The first time I tried digital illustration I quit after four months. The second time I started again two years later and it stuck. The external conditions were almost identical. Same software, similar schedule, same general interest in the subject. What was different was one specific thing about how I measured progress.
First attempt: measuring against professionals
Every piece I finished I compared to illustrators with ten or fifteen years of experience. That comparison was not motivating. It was just demoralizing data. I could see the gap clearly and had no framework for understanding how long it takes to close it.
Second attempt: measuring against last month
When I restarted I kept a folder of work organized by month. At the end of each month I looked only at that month versus the previous one. The improvements were small but visible. That visibility was enough to keep going.
This is not a new idea. Gardening and Landscape Design practitioners talk about the same thing when they describe learning to read a garden over seasons rather than days. You cannot see growth in real time. You need the comparison point.
The practical difference
By month six of my second attempt I had more finished pieces than in my entire first attempt combined. Not because I worked harder, but because I stopped quitting mid-piece out of discouragement. The monthly folder gave me enough perspective to finish things even when they felt wrong in the moment.
If your first attempt failed, the work itself probably was not the problem.