Your Old Art vs. Your New Art

Sanctuary · Apr 11, 2016

Over the years of drawing, painting, or whatever it is that you do, you've probably gone a long way since you first started, or you might've even progressed a lot since the year before. There are probably a few pieces you might regret, but you keep them anyway, because of memories or so that you can look back at them later and compare them to your newer pieces.

If you feel like you've greatly progressed over time, you've probably learned a few new techniques along the way.
If you digitally draw or make sprites, is there anything you remember doing before that you've found out how to do much faster/more efficiently than before?

Music can be included in this too. If you've ever recorded anything in the past and looked back at it, you'll probably hear yourself playing much better than before nowadays. Hitting the notes more accurately, being able to play without struggling, and etc.

If you have any old pieces you wanna compare to your new ones, feel free to share them with the rest of us here!
You can also share your tips and tricks for others to learn from and to help them avoid making the mistakes you used to make.

LunarRabbitPikachu · Apr 12, 2016

I feel like I have made some process over the years of making art. I couldn't find some of my old art that I made in middle school due to not being involved with the internet much and my previous drawings were thrown away. ;w; But, I did manage to save some of my previous pics. Here are some pics I have done through out some time:

2009:

2012:

2015/2016:

As I kept using MS paint, I learned that you have to be careful with what color you are using to make your character show more and be aware of where the shadows are in your character in the picture. When trying to add accessories or clothing in general, make sure you use a different color so you can take out the lines you do not want to show in your picture and change those colors to the primary color you use. Another part I noticed is the thin/thick lines and how it effects your picture. The more thick the line is, the closer your character is in the picture or how big your picture is. I still have a lot to learn when drawing digital art especially with programs I haven't used yet, but I think it would be best to practice through MS Paint so you can understand some of the art material.

LostSpirit · Apr 12, 2016

When I was in the 6th grade, I tried my hand at spriting. Clearly, I had extraordinary art skills.

Now, I rarely do sprite, but at least it's better I guess?

Vaporstar4x4 · Apr 17, 2016

I've been on DA for 3 years and in that time I've realized how much my art skills have grown

I'm very proud as to how far I've come and learned a lot on the way

shinygiratinaz · Apr 20, 2016

This thread inspired me to check through my DA to see if I've improved at all, and boy howdy was I surprised.

This is one of the first things I posted, and something I actually did for an LV create an evolution event back when I first joined. It was supposed to be an evolution of emolga.

For comparison, here's something I made last month for an rp I'm in.

I'm still definitely a learning artist, but It's encouraging to me to see that I've come a long way from where I was. It certainly wasn't without learning a few tips, so here's the top three things I learned.

1. Use references. If you're uncertain about something, find a reference image. If you aren't quite sure on your pose or perspective find a reference image. If you aren't sure about your colours, get a reference. Even if you're mostly sure, look up a reference anyways just to make sure you're not missing something you didn't even remember existed. References are just plain helpful and have been a huge, huge help for me.

2. Layers are your friend. This seems obvious to me now, but it wasn't when I started trying to improve in GIMP. Learning to use layers to my advantage was one of the things that really helped me improve and start being able to advance a bit from where I was. I've still got some things to learn, but what I have figured out has been a gigantic aid.

3. Branch out with your colours. I always just shaded by darkening or lightening the colour of the area I was shading. But experimenting with different colours in shading and texturing really helped my art pop a bit more, and honestly in my opinion just looks better. Adding some purple to darkened red areas, some yellow to lightened green areas, it just adds a bit of variation that really does make a difference.

I'm really still a newbie in art all things considered, and I'm certainly not done improving. But hopefully one of these points helps somebody like they helped me!

Szaila · Apr 21, 2016

Oh man, where to I start hahah.
Well, I guess.. some of the first digital piece I ever made when I first got my tablet (8.th of May 2013) and my program was these little things.

Both of these being made in early May 2013
*shudder* I still cringe when I think back abou tthe lumberjack pic because in my head it was perfect and I hadn't forgotten aaaaanything *cough shade the pants cough*

(Now we'll get to the good stuff)
Now, almost precicely 3 years later, these are some examples of the recent stuff I've made

This being a newer style I've been developing

Some recent chibies

And some other kind of style experimentations~

And some recent fakemon sketch

WIP

So I mean.... I think I've come quite the way since when I first picked up digital art =w=

It's sorta both agonizing as well as motivating to look through old stuff you've done, methinks, and I hope everyone will one day be able to look back and realize the horrible feeling they feel when looking back is a good thing. It means you've come so far that you're now able to look back and make fun out of your own work .o.

Achromatic · May 1, 2016

I've definitely progressed. It's kinda funny looking back on my first ever LV theme design and seeing how much I've improved. I'm happy about this.

Pirate Captain · May 15, 2016

Im hardly proud of my drawinhs however
I like my old drawinhs better than my recent once's

EmeraldHeart · Jun 29, 2016

So i recently updated my style

from thjis style which i did for YEARS

To this new style:

I love my new style alot

Pirate Captain · Jun 30, 2016

There both very good

http://tala-is-demonic.deviantart.com/art/An-Digimon-Oc-481320810

This is a very old drawing, which I like a lot, one of them

and my newwer once's

http://tala-is-demonic.deviantart.com/art/Gift-Holly-Orane-606132748

I ain't a fan of my newer drawings

Cadbberry · Jul 23, 2016

Welp I dont think its a lot of improvement but I try

I started with traditional art
6 years ago

Then I got colors 3D and used that for years
3 years ago

2 years ago

1 Year ago

Then in end moving to Fire Alpaca and tablet work
Now

Almandine-G · Sep 10, 2016

As far back as I can remember I've always bwen drawing, and for the longest while I did traditional drawing. However, since sometime a year or two ago I found my talent lied in digital art instead. As such I'll be looking from when I properly started digital art compared to the now.

My main struggle is how much control I have over a piece. If I can't control what I draw I freak out. As such, I started with basic pixelling. This gave me exactly what I needed in terms of control and got me started:

Eventually I experimented with bigger images and character shading. It was from here I started to improve as I built on my skills at the time:

As time went by I eventually started experimenting with even bigger scale images, creating my furst 1600*1600. It was also round about this time I started to sway very heavily into cute art:

And now we hit the present! It's only really now that I've found my art style. My images are now huge in size, often being 3000*3000, but my method of pixel scale has remained the same all throughout. Examples of my modern work are:

It's been roughly a year now since those black and white pixels. And over the years I'm glad I managed to improve! Still, I always aim to reach higher, to touch the moon and beyond, and I'll continue to do so for as long as I can!