I think this could make for a fun discussion - all crafts welcome!
When did you first start arting, and what motivated you? Let's share our embarrassing first creations!
EDIT: So long as large pics are kept under collapse tags, I'd love to see how you've progressed over the years too!
For me, my first serious attempt was back when I was maybe 10 and I was set on writing the best animal adventure novel ever. This was when Word had a free clip art database, and I would try to illustrate my book by combining a bunch of images into scenes in MS Paint. I'd always end up frustrated that I could never find exactly what I wanted, when I was hit with the world changing epiphany that I could use the line tools to draw my own! And of course, they were horrific:
Unfortunately I don't have any super old art to show at the moment because I'm living away from home, but rest assured, I have ancient secrets in dusty tomes which I'll dig up very soon.
When did you first start arting, and what motivated you? Let's share our embarrassing first creations!
EDIT: So long as large pics are kept under collapse tags, I'd love to see how you've progressed over the years too!
For me, my first serious attempt was back when I was maybe 10 and I was set on writing the best animal adventure novel ever. This was when Word had a free clip art database, and I would try to illustrate my book by combining a bunch of images into scenes in MS Paint. I'd always end up frustrated that I could never find exactly what I wanted, when I was hit with the world changing epiphany that I could use the line tools to draw my own! And of course, they were horrific:
Click if you dare!
Unfortunately I don't have any super old art to show at the moment because I'm living away from home, but rest assured, I have ancient secrets in dusty tomes which I'll dig up very soon.
In the meantime, here's some hopefully useful advice!
About four years ago, I’d decided I was going to give up art forever. I figured I was never going to be good enough to be happy displaying anything I made, so why bother? But I couldn't stay away. All my character designs were floating around in my head, and they'd need refs, even if just to commission someone else. I started taking art seriously again sometime last year and with encouragement from my friends I’ve stayed determined to improve.
Since then, I’ve had some revelations which have changed how I view my attempts quite a bit, so I’ll share them here in hopes this can help someone else:
A small amount of frustration while drawing is actually a good thing! It's a sign than you're pushing out of your comfort zone and testing your knowledge! Imo, if I ever get to the stage where I find drawing something easy, I’ll know that I’m not challenging myself enough. Perfection doesn't exist in art, it's always going to be subjective, but practice ALWAYS makes progress.
I’m often tempted to fall into the trap of being super ambitious with my visions (an action pose with perspective, for instance) and inevitably getting upset when I can't make them happen. When I notice this happening, I break my big goals down into smaller steps, because eventually I’ll know enough about how each part works that I can put it all together!
Solid foundations need to be formed before they can be built upon.
I was struggling with drawing hands at a specific angle recently, and was getting really angry (and spent an hour searching on google for photos) because I’d managed to draw that same pose fine from another angle. So instead of throwing down the pen, I drew an entire page of hands! It doesn't matter if your studies look weird, you're figuring out and memorizing how hands work, and eventually your mind can fill in the blanks you can't find exact references for. Copying directly from references is definitely useful as a way to learn, but it means that you're never truly understanding what you're looking at.
The very worst thing you can do is stop trying. Compare your very first art with where you are now, and you'll know it's just a matter of time!
About four years ago, I’d decided I was going to give up art forever. I figured I was never going to be good enough to be happy displaying anything I made, so why bother? But I couldn't stay away. All my character designs were floating around in my head, and they'd need refs, even if just to commission someone else. I started taking art seriously again sometime last year and with encouragement from my friends I’ve stayed determined to improve.
Since then, I’ve had some revelations which have changed how I view my attempts quite a bit, so I’ll share them here in hopes this can help someone else:
A small amount of frustration while drawing is actually a good thing! It's a sign than you're pushing out of your comfort zone and testing your knowledge! Imo, if I ever get to the stage where I find drawing something easy, I’ll know that I’m not challenging myself enough. Perfection doesn't exist in art, it's always going to be subjective, but practice ALWAYS makes progress.
