Paid $180 for a custom brush pack and it made my art look worse

I saw this artist on Instagram selling a brush pack for digital painting, they promised it would speed up my workflow and give me that textured oil look I keep failing at. Spent $180 on a Tuesday, and honestly the brushes are just okay, but the problem is they made me overthink everything. My line art got scratchy, my colors got muddy, and I spent 3 days blaming myself before I realized the brushes were just too aggressive for my style. I switched back to my default round brush and my last piece actually got featured in a small local showcase here in Austin. Has anyone else dropped serious cash on brushes or assets and then felt like it held them back more than helped? I want to know if I'm the only one who got burned by hype.

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harper_wells2mo ago

okay so i totally hear you, i bought a $90 texture set once and spent a whole week fighting it before realizing my stuff looked way better with just a basic brush and some patience. it's wild how much we convince ourselves we need fancy tools when the real issue is just us overthinking the process. glad you found your way back to what works, and honestly that local showcase win is way better than any brush pack could give you.

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