Recently, I declared as an art major (technically math and art double major), and a lot of my friends from my hometown and college were ecstatic about me declaring art. I guess it makes sense because I was always the "art kid."
As an artist would do, I started looking through my works to sort of reflect on what I did in the past. I still have my old sketchbook my sister bought me for my birthday in 2015 (geeky enough, it was inspired by the Legend of Zelda). It was a bit before my senior year of high school, so I remember that I used to carry that thing around until I graduated in mid-2016. So, I got the old thing out from my storage bin underneath my bed and started looking through it. I started giggling over my quick sketches and drawings that I did.
Then, I started thinking about how I improved on my art. Of course, 2015 art would be different from the art I created now. I doodled next to the old drawings in my sketchbook and saw tiny improvements. Then, I started wondering what other works I could redraw, so I dug through my old portfolio (which is, ironically, my Facebook photo history) and started redrawing. Some came from this year!
Redrawn Works
Note: The original works that I was redrawing is at the bottom left corner of the photo.
Redraw Of A Redraw
I couldn't resist it, but I saw that I did a redraw. I think the one at the very bottom is from my elementary school days (where I was trying to encapture the style of anime). The one in the middle is from I think last year. So, why not a redraw of a redraw?
Drawing My Artist Representation
Confession time: I used to draw on my 3DS (Colorslive 3D). I didn't have a drawing tablet until this year, so I did most of my digital work on my 3DS. I wonder how my followers on the drawing app feel that I abandoned them?
This drawing is just me trying to make an artist representation (where artists draw themselves with some kind of logo).
Three Characters
Another confession: I drew on my DS as well. On my DSi, there was this animation app called Flipnote. There were people who made comic like projects instead of animation, and I was one of those people. I never published nor became popular on the app, but it still resonates me.
Anyways, these characters existed since then (middle school). They were supposed to be part of some romance comic I didn't plan out as a middle schooler. Redrawing this made me realize how much I improved in drawing males.
Welcome To Nightvale Fanart
This is the last drawing I'll redraw from my "3Ds era." This drawing is inspired by a podcast I used to listen to (which I do like to catch up to in the future) called Welcome to Nightvale.
Personification Of The Internet
The original is from earlier this year (January). I was still very new to digital art.
This drawing is essentially just the personification of the internet in which I planned to use in a webcomic about memes, but it kinda just died away.
Personification Of My Anxiety
I really like personifying things. For this one, I personified my anxiety. Kinda like me (because she is me, in a way), she's just kinda awkward and just overthinks things often.
Redrawing this also made me reflect how better I became in character design. Before, she was just this edgy girl, but now she has this kind of personality.
Personification of Self Love
This is the last drawing and last personification. This is a personification of Self Love I made in May of this year! Even though it's only been like 4 months, I can see how much I improved.
Reflection
Upon redrawing these things, I started seeing how much I improved. As mentioned before, I most definitely improved in character design. But, since this is an artistic reflection, I'm only going to focus on how I improved in those areas.
Art Style
I most definitely defined my style. Before, most of my works were heavily inspired by cartoons, but now that I'm starting to learn more about human anatomy, I can see that my works are not very similar to others.
Colors
I never really understood color theory (even in art class) that much. I just had a good eye for color most of the time. I can most definitely say that I am indeed better at skin tones now than in the past. I also improved a lot in how light interacts with things...kinda.
So, why did I do all this? Well, like I said before, I'm reflecting on my art. But, I'm also just, again, proving the point that art takes time and dedication.