I’m often tempted to fall into the trap of being super ambitious with my visions (an action pose with perspective, for instance) and inevitably getting upset when I can't make them happen. When I notice this happening, I break my big goals down into smaller steps, because eventually I’ll know enough about how each part works that I can put it all together!
Solid foundations need to be formed before they can be built upon.I was struggling with drawing hands at a specific angle recently, and was getting really angry (and spent an hour searching on google for photos) because I’d managed to draw that same pose fine from another angle. So instead of throwing down the pen, I drew an entire page of hands! It doesn't matter if your studies look weird, you're figuring out and memorizing how hands work, and eventually your mind can fill in the blanks you can't find exact references for. Copying directly from references is definitely useful as a way to learn, but it means that you're never truly understanding what you're looking at.
The very worst thing you can do is stop trying. Compare your very first art with where you are now, and you'll know it's just a matter of time!
Hoooooo boy...
I started when I was really young. At first, it was definitely just colouring colouring books. I had so many colouring books as a kid, some I didn't touch, some I used till each and every page was coloured. Even back then, however, I was told that I took special care in my colouring, and would only colour if I was in the mood, or felt like the colour would look good. I can actually remember being super picky about my crayons and my markers at the time.
I also remember using a lot of the spiral journals that I was bought specifically for school being used to draw a lot of animals and such.... I kind of wish I had them, because one of the pictures that I can remember vividly was a drawing of a grassy ground, a tree with a squirrel in the hole, flowers, and the blue sky with the one cloud in it and a red bird flying. I think the best thing I can remember about it is my dad saying, "that is a surprisingly round circle for a four-year-old."
Then Pokémon came out in the United States. At first, I discovered the videos at Blockbuster, and saw even more Pokémon on the back of my Lunchables when they had those collectable cutouts. I then started to draw a lot of Pokémon because I couldn't find colouring books for it till a while later.
Drawing Pokémon turned into my love for anime, and then I started watching Sailor Moon... then started drawing the Sailor Scouts. But, I took a long break from drawing for a while, with only some drawings of Hamtaro and my own original stuff when I was in my later years of elementary school. I then picked up Naruto, and for some reason, that reignited my want to draw again as I drew Kiba more and more, then more of the Naruto characters later on.
In fifth grade, I remember having some comic idea that was called 'CLAWS'. I've kept a lot of those characters made from later fourth grade to seventh grade, and now have been slowly working and reworking their stories in something that just has a placeholder name for now: 'Shard'.
If I can find some old art from about my early middle school days, I'll come back and post again with some stuff from way back then that I know I have.
I started when I was really young. At first, it was definitely just colouring colouring books. I had so many colouring books as a kid, some I didn't touch, some I used till each and every page was coloured. Even back then, however, I was told that I took special care in my colouring, and would only colour if I was in the mood, or felt like the colour would look good. I can actually remember being super picky about my crayons and my markers at the time.
I also remember using a lot of the spiral journals that I was bought specifically for school being used to draw a lot of animals and such.... I kind of wish I had them, because one of the pictures that I can remember vividly was a drawing of a grassy ground, a tree with a squirrel in the hole, flowers, and the blue sky with the one cloud in it and a red bird flying. I think the best thing I can remember about it is my dad saying, "that is a surprisingly round circle for a four-year-old."
Then Pokémon came out in the United States. At first, I discovered the videos at Blockbuster, and saw even more Pokémon on the back of my Lunchables when they had those collectable cutouts. I then started to draw a lot of Pokémon because I couldn't find colouring books for it till a while later.
Drawing Pokémon turned into my love for anime, and then I started watching Sailor Moon... then started drawing the Sailor Scouts. But, I took a long break from drawing for a while, with only some drawings of Hamtaro and my own original stuff when I was in my later years of elementary school. I then picked up Naruto, and for some reason, that reignited my want to draw again as I drew Kiba more and more, then more of the Naruto characters later on.
In fifth grade, I remember having some comic idea that was called 'CLAWS'. I've kept a lot of those characters made from later fourth grade to seventh grade, and now have been slowly working and reworking their stories in something that just has a placeholder name for now: 'Shard'.
