Stumbled on some old DeviantArt stuff from 2008 last night

I was cleaning out an old external drive and found a folder of digital paintings I did in high school. Back then I would just layer colors until it looked okay, no idea what I was doing. Now I actually use reference photos and build a proper sketch layer before anything else. It's wild how just taking that one extra step changed the whole look. Anyone else cringe at their old art but also kinda miss the freedom of not overthinking it?

2 comments

2 Comments

shanel137d ago

Isn't it funny how learning the rules makes you better but takes away some of the fun chaos? Kind of like how knowing how to fix stuff around the house means you never just hit it with a hammer and hope for the best anymore.

jaken237d ago

Yeah but I think you've got it backwards honestly. Hitting stuff with a hammer and hoping for the best is way more fun when you actually know what you're doing. Like when I finally learned basic plumbing I still smash things with tools, I just know which part to smash now so it actually works. The chaos isn't gone, you just get better at controlling it. That wild guesswork phase was just frustration, not fun. Once you know the rules, you can break them on purpose and get away with it. That's way more satisfying than just being confused.