Art - as a Hobby and Subject

Hello everyone,

The thought of writing this post had been lingering around in my mind since the second year of college. It's just like one of those expectation v/s reality memes that you find all over the internet.
It all started when I was 6 and used to watch cartoons, I always drew the stuff I used to watch. right from Mickey Mouse to Tweety and Buggs Bunny. When I turned eight, India began to air anime like Dragonball, Pokemon, and Card Captor Sakura. That is when my love for art grew even more. I always thought how fun it would have been creating stuff like characters. 
Until I graduated school, art had always been a hobby. I had it kept in my mind that I'd be studying art or animation someday in life. Keeping that in Mind, I got into this university. 
Art is something that receives both praises and criticisms. The comments are never always good or always bad. Usually, mentors tend to shower the students with a lot of constructive criticisms. Those are negative feedbacks with a pathway for improvement.
I always draw, mostly fan art or just doodles. And I draw those when I feel like and also draw how I feel. After spending 4 years in an Art college, I have realised that our imagination and creativity have to be caged to suit our mentor's feelings. Not forgetting deadlines! Time is a devil, causing too many problems always. Deadlines were never a problem until the last two years. The years when our thoughts were limited to only to suit certain criteria.
I began thinking about this when one of my professors told me that I was not suited for the course I am studying. I thought what the reason behind that would have been. It had to be my work. . . Maybe I worked differently when I am under pressure? or maybe I am not putting in much heart or soul?
I am only mentioning all of this because I have come to realise that my feelings towards art as a hobby and a subject have been very different. Not saying that I hate either, but the surroundings tend to change the quality of work and also your feelings towards it. I have done an internship at a comic house, and that also had deadlines. But working there was another experience overall. The work I delivered there was very different from what I have been doing here.
I thought if it was because I did something I liked, but I always chose that pathway even in my assignments. I won't even blame time constraints because that is a default setting that comes with assignments.
It is the kind of feedback one gets that affects their working style.

I've had an interest in art since a very young age. My mother is a very passionate artist and used to draw and paint a lot when I was a kid. Watching her do that had me develop a passion towards art as well. It's not particularly only that, but art as a whole has helped me a lot by carving me into a different person from what I used to be back in school.

Around in 2004, the time when I got limited access to the wired internet at our house, I began reading manga. Manga made me draw more, it taught me proportions and various expressions a character could have. That is what made me have a dream, of being a comic artist.

After spending two years in the college, I was confused. Never had I imagined that I would feel differently towards something I love.

It was true! Even in school, I always studied my textbooks at my own pace. I thought of them as interesting stuff that can be used somewhere in life. Sadly, the feeling did not last anytime after middle school due to the teachers that taught me.

Do all of you who study in the creative field feel this way too? Please share it with me ~

I shall end this post here to not make it boring ~

Anyway, I'm currently busy with my final year projects so I guess I'll be venting out frequently here.