If I can find some old art from about my early middle school days, I'll come back and post again with some stuff from way back then that I know I have.
Ah, this thread is actually making me think about a lot of things about my art. Not just improvement, but character development and losses and introductions too!
I started to get interested in drawing in Year 8-9. I don't think I've got any sketchbooks of my really REALLY old stuff, but it was very embarrassing stuff. Heck, I even had an OC that was based on a Racing Game for the PS3. I remember everything about her, actually. Her name was Bee, a yellow anthro rabbit with a passion for mechanics and racing, and she was a giant, and I mean, GIANT mary sue.
But we're not here to talk about the characters themselves, HERE COMES THAT NASTY OLD ART YEAH
Pretty bad. Right? I was a giant furry at that time too. Hence why all of my characters were giant furs.
I don't have any art from 2012 I think, but let's skip to 2013. I got into Homestuck, and so I began to experiment with designing an arrange of characters. (My own 12 Fan Trolls, to be exact.) This is where I actually started to get a little more serious with my artwork, and wanted it to be something big.
Basically every single drawing from that year is of that nature. Nothing but Homestuck fantrolls and the occasional fur.
2014 now. My art is starting to look... Not much better, but noticeable improvements. It's also the year I made my character, Chiron.
Holy heck there's even some WIP pages of my dream Webcomic in here too. (That I've been trying to make for 2 years with no avail since i keep losing hope)
And later that year, more improvement ?
But 2015 and 2016 is where stuff really starts to change.
2015 was a busy year for me. I was in a Game Design course, which I felt helped me push my art skills more because one of my teachers was a professional artist. He taught me different techniques and showed me a lot of useful sites.
Though 2016 has been a great year of improvement for me. I hope anyway.
Honestly, I am still so so so so SO far away from my art goal. (Something cute, yet semi-realistic and not childishly creepy.) And I have a lot of inspirations.
I just hope 2017 is an even better year of improvement for me!
I started to get interested in drawing in Year 8-9. I don't think I've got any sketchbooks of my really REALLY old stuff, but it was very embarrassing stuff. Heck, I even had an OC that was based on a Racing Game for the PS3. I remember everything about her, actually. Her name was Bee, a yellow anthro rabbit with a passion for mechanics and racing, and she was a giant, and I mean, GIANT mary sue.
But we're not here to talk about the characters themselves, HERE COMES THAT NASTY OLD ART YEAH
This actually isn't her, but one of her friends. Might as well be here since they had no real differences between them though
Drawn in 2011.
But here's something else from that year cuz that's really dark honestly.
*cringes.*
Drawn in 2011.
But here's something else from that year cuz that's really dark honestly.
*cringes.*
Pretty bad. Right? I was a giant furry at that time too. Hence why all of my characters were giant furs.
I don't have any art from 2012 I think, but let's skip to 2013. I got into Homestuck, and so I began to experiment with designing an arrange of characters. (My own 12 Fan Trolls, to be exact.) This is where I actually started to get a little more serious with my artwork, and wanted it to be something big.
Ew Bad Fantrolls
Basically every single drawing from that year is of that nature. Nothing but Homestuck fantrolls and the occasional fur.
2014 now. My art is starting to look... Not much better, but noticeable improvements. It's also the year I made my character, Chiron.
Holy heck there's even some WIP pages of my dream Webcomic in here too. (That I've been trying to make for 2 years with no avail since i keep losing hope)
Old Art
Webcomic Attempts
And later that year, more improvement ?
Bleh
But 2015 and 2016 is where stuff really starts to change.
Art From 2015, Each Month.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2015 was a busy year for me. I was in a Game Design course, which I felt helped me push my art skills more because one of my teachers was a professional artist. He taught me different techniques and showed me a lot of useful sites.
Though 2016 has been a great year of improvement for me. I hope anyway.
2016 Arts, Every Month
January
February
March
April
(I don't really have anything for May apart from this Character Concept for a Friend's Game)
June
July
August
September
October
November
December (So far)
January
February
March
April
(I don't really have anything for May apart from this Character Concept for a Friend's Game)
June
July
August
September
October
November
December (So far)
Honestly, I am still so so so so SO far away from my art goal. (Something cute, yet semi-realistic and not childishly creepy.) And I have a lot of inspirations.
