How do I make art just for myself, no matter who sees it?

You have arrived somewhere important: the point where you make the work because it must be made, not because of who might see it. That is a kind of freedom most artists spend years reaching for. Hold onto it, because the noise of approval and audience will always be there trying to pull you off it. Making the work on its own terms does not mean you stop caring about quality. It means the reason you make it lives inside you, not in the reactions of others. When the work answers to your own vision first, it becomes truer, and strangely, that is often the work that reaches people most. But even if it reaches no one, it was still worth making. Keep protecting the space where you create for its own sake. Notice when you start bending the work toward expected applause, and gently return it to what you actually meant to say. Finish the piece you must make. Let being seen be a possible gift, never the point.