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The Cocksure Inner Critics — Description

Our inner critics always seem so very confident in their opinions - but thinking critically, how can we tell what they say is true? We cannot.
Art is subjective, though their are rules - rules that can be bent or distorted for a specified outcome, but that's probably quite an academic exercise and I've not really been formally trained in the arts since... A long time ago and it didn't go any further than high school. So not absolutely sure what they are?
Anyhoo, I just want to make cartoons/comic strips etc., so I don't feel a need to become a photo-realistic digital painter - but that doesn't mean I don't sit down every day (or whenever I can ) at my digital canvas and get hit by random thoughts of how bad my submissions are, how easy it would be just to stop and just... Yeah. It's no fun.
There's also a fear of regressing - steadily becoming worse, rather than improving. Sometimes that makes me hesitate, sometimes it makes me want to put the pen down and just stop. And on some days - it wins.
Other days - I tell the little prick on my shoulder to f**k right off and just try to make something. As long as we make more times where we tell the little devil to go f**k themselves and keep pushing - the more opportunities we make to experiment and reflect on a finished submission.
If you don't work on something - there's no way to tell where you may end up.
Obviously, they cannot all be award winners - sometimes you will make something that's a bit... Rubbish - and that's okay. It's okay to do that.
We need to challenge ourselves and push ourselves or else - we won't really develop any meaningful skills? We'll just kind of suck at everything - which isn't ideal for anyone.
When you start something - you're probably going to be bad at it. That's normal and it's at that point an inner critic is born - and this internal antagonist can either be like a critical friend to help you push past barriers or it can be a devil.
Sometimes we need to re-frame that devil and push them back and tell them, "I appreciate you have an opinion you would like heard, but unless you have something constructive to add - shut up."
Easier said than done, but they've got to exist for a reason? Is it some internal regulation mechanism gone awry? Some ancient survival mechanism that was there to prevent us wandering too far away from the troop and risk being picked off?
Well, things have changed and that voice needs to change it's attitude. Constructive criticism is necessary - blind praise is just as hollow as blind criticism, it's just dust.
Only a fraction of a fraction of a percentage of artists are ever going to make it to a point where they can stand out in the full sun - for those of us in obscurity - keep going!
It'll be cool to be a hidden gemstone for some tiny audience to find and cherish - even if it's an audience of 1.
Pay no attention to your inner critic when they have nothing constructive to add - and... Do not. Give. Up.