With the passing of 2019 comes a new decade (and if you disagree then too bad; I'm the one deciding which arbitrary 10-year boundary is important here) and with it, I think a nice chance to look back on the time that's passed.
Because holy crap, it's really hard to fathom just how monumentally my life has changed in the last 1/3rd of it. I don't think I even started living until around 10 years ago. I wouldn't consider myself to be anything even all that closely resembling who I am now until well after 2010.
In 2008 I started going to college. In 2010, I made a pretty big decision to change majors away from engineering and really focus on art and game development. I'm still not what I would consider anything close to 'ready' for that career path, and I'm not sure I ever want to actually commit to it unless it's fully independent. I feel especially stupid looking back at where my art was back then, when I thought that that was good enough to base my life around, without making a massive commitment to improve as fast as possible. In a sense I stumbled into the right decision for the wrong reasons. Ever since I started drawing, it's brought back this creativity that's given me so much happiness and fulfillment, I wouldn't trade it for anything. My college debt might be a total 'waste' in the sense that what I learned is little more than a boost to my hobby and I'll probably never make that money back using those skills, but it gave me the confidence and drive to whole-heartedly pursue something that adds so much to my life.
So, in the spirit of degrading myself, let's see how much I've improved in 10 years. I'm going to try to pick some better art from each year
2010: https://www.deviantart.com/mman222/art/Marc-and-Paul-14... I'm cheating because this one's from the ass-end of 2009, but I wanted to pick this because it perfectly represents the problems I was coming out of at this time. If you poke through that gallery you'll find some accidentally-really-good pieces from around this time but a lot of what I was trying to do was escape from the problems/inconsistencies I was experiencing here. Really stiff poses, not a great sense of face structure, replacing anatomy with tubes, bad expressions, and ANIME. Looking back on this time period in my old gallery I can see a lot of improvement. I was rarely pumping out art on the same level all the time, but when it was good, it was blowing everything else before it out of the water. http://fav.me/d2w7w5h (I sucked at digitigrade legs but for some reason I couldn't stop)
2011: https://www.deviantart.com/mman222/art/The-OuterWorld-c... This isn't really a showcase of where my art skills were, so much as it's a showcase of how strange I was about handling a pretty big project. I recently dug back through the sprites I did for this game and there's a lot of effort poured into them. I really do like what I managed to make, even if the design feels half-baked. But really, what hits me the most is how half-baked EVERYTHING was. The story, the mechanics, planning the game's structure and pacing, how I would go about adding content, how I showed it to people... all really needed more time to flesh out. It's no wonder I hit a snag and dropped it, because I was never ready for something of this scale at all. I think it says a lot that a few character poses and gun designs were how I introduced a 'game' to watchers. Anyway, here's something better from that year. http://fav.me/d4fytkk
2012: https://www.deviantart.com/mman222/art/Amarion-Concept-... I could post the first Bit picture here, but here's a cool character design template I never used again, as well as a cute character design I never drew again until he got another unnecessary redesign. Huh. I think I would consider this a big year for character design, refocusing back on what got me started years before. And of course, this was the year that I designed the one, the only: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/8042597/ Wait, don't click that, wrong link: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/7986687/
2013: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/10649089/ This is when I really got into the swing of commissions. Poor boy's gotta eat! I spent a lot of this year trying new things, expanding horizons, pushing boundaries, and there's definitely some things that didn't stick. I think my Bit ref at this time is quite notable for being so clearly different from how I ever drew him any other time. https://www.furaffinity.net/view/10852794/
2016: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/20986977/ At this point I started going off the deep end on darker themes. Definitely more of a niche thing but the commissions were coming in and if I recall right, I really needed them! I do love those darker themes though, and I think I really stepped up my game this year. Also just wanted to note: I started the new year off right by introducing and killing a new character at the same time. https://www.furaffinity.net/view/18829477/
2017: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/24564540/ Further pushing of boundaries this year, really getting settled into more familiar territory for me. At this point forward, art slows down due to jobs and such. This was the year I got the office job I'm still working, which meant a lot less time for art but also less need to do commissions so I could focus on personal projects.
2018: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/28195545/ I think this is really the point where I tightened down the fundamentals nicely. I was able to do this one entirely on my Note 8 phone, and it's such a sleek and professional-looking result, I'm still quite proud of it now. I did some really good stuff this year. https://www.furaffinity.net/view/29215938/
2019: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/33657015/ Not a whole lot to show yet for this year, but it's been one of the busiest recently for me when it comes to art. I really refocused on character design and world-building this year, fleshing things out in preparation for a game I've had floating around for a while. It's actually an effort that began in 2018, but I ramped up significantly this year. I have a bunch of new characters behind the curtains, redesigns, updates, and tons more that I'm still figuring out how to show off. I've been less focused on finishing and polishing up this content, and I'm letting the design process take place over a longer time with more iterations. I think that's already producing amazing results, and I'm excited to get to show more eventually!
So, all in all... decade wasted. Degeneracy obtained~
Hey, I'm a bastard and missed the chance on having an almost perfect relationship because I was too busy telling the man in the mirror to kill himself, so. Degenerate is the word of 2020, it seems. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hey, I'm a bastard and missed the chance on having an almost perfect relationship because I was too
That's some amazing progress, Bit! I love that you followed what you liked both in your life (picking art over engineering) and in themes that you draw (especially starting from 2016 and onward). I can't wait to try the game you are working on, I am sure it will be amazing. Best of luck to you in the new decade, and thank you for everything! <3
That's some amazing progress, Bit! I love that you followed what you liked both in your life (pickin