I just hope 2017 is an even better year of improvement for me!
I love seeing topics like this! It always amazes me to see how far you all have come 
also TiniestCentaur your Centaur from sept 2015 is the cutest!!
also TiniestCentaur your Centaur from sept 2015 is the cutest!!
Awww thank you Loki! 
I have been drawing forever, but around age 10 is when I remember seriously carrying a sketchbook to school everyday. Then when I was 12 I started work on a novel--never finished it, but I got like 40k words in. I had a much shorter lived novel attempt from a few years earlier, but it was just a couple chapters and I don't have it saved anywhere, sadly. Age 14 was the year of goth-Heimdall and the era of terrible comics. As for leatherwork, that came much later. I have always been involved in Renaissance faires and in 2008 (second year of college) I looked at some leather stuff and thought "I should try this." So ... I did. I don't think I ever thought I'd be doing it professionally!
I do have almost all my old sketchbooks and writing, for better or worsr. Maybe later when I'm not on my phone I'll post some!
I do have almost all my old sketchbooks and writing, for better or worsr. Maybe later when I'm not on my phone I'll post some!
@FJF
ahh, pokemon and naruto and doodles in schoolbooks. i feel like a lot of people will be able to relate to this! my first fan character was a pokemon trainer, and i recycled them into a naruto ninja later. (they had black and pink hair and gothic punk clothes, naturally. ) i reckon a thread where people talk about their very first OCs would be pretty fun too! when i visit my family home again i'll see if i can rummage through my paper piles, though i remember 'accidentally' dropping quite a lot of it in the shredder.
@tiny
oh man, fantrolls. i remember making one based off Serpentarius/Ophiuchus because i thought it would be edgy to RP the 13th zodiac sign haha. thank you so much for sharing! your progress this year is really impressive, and i'm excited to see where you'll go from here. you should already be super proud of your achievements!
@heimdall
your leatherwork never ceases to amaze me!
ahh, pokemon and naruto and doodles in schoolbooks.
i feel like a lot of people will be able to relate to this! my first fan character was a pokemon trainer, and i recycled them into a naruto ninja later. (they had black and pink hair and gothic punk clothes, naturally. ) i reckon a thread where people talk about their very first OCs would be pretty fun too! when i visit my family home again i'll see if i can rummage through my paper piles, though i remember 'accidentally' dropping quite a lot of it in the shredder.@tiny
oh man, fantrolls. i remember making one based off Serpentarius/Ophiuchus because i thought it would be edgy to RP the 13th zodiac sign haha. thank you so much for sharing! your progress this year is really impressive, and i'm excited to see where you'll go from here.
you should already be super proud of your achievements!@heimdall
your leatherwork never ceases to amaze me!
I did some digging on my old deviantART account, and ohhh my god... ten years ago me is super cringe-y. Haha, it hurts me mentally to go back there. |D;;
But! Looking back, I was able to remember that Adam Warren was a huge inspiration to me as well when I started to draw again. I was a huge fan of SSX Tricky and SSX 3, more so when I found out who my favourite character was; Griff Simmons just because, "omg, he's a kid like me!" at the time. So that was kind of also inspirational, I think, just because it's like, "hey, even if you're young, if you assert yourself and push on, you can achieve a lot."
But anyways, let me get some stuff up that I can from... about 2005-2006 and onwards? |D;;
... This is gonna be image heavy, whoops;;;
As for 2015 till now... well... I'll spare 2015. 2015 is when I got the most amount of commissions from RPR, so you can actually look in my art thread to see the improvement and journey from then on! C:
But! Looking back, I was able to remember that Adam Warren was a huge inspiration to me as well when I started to draw again. I was a huge fan of SSX Tricky and SSX 3, more so when I found out who my favourite character was; Griff Simmons just because, "omg, he's a kid like me!" at the time. So that was kind of also inspirational, I think, just because it's like, "hey, even if you're young, if you assert yourself and push on, you can achieve a lot."
