied with the design, it goes to completion.
Sometimes I realize I wanna go in a different direction then intended, so I EXPLORE IT see if I like it. Maybe I'll do a piece or two in that, seeing what I end up liking and not liking and going to the next piece with a new mindset.
i keep what i like! and i wanna keep using my characters, so i update them to my vision with what i like! if i don't like it it's okay if i go back too. inconsistency is awesome, actually.

im not sure how to end this. I guess I should mention this is just my art journey, yours is going to be different. I see what other people do, and see if it works for me.
heres a vivines example since they are six months old today :)