Oh yeah the client noticing without you saying anything is the best feeling. I had a similar thing happen with a landscape commission where I switched to some paid cloud brushes and the guy asked if I changed my technique or something because the sky just popped more. It's funny how those little details can make such a big difference even if someone doesn't know what a brush pack is.

Man that's a rough lesson to learn.

Wait, are we talking beauty gadgets or just the entire economy now? Feels like half the stuff you buy these days is just a scam with extra steps.

but honestly i think people overreact to first try compiles. like yeah it feels good but you probably just got lucky with a simple mistake free session. most of the time when my code compiles first try i worry i forgot something important. its way more satisfying to fix a bug after debugging for hours and finally see that clean compile. that feeling of actually earning it beats dumb luck every time. plus if youre laughing in class about a first try compile you might be the one whos gonna look dumb when the code breaks five minutes later during testing.

My buddy said the same thing about The Room and now I actually enjoy watching it.