Then And Now: A Look Into The Past

[Temariix]

Then and Now: A Look into the Past

This topic is all about your personal improvement.

When you post, if you are participating, please post the following...
-a current picture of your drawing capabilities and an older picture showing the comparison between the two
-Also include the years so we know when the drawings were completed
-Add the title Then and Now: A Look into the Past with your username in Red underneath
-If applicable, add a little background like I have below

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I found an old neon-green notecard the other day that I had drawn on the back of the begining of my 8th grade year (2004). At the time, I thought it, and I, was the shiz. Lol, well, four years later, I think I would have made fun of myself for being so full of it.

I find it interesting how, in just four years, I've improved. In the picture below, the top pic is the index card drawings (neon color removed for the convenience of your retinas) and the one below is one from my sketchbook, and one of the better ones I think.

4 years from now, I'll be looking back and laughing again, hopefully.

Please try and keep this alive! I think it's a fascinating idea :D

[Sabotage]

Nice. You've matured a whole lot in those 4 years. Good drawing. It's always cool to look back at old drawings and see how much better you've gotten and how much your style's changed. I used to draw strictly in a fairly unoriginal anime style when I was younger, so looking back at old material is always a laugh.

[RotStier]

The picture speaks for itself. Very nice indeed - your art has matured nicely.

[ImaFreekozoid]

It's awesome how much we can evolve as artists and people over just a few years...I look back at this picture and think, Dear Jesus, I liked watching Inuyasha AND I actually thought this picture was cute and I thought I was super badass when I used the Gimp to smudge the crappy colored pencil sunset and that I was being artsy by keeping inuyasha in grayscale ><. I still have work to do I know and there's much improvements to be made upon my current work, but seeing how far I've gotten in these past three years gives me hope that I can still get better with practice. Yea, I still can't draw bare feet D:

[Temariix]

Thanks for the comments y'all :D

At 7/31/08 10:22 PM, ImaFreekozoid wrote: It's awesome how much we can evolve as artists and people over just a few years... I still have work to do I know and there's much improvements to be made upon my current work, but seeing how far I've gotten in these past three years gives me hope that I can still get better with practice.

Of course, that's the case for all artists! I think it's absolutely amazing how the mind in general works, it's ability to percieve and enhance its own 'database.'

Improvement also depends on the user. If you dont work at becoming better, though you will become better naturally, but at a much slower pace than someone who truely 'puts their mind to work.'

Also, I'm not one great with feet either. What I do is, inconspicuously, watch people's feet when they walk, or if they're standing in some kind of line. Summer is the best time to do research since it's flip flop season. Feet and hands usually end up being the most difficult body parts to replicate acurately. Faces are similar, but have a bit more flexibility based on personal drawing style, facial expression, and the build of the face in general. Faces in general are nearly limitless in their makeup (haha.... bad pun... you can shoot me now...).

Practice doesnt make perfect, it makes better!

[Ansel]

I actually did something like this a little while ago. the drawing on the left is from a few weeks ago, drawn with a wacom tablet, the drawing on the right is from about a year and half ago, drawn with a mouse.

[willobeen]

I used to suck SO BAD.

[Hellknight1000]

Might as well post here too! :3

To the left is August 2008.
To the right is January 2009.

WHOOPEE!! (Sorry didn't add a title... :( )

[AlexanderTheInsane]

At 1/25/09 06:04 PM, Hellknight1000 wrote: Might as well post here too! :3

My thoughts exactly.

[Temariix]

Wow! I thought that this topic died a long time ago! ... well... it did... but now it's here again ;D

Hellknight, that's impressive! And only 5 months? Very very impressive difference. You can tell that the one on the left is quite static, and more of a fashion model type pose instead of the action pose as presented to the right. The clothes also look better. There's still room to improve though, and don't forget it. That's what keeps us ever vigilant, trying to improve.

Alexander, also quite a visible improvement. The transition from traditional to digital is good, but it makes it a bit more difficult to compare because I know that for me, my digital and traditional style varies a bit. That shouldn't be too much of an issue. The biggest improvement? The one on the right has arms by golly! Haha, that's a good thing. I think the one on the left's arms are being eaten by the other arm. I mean no offense of course! And might you be left handed? The reason I say this is because the older drawing is very very flat on the left side, which is a problem I frequently run into.
Your anatomy understanding overall has improved dramatically as well as your style. Moving from generic manga/anime-type to something a lot more of your own. But hey, we all start from somewhere ;D I really like the eyes on the right btw.

Nice work both of you :D

[Hellknight1000]

At 1/25/09 10:09 PM, Temariix wrote: Wow! I thought that this topic died a long time ago! ... well... it did... but now it's here again ;D

Hellknight, that's impressive! And only 5 months? Very very impressive difference. You can tell that the one on the left is quite static, and more of a fashion model type pose instead of the action pose as presented to the right. The clothes also look better. There's still room to improve though, and don't forget it. That's what keeps us ever vigilant, trying to improve.

Nice work both of you :D

LOL I cheated...I've been taking classes... xD
Plus someone remade a thread like this but it was locked so I posted here instead. I think it sounds like a good idea to me, I don't understand how it could die so quickly!
Anyway...thanks! :D I truly hope to get much better, so I'm glad it seems to be coming along!

