Looking at Old Artwork

[ToxicRamen]

I've just recently gone through various old art that I had while looking for old gift art that I've received years ago. I couldn't believe how many characters & ideas I've created over the years and I'm surprised that I was more productive in drawing comics when I was in school than I am right now. Just looking at my old art made me feel:

Happy - I was able to find old comics I made that I thought I threw away (Because my mom didn't like seeing all of that "junk" in my room and watned me to get rid of it)
Shocked - I couldn't believe that I had so many characters & ideas I've made over the years;
Sad - Because after all this time, I still don't have a job in animation and/or comic books;
Proud - It shows that I'm still productive at drawing over so many years;
and Cringey - I drew a lot of anime "weebo" junk in middle/high school.

Does anyone feel that way while looking at your old artwork or do you have different feelings after looking at your old art?

[unknown_user]

I have not save much of my old art, but if I find such a drawings somehow, I feel...
...shy.

They are so clumsy, but it the same time they represent some part of younger myself.
It's somehow embarrassing in a weird way.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I often look back on old art work for reference or inspiration. I never really cringed at the content but more at the quality. Growing up, I was the class art kid, so looking back at my skills makes me wonder why anyone thought I could draw. All of it just reminds me that my skills can only get better from here.

[MichaelFIGComix]

Before I started going digital. I would draw on paper every single day. Around when I was 5 and up. It's 2019 & I just turned 22 May 17th! I happen to look in my closet where I have a huge tub full of my old drawings! I started to laugh at myself, looking back when I thought I was a professional artist at like "2 years old" I didn't really feel bad per say. I just didn't care for those. So I through away most of them and kept the ones that meant the most to me. I've been drawing for almost 16 years now and my Art style still needs some work! But I'm all about improving! I'll draw till I bit the dust!

[Freemints30]

I feel you about the parents throwing away stuff due to seeing it as junk. I'm still attached to those old drawings and ideas even after all this time. Really I tend to have old ideas on a back burner and would some times tweak old unused characters when possible for future stuff.
I just sometimes go through old art juts to give myself confidence in my current skill as well look back on some styles I abandoned for what ever reason.

[Moshimitsu]

Well, I'm mostly sad, because 80-90% of my work since 2008 doesn't belong to me now (I gave lots of sketches to my friends, my older skechbooks got lost when I had to move out from father's house and he hasn't given them back yet) so I cannot even look at it now ;(

But some of older drawings make me proud with every tiny bit of progress. I also remember school comedy comic my friend and I created that I adore even now. Since I was better at drawing back then, we both used to create story and bunch of idiotic characters, and I was it in notebook with no proper sketch during breaks and boring lessons. This is one of my happiest memory of entire life up till now.

The other comic project from 2013-2015 is my source of motivation and some kind of declaration that I will never ever give up on drawing. Back then I drew more than 450 pages and those are one of few drawings that I currently have.

So - in short - I have positive feelings with my old art... But I have to admit, that it may be terrible and cringe at times ^^

[charliesackett]

I have a big plastic bin in my closet that contains pretty much every sketchbook I've had and filled since I was 11. They feel kind of like old diaries more than anything. I used to carry one everywhere I went, so they all have homework and stuff shoved in them and notes all over.

The weirdest part about going through them is seeing what hasn't changed. I keep thinking I'm growing and expanding and getting better and more mature, but then I'll find echoes of current stuff throughout decade old sketches and I'm like oh, I've always been like this.

[storytimebiondi]

When I was in Elementary school I had a whole series of strip comics I created called Slimy the Snake. I drew several books worth of adventures and when I got older I stored them in a box in my bedroom closet. I'd revisit them from time to time for nostalgia.
About 10 years ago now, I moved out of my dad's place and forgot to take the box with me. My dad threw it away when he cleaned out my room.
I have other drawings I've done over the years. But I still regret not taking that box of comics with me.

[LilySmash]

Wow, it's nice to see a lot of you on here have been drawing so frequently since elementary days! That's amazing! Personally, I recently made up my mind that I want to be a comic artist sooooo, I got some ways to go before I reach a certain threshold of awesomeness. But, I got a half inch pink binder with some of my anime sketches...>_>
If I were to look at my sketches within the last year - when I was more certain to go the comic route - I'd say I definitely improved, but at the same time disappointed because sometimes my art would still look like that xD.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I was just looking through some old stuff the other day, and I definitely felt all of that: the happy, the shocked, the proud, the almighty CRINGE...

I'm not really sad that I'm not in the art industry (I really haven't yet had time to devote much of my life to the endeavor). I'm not even sad that I still haven't finished a single major project. I expect that of myself at this point. ^^; Just gotta keep on trying (although, I am THREE chapters away from finishing my Webtoon; I am so close....if I die before it's done, somebody hack my Google Drive and release the script)

[LT1986]

I feel good when I look at my old art work. It shows how long I've been able to display perseverance, improvement, and hard work without people supporting my art work.

I do look at some of my old drawings sometimes to remember certain parts of my story and sometimes the old drawings give me new ideas.

The old drawings can be used for things today like a video montage or a way to study what still needs to be improved when it pertains to the art skills.

The old drawings can also motivate others by showing them that if their skills are at the level of the old pictures, they have a chance of improving, too. Who knows, you just might motivate the next Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Akira Toriyama, etc., and find out through an interview one day that you motivated them.

[Insanebaker92]

I was embarrassed and disgusted at first, but at the same time I was very happy and proud at myself. It gives me the thought that I can do better than this drawing and it gives me the inspiration of how far I’ve gone in improving. Looking back at my drawing improves from one page to another brings encouragement saying that with me investing most of my time to draw, my skills had gotten better.

I always want to be a pro in drawing like others and I want all my drawings to be “flawless”. Someone wrote in the website ( can’t remember the name) saying that “everyone have to start somewhere” and I agree on that.

[ajcrwl]

ooh, i made an episode about this once

Habits :: drawing habits 30 | Tapas

[Sandra]

Looking at my old stuff is like looking at a slightly challenged version of my current self who has sustained multiple small wrist injuries and thus cannot make accurate lines even if you gave them 50 bucks and a stabilizer; slightly sad and very entertaining.

I have a bad habit of going into very old notebooks and drawing right next to years-old 'art'. When I go back to flip through them, I'll laugh at one and then realise I drew it last Saturday.

Some of them I actually still feel pretty proud of even now, guess I'm joining the would-reuse-old-anime-ocs club. Yeehaw!

[Kelheor]

I basically have a period of art I love and period of the art I hate. The first one was anime style up until 2008, sometimes the art is really pretty nice and I love the look, and they have my passion and soul in them!

The second was until 2013, when I was drawing very little and tried to draw people more realistically, starting from scratch - these really make me cringe

I am really happy to look at the old art and watch how I started to draw my characters, it's funny how I only managed to finally draw them right after 15 years
And it's do great to see how they were evolving all this time, their faces, the colours, details, how their hair changed and all of that! Going from shy "you can see I only watch anime" to cringey "wtf am I even drawing" to the proud "okay I am kinda nailing it".