But anyways, let me get some stuff up that I can from... about 2005-2006 and onwards? |D;;
... This is gonna be image heavy, whoops;;;
2005
2006
I'm sure I have more... but these are the ones I can find posted.
I'm sure I have more... but these are the ones I can find posted.
2007
2008
2009
First things first... 2009 and 2010 were really rough years for me. There was a lot of confusion in terms of identity and guilt concerning me. So... there are a lot of pieces with names that I associated with in these next ones to come before I come back to how everyone knows me now.
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
As for 2015 till now... well... I'll spare 2015. 2015 is when I got the most amount of commissions from RPR, so you can actually look in my art thread to see the improvement and journey from then on! C:
Oooh these are fun, I love seeing everyones progress. I have been drawing since I was a wee baby babbu. I can't remember a time when drawing wasn't a part of my life. I remember when I was in second grade I was making digimon and pokemon OC's I then moved onto my DBZ era (puke)... Art was always important in my life, but it was anime that got me really invested in it. I was like hey, maybe I can make a career out of this! ((Spoiler, I didn't lol)) So I kinda dedicated my life to first, ripping off everything I could, but ripping off animes I was in love with helped older me create original characters with lots of depth, and borrowing other art styles (Bleach) I was able to learn how to develop my own. So hey, you know, theres that.
As a kid I did a ton of art with a computer mouse and microsoft paint. I am pretty freaking proud of how well those turned out for being a kid but at the same time I gave myself horrible carpel tunnel T_T, although most of the damage came from me animating. Funnily enough I was a better animator when I was 15 than I am now. Maybe it's because I had more patience then... I shall share with you some super embarrassing, horrible story telling animations I made. Complete with an opening and ending. Took me 4 months to make. (YOU MAY NOTICE I COPIED BLEACH IN THE INTRO.... I used them as reference for a couple things.) Omg I am cringing so bad, I cannot even watch it. 14/15 year old me was horrible at story telling... please don't tell Raine or Zayne about me showing how they used to be...
I am now going to try and redeem myself by showing an animation I did at the same age that I think is really good.
Since then I have just focused on bettering my characters and trying to make unique art and pray one day I can actually get better lol
Here is an improvement meme I did a few years ago:
Unfortunately I don't draw as much as I used to. I remember when drawing was all I did, now I can hardly find time to draw once a month... It's kind of depressing, but I am hoping in the future I'll have time to do just that and start improving again. When you do not constantly draw, you do not improve.
To redeem myself, here are a couple of my more recent pieces.
As a kid I did a ton of art with a computer mouse and microsoft paint. I am pretty freaking proud of how well those turned out for being a kid but at the same time I gave myself horrible carpel tunnel T_T, although most of the damage came from me animating. Funnily enough I was a better animator when I was 15 than I am now. Maybe it's because I had more patience then... I shall share with you some super embarrassing, horrible story telling animations I made. Complete with an opening and ending. Took me 4 months to make. (YOU MAY NOTICE I COPIED BLEACH IN THE INTRO.... I used them as reference for a couple things.) Omg I am cringing so bad, I cannot even watch it. 14/15 year old me was horrible at story telling... please don't tell Raine or Zayne about me showing how they used to be...
I am now going to try and redeem myself by showing an animation I did at the same age that I think is really good.
Since then I have just focused on bettering my characters and trying to make unique art and pray one day I can actually get better lol
Here is an improvement meme I did a few years ago:
Unfortunately I don't draw as much as I used to. I remember when drawing was all I did, now I can hardly find time to draw once a month... It's kind of depressing, but I am hoping in the future I'll have time to do just that and start improving again. When you do not constantly draw, you do not improve.
To redeem myself, here are a couple of my more recent pieces.
I love seeing everyone's progression. Reeno, damn, that animation is actually impressive, for a 14 year old. It's really long and the action scenes aren't half bad! So don't put yourself down! And Jay, holy crap, that is a lot of art. That is so awesome to see.