[Captain-Ben]

The Mod Gods have spoken!! So i'm bringing it over to this thread.

I'm the somebody who did something similar to this thread that hellknight was talking about, so i'll contribute to this thread :-P

on the left is a picture i drew my freshmen year, on the right is a stencil i cut and sprayed over winter break

[UMREE]

well normally i dont like posting old things but i thought this might be fun and a good excuse to post up some paintings that have long been removed from the forum because of age.

2005 - well the vase is my first, very crappy attempt at trying to be an "artist". my teacher pretty much guided me through the whole thing and i still failed. ouch.

2008 - i dont really think this counts as recent work anymore but its the closest thing ive got to new. i did this myself, with no real guidance or help.

and now i am in the process of creating my first oil work. been at it for a while and i think you guys might like it.

anyway, cheers to progress.

warning: quality raped

[redenvy]

Quality Rape! Sorry!

Anyways, I saw this thread and it sparked an interest to go wander through folders of old and ancient pieces of artwork I conjured when I was younger. xD There are some older pieces than this, but I decided not to disclose those. They were pretty terrible. This picture here was somewhat bearable, plus it makes me laugh a little.

Okay- so the top picture is the one from a long time ago, I think the beginning of freshman year. I thought the picture was so cool, yes his name is Dukar, yes I still loved creating random creatures and slabbing a name on them. xD

The bottom picture is one that is recent, this was actually drawn for ScorpianX0, and I still need to color it for him. God I'm such a slacker. It is almost crazy to see how much of a difference there is in these pictures. I never really compared my old works with my newer ones, never crossed my mind truly. I am sort of going wow right now. I know I am not the greatest artist, but I definately can see a massive improvement in anatomy and the asthetic value of my work. ^^ Like mentioned above I can only imagine how much of improvement I can see in the next few years. The thought excites me!

This was a cool excersize even though I really didn't do anything, but it goes to prove that practice does help and mold your style! :D

[Ani-x]

mixed media from "99" to mixed media to 08" (December of 2008)

[Ani-x]

My last pic says "05" because i saved it when comparing 2 CG images (which il be posting now)
so ignore the "05" on my last one.

this photoshop from back in 05, to one i did earlier in 08

[Fatchaos]

Well, I kinda started my art hobby when I started doing random doodles in work ( Don't judge me, there was nothing to do back then!!!)... I began with a sci-fi setting, and slowly improved my style, techniques and such. And also, since I began to understand how hooked I was on drawing AND on some half-reptilian chicks [Dragonesses, if you prefer] ( Again, don't you judge me! ), I became determent that I will keep on drawing & becoming better. I think I occasionally think too much "inside the box", but I really don't care :P

Anyway, to show at least some minor improvement, here's my very first digitally colored UDF Marine, compared with my latest UDF Heavy (Enforcer :P)!

[x-factor11]

made a thread like this a while back, but ill contribute to this one..
04-08, haven't made anything in 09 yet..

[AlexanderTheInsane]

At 1/25/09 10:09 PM, Temariix wrote: Wow! I thought that this topic died a long time ago! ... well... it did... but now it's here again ;D

Alexander, also quite a visible improvement. The transition from traditional to digital is good, but it makes it a bit more difficult to compare because I know that for me, my digital and traditional style varies a bit. That shouldn't be too much of an issue. The biggest improvement? The one on the right has arms by golly! Haha, that's a good thing. I think the one on the left's arms are being eaten by the other arm. I mean no offense of course!

Lol, none taken. I probably should have looked at an example of how side view crossed arms looked like from a photo. Back then, I never used the "draw what you see" method.

And might you be left handed? The reason I say this is because the older drawing is very very flat on the left side, which is a problem I frequently run into.

I'm right handed.

Your anatomy understanding overall has improved dramatically as well as your style. Moving from generic manga/anime-type to something a lot more of your own. But hey, we all start from somewhere ;D I really like the eyes on the right btw.

The eyes were among the first things I wanted to draw differently.

Nice work both of you :D

Thanks very much! :)

[PrinceFlea]

I don't think I have much to say about this one but I don't remember what month I drew the left.The only improvements that i've seen were the range of colors that were blended by temporys but still having the laziness of giving any backgrounds. I think through the following year I've been wondering off in my own space having such ideas that i've put off later because it might have come out already.

[Darkaxl]

Natural progression. To many of these topics, keep it all to 1?

[Captain-Ben]

well, if there's another one within the past 10 pages please let me know, i haven't seen it.

[UMREE]

At 1/27/09 04:53 PM, Darkaxl wrote: Natural progression. To many of these topics, keep it all to 1?

a mod already brought this to light, this is the one.

let the gold worry about this kind of stuff man.

[ZadeFireLance]

Not much of a difference lol :D

then 2005/2009 now
i try though
still working with my mouse then and now haha

[PrinceFlea]

At 1/27/09 03:25 PM, PrinceFlea wrote: I don't think I have much to say about this one but I don't remember what month I drew the left.The only improvements that i've seen were the range of colors that were blended by temporys but still having the laziness of giving any backgrounds. I think through the following year I've been wondering off in my own space having such ideas that i've put off later because it might have come out already.

I forgot about this one here It's possibly one of the earliest I could find around the scrap pile.