in one of the servers I'm in, we've been discussing looking back at your old art, and a couple people mentioned that getting compliments on their old art makes them feel like their artistic growth isn't as evident to other people as it is to them, or like they havent improved as much as they thought for people to still be complimenting their old work
but it's really not like that! Your personal perception of your art is inherently going to be very different to the audience. This is how i explained it in there & i thought i'd share it here as well:
A compliment on your old art doesn't undermine the growth in your new art, it's just admiring the qualities of your work that were already there!
Our art can change direction, our grasp of the fundamentals can get stronger, and this means our personal standards will always go up and the choices we would make creating a piece change, so when you as the creator look back on your old art, you're hit with a lot of "oof, I'd do x and y and z differently now".
But your audience doesn't have any of those hangups, to them youve drawn some good art, and when they look at your current art, you're making even stronger art, and both of them are worth admiring.
not that any of this makes it any less psychic damage inducing to look at your own old art LOL but putting yourself in the shoes of the audience and looking at it for what it is rather than how well it reaches your current standards can still help a little with that