I won't be able to scan anything from my old sketchbooks (they're not the spiral type and I don't want to break the spines, which are already in bad shape) but I might have SOME stuff already scanned, or else I can just take some photos. Lemme go digging.
I won't be able to scan anything from my old sketchbooks (they're not the spiral type and I don't want to break the spines, which are already in bad shape) but I might have SOME stuff already scanned, or else I can just take some photos. Lemme go digging.
@FJF
dang, even tiny you was a badass! it's clear that you've always strived to push yourself and learn something new each time! (also, that clay gengar.)
looking back on old art can be super cringe, but the best art timelines are the ones with the most dramatic changes, because it shows how quickly you've grown!
@reeno
thank you for sharing too! the fact that you managed with only a computer mouse for so long is pretty incredible! tablets totally changed my life too, before that i was struggling along with the vector pens in GIMP.
dang, even tiny you was a badass! it's clear that you've always strived to push yourself and learn something new each time! (also, that clay gengar.
)looking back on old art can be super cringe, but the best art timelines are the ones with the most dramatic changes, because it shows how quickly you've grown!
@reeno
thank you for sharing too!
the fact that you managed with only a computer mouse for so long is pretty incredible! tablets totally changed my life too, before that i was struggling along with the vector pens in GIMP.
Heimdall wrote:
I love seeing everyone's progression. Reeno, damn, that animation is actually impressive, for a 14 year old. It's really long and the action scenes aren't half bad! So don't put yourself down! And Jay, holy crap, that is a lot of art. That is so awesome to see.
I won't be able to scan anything from my old sketchbooks (they're not the spiral type and I don't want to break the spines, which are already in bad shape) but I might have SOME stuff already scanned, or else I can just take some photos. Lemme go digging.
I won't be able to scan anything from my old sketchbooks (they're not the spiral type and I don't want to break the spines, which are already in bad shape) but I might have SOME stuff already scanned, or else I can just take some photos. Lemme go digging.
I dedicated my life to making that animation. I just personally can't watch it because I see what I ripped off. I like watching the animation, just hate the text
the story was so horrible haha, but thank you!
Goblin is confused.
So many ........
So many ........
When I attempted to draw as a child, I was always really unsatisfied with my art. I always suffered from that affliction all artists face where I could not draw what I imagined. So although I wanted to draw I was constantly frustrated and that resulted in very low art output and being never satisfied with the result. (I don't have any art from this time to share, because I hated my work so much, I was also quite prompt in destroying it 
)
So I got my first tablet in my 20s. Which means I got a significantly later start than most art folk. In fact, I just recently found the very first picture I drew on it.
I RPed TF2 at this time, and a good 75%+ of my art represented that.
It's only been very recently (this year) where my mindset has changed when it comes to producing art. Before I would be very critical of every single detail to the point I was producing nothing. I actually had this moment where I said to myself "lmao I don't care anymore." It certainly hasn't done much in the way of quality, but it sure has done a lot in the way of output.
)So I got my first tablet in my 20s. Which means I got a significantly later start than most art folk. In fact, I just recently found the very first picture I drew on it.
Click
I RPed TF2 at this time, and a good 75%+ of my art represented that.
Some of it wasn't too bad
A lot of it was awful
It's only been very recently (this year) where my mindset has changed when it comes to producing art. Before I would be very critical of every single detail to the point I was producing nothing. I actually had this moment where I said to myself "lmao I don't care anymore." It certainly hasn't done much in the way of quality, but it sure has done a lot in the way of output.
recent art
Claine wrote:
It's only been very recently (this year) where my mindset has changed when it comes to producing art. Before I would be very critical of every single detail to the point I was producing nothing. I actually had this moment where I said to myself "lmao I don't care anymore." It certainly hasn't done much in the way of quality, but it sure has done a lot in the way of output.
claaaaaine.
i'm delighted to hear this! hopefully you can see just how much you've progressed, the best thing you can do is keep on trying - the only way you can go is up!these stories have made me think about my own art journey, specifically in the last few years which have been quite turbulent, so i'll be updating the first post as i think of stuff.
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