There's an animated cartoon series currently running that I've been immensely jealous and envious of for the past few years, and I want to know how to stop feeling this way.

I don't feel comfortable saying exactly which cartoon or animator I'm talking about (idk why), but if it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to help me, I'll bite the bullet and tell you.

I think what makes me so jealous of this cartoon is its art style, art direction, and especially its character designs. Personally, I think they're about as close to "perfection" as I can imagine. I admire them that much.

But my feelings have gone WAY beyond simple admiration and into toxic envy. If I come across any image related to this cartoon — fan content, promotional artwork, merchandise, cosplay, or even screenshots from the show — I can become extremely stressed out and even panic. This is especially difficult because the show is quite popular right now, so I encounter it and its fan content pretty often.

I think what makes this hurt so much is that I also dream of creating my own animated cartoon TV show someday — hopefully something that develops a MASSIVE dedicated fandom with lots of fan art, cosplay, etc. just like this show

However, I'm currently very far from that. I'm a beginner-to-intermediate artist and haven't even attempted animation yet, while the creator of this show has much more experience and is at a skill level that feels so far above mine. I know comparing myself to them is unfair, but knowing that doesn't seem to stop the jealousy.

When I see their work, I'll think things like, "How am I ever supposed to make something that good?" or "How could I possibly create characters that people love that much?" Seeing people obsess over the characters, constantly draw them, cosplay them, make merchandise, etc. makes it even worse because that's exactly the kind of reaction I dream of getting from people toward something I create someday.

I want to be able to see incredible artwork, character designs, and fan art and feel inspired rather than immediately feeling inadequate, threatened, stressed, or jealous. More importantly, I don't want this jealousy interfering with my own desire to create.

How do I actually overcome something like this?

Has anyone else experienced intense jealousy toward another artist, creator, fictional character, or piece of media — especially when the thing you're jealous of is directly related to something you desperately want to achieve yourself? What helped you get past it?

Over many years I've noticed how some animated shows will have one or more characters that seem to attract their own dedicated following, and spawn their own little "sub-fandom" apart from the rest of the fanbase where ppl especially fixate on them.

From what I've seen, ppl would do this either by seeking out fanart of them, creating fanart/animations based around them, making edits, memes, compilations, and discussion posts, collect merchandise featuring them, use them as profile pictures, and generally gravitate toward content involving that character more than the rest of the cast.

I'm curious to know what makes a character spawn smth like this. I feel that their character design *MIGHT* play a role in causing this, but I'm sure it probably goes beyond that, most likely thru: how the character acts, how they stand out, what/who they represent, or maybe something else. But if that's true, I don't know the specifics and how to apply it to MY OWN characters.

I'm asking bcuz my dream in life is to create my own animated TV Show that ppl will love, and I feel having one or more characters that ppl would obsess over would make it more beloved among ppl and have a more special place in their hearts.

is that a bad thing?

For the past several years, Ive had this story and world that ive been growing, evolving, and playing around in my head, occupying about ~75% of my everyday thoughts. And almost every day, I come up with new ideas and/or revisions to give to my story. So I need to put it onto paper or something to give my mind some breathing room.

The previous ""method"" to put down my ideas was VERY cluttered, disorienting, messy, and unorganized. So i DESPERATELY need to find a far better alternative way to organize all the ideas in my head in a way that best suits me.

Now, im not really an 'experienced' writer, and am more of a 'conceptual writer' in the least. I'm other words, my ideas dont really go over anything like dialogue, or specific scenes played out (however they might go over entire plotlines, and character development)

So what im looking for is a way of organizing my ideas in a way that can include EVERYTHING about both my story and its world including descriptions of: the characters, the setting, the visual style/identity, the overall thesis/message, the plotline, episodic story ideas, the relationship between characters, designs, etc. BUT ESPECIALLY ALSO BE ABLE TO INCLUDE ANY LITTLE NOTES OR SMALL IDEAS/TRAITS THAT COME TO MIND THAT I MIGHT WANNA EXPAND ON LATER.

Does anyone have any ideas? Something that's tried-and-true?

I'm designing an OC that's meant to be a "Gaunt" (my personal soft reinterpretation of a Nightgaunt). And I want him to wear a royal suit that's meant to portray not only the 1910-1930s era, but more importantly the vibe, environment, and aesthetic of the Dreamlands in terms of style and color.

So I'm looking for any ideas for what type of designs or ornaments to add to his outfit, but what I'm mainly concerned about is what color palette I should use to make it feel like the Dreamlands based on how it's meant to look like.

Please don't bully me with this question, I'm not all that familiar with the genre, I'm just fascinated with the visual identity of classic Lovecraftian Horror and I want to embody that in my character

TL;DR How would make the perfect design for a Royal outfit for a Dreamlands Nightgaunt in terms of style, ornaments, and color?

I'm designing an OC that's meant to be a "Gaunt" (my personal soft reinterpretation of a Nightgaunt). And I want him to wear a royal suit that's meant to portray not only the 1910-1930s era, but more importantly the vibe, environment, and aesthetic of the Dreamlands in terms of style and color.

So I'm looking for any ideas for what type of designs or ornaments to add to his outfit, but what I'm mainly concerned about is what color palette I should use to make it feel like the Dreamlands based on how it's meant to look like.

Please don't bully me with this question, I'm not all that familiar with the genre, I'm just fascinated with the visual identity of classic Lovecraftian Horror and I want to embody that in my character

TL;DR How would make the perfect design for a Royal outfit for a Dreamlands Nightgaunt in terms of style, ornaments, and color?