creation frustration

I'm a little frustrated at the Nukleia Hampion drawing and the abandoned-alien-temple-thingie one in progress (top & middle) because they aren't coming out as polished and realistic was I want them to (but I suppose the Skiffy subject matter is working against realistic part). I guess that I should be happy that they're better than the 1982 and '85 art that they're based on (bottom). Although, like the originals, despite having a lot of detail they're just not the most sophisticated things in the world.

As I get older, I'm really getting to hate being self-taught, because of all the self-referential viscous circles and all things that you just don't pick up by yourself. OTOH, like a lot of other stuff in my life, if I wasn't self-taught, how in the h*** was I ever going to learn it? School, the local community, or comics fans or pros were never there.

Although with a couple of tips to improve them. especially the realistic part, would cheer me up a lot.