Monthly Redraw: February

Since I'm a total hoarder I actually still have all of my old sketchbooks dating back to when I first took a keen interest in drawing about 10 years ago. While most of them are still at home in Australia, I have managed to find (and groan) over some of my older work and it got me thinking about how much I've improved, not just artistically but in terms of representation as well. It makes me cringe to think that somewhere in the recesses of my parents house there are stacks of sketchbooks filled with pictures of skinny white girls in awkward tomboyish clothes.

Soooo since I know that there's a meme that makes the rounds a few times a year that encourages artists to redraw some of their old favourite pieces I though, why not do the same thing? I plan on doing it monthly, but when I'm back in Australia I'll have way more material to go off and therefore will be more likely to post these. They're a great way to loosen up and it's pretty cool to see all your improvements laid out before you. 

For the first month I dug deep into the scraps section of my old deviantart account and pulled out this:

Let's be frank, it's not great. But at one point this was the best picture in my sketchbook. In fact I distinctly recall receiving multiple compliments for this picture. Looking at it now is almost torture. Yellow grass? Really. To be fair I drew this in 2007, at the tender age of 16, with no formal training, no computer and no idea what I was doing. Despite the fact that everything is coloured in quite lazily, and that it honestly looks like I redrew the same girl in different outfits holding hands with herself, I'm still proud of my baby self. This was probably one of the more daring pieces of composition I attempted in this period. So many hands! 

The characters were from a story I was working on at the time, about a group of elemental witches at a boarding school. Clockwise from the top you have: Earth, Wind, Water, Light, Dark, Fire, and ??? the mystery element, the girl the whole story was centred around. I think she had a connection to spirits, but I'd have to dig up old drafts to be sure. Anyway, I drew these girls a LOT. I even made a map of the school and floor plans of several classrooms and the dorm. I was really into it. 

In my redrawing process I actually couldn't decide if I would draw the characters as Mini Girls or if I'd try my slightly more realistic style. I actually started with the more realistic style and got so far as to have fully coloured over half the girls when I decided to scrap the whole thing and go simple. During the sketching stage I got to thinking about the characters and I remembered a bunch of things about them, like that the Water witch was an athlete and that Light really liked cooking and that both Air and Earth were much younger than the others and I decided that I might as well redesign the characters while I was at it. I mean, why perpetuate old bad habits? 

So without further ado, Anti-Clockwise from the top we have Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Light, Dark and ??? enjoying a beautiful sunny day on a lush patch of grass somewhere on the school grounds on a summer weekend. 

I think the best thing about the Monthly Redraw is that it will give me a chance to not only critique my earlier works, but to see what I've improved and what areas I'm still just a total novice in. Plus it may also mean I pick up old projects with a fresher, matured pair of eyes and bring them back to life. 

xx
Lily.