Redoing Old Drawings

My "new" gypsies. I just realized the young boy second from the right, bears a striking resemblance to "Rayek" from "Elfquest".

    One of my favorite things to do is redraw my old pictures. I'm the type of artist where it's really hard for me to see my own art as unique or skillful. It helps me when I redo something because then I have a direct comparison to show me what I've improved upon. But MY GOODNESS, I could not draw before.

The "old" gypsies. SO SCARY.

    I drew these gypsies only two and a half years ago, yet it seems like a lifetime worth of art improvement. Why did I ever think these were good? Often times, in day to day work, I can't see improvements and it frustrates me. I know I need to be better, and I work hard at it, but it doesn't seem to be there. But, improvements are small. They aren't visible daily, but when you look back across the years or months, it's more clear.

    Originally my aim was to draw a young attractive woman, an old woman, a bratty little girl, a mother, a preteen girl, and an outcast girl or the "black sheep". After I would draw their male counterparts. I think I initially succeeded at pushing the diversity of my design for my skills at the time, although anatomy and diversity of silhouette were definitely lacking. Here's an in-depth analysis of two of my favorites.

        This young man was my least favorite in the old one, and my favorite in the new. Before he seemed bland and generic. For the new one I pushed the shapes, elongating the head, creating distance between the nose and mouth, and corrected anatomy. I don't know why I didn't draw hands and feet before. Probably because they were annoying. But not as annoying as looking back and realizing my characters had nubs for appendages. This brings me to the old woman.

Old age really shrunk her down.

     I just need to point out one thing. She was 8 1/2 heads tall. GREEK ADONIS' WERE NOT THAT TALL. I chopped off a few heads for the new one. I think she turned out better this time.

THE HORROR.

    *Sigh of relief. I did improve. My current art is far from perfect. I can see the errors in weight, anatomy and diversity. But my brain isn't quite able to realize them yet. But for today, I can put frustration aside, knowing I improved since last time I drew these gypsies. I'm excited for the next two and a half years, perhaps I'll look back at my new gypsies and scream with horror then. I can't wait!

Color makes everything better.