I'm in the hell zone

I have most of my roughs mapped out, I just need to select a few and take them forward. Since the next step is building them in Illustrator I've tried to familiarise myself with the programme. This has been one big headache, and I end up leaving them unfinished.

Are they supposed to look this bad?? I find it difficult working purely with shape normally but this is just...not good. I worry a lot anyway, but I'm actually concerned because I can't see myself creating four final vectors to a decent standard.

How do I make vectors that have character to them? How do I make them not look terrible? Is it all in the shapes you create and the colours you select? Wehh..

here is a vector of me crying

Things I want to do / stay clear of:

• Make vectors that don't look like I've just plonked a load of standard shapes together

• Although they are in a digital format, I want to try and avoid flat, soulless, sterile looking vectors!! How the hell do you make them look different and visually interesting?

• If possible, I want the shapes to have form and weight to them, so that they possess a sort of depth or dimension

Nightmare situation: My finals look like you typed 'vector art' into google images (sorry..)