I was doing art well before 2009, but I really didn't have any pieces scanned/photographed and I didn't know exactly where to look to find them as most of that art has been lost to time. QQ

So instead, please enjoy the last decade of art that the internet has been capable of seeing by yours truly.

I got the idea to use the Art Improvement Meme as a Timeline for the last decade or so from :devmprincekane: who posted their own timeline (going WAY further back than mine) on their Facebook page.

In case it's hard to read, I provided translations of the text below as well as small information about the piece chosen, and why. Enjoy!!

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Template: HERE
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For any that are difficult to read / if deviantART consumes the quality of the piece AS USUAL:

2009-10 (Age 16-17): At this time I did art for myself, all of my characters. Mid-2010 I started doing digital art for the first time. Usually just flat colors with the occasional overlay effect. I had little concept of the usefulness (typo on the image) of "layers"

The first two images here were some of my bery first uploads to deviantART, and all traditional. The second two images were from 2010 and I picked one traditional and one digital piece to show the transition.

2011 (18): I got more into doing digital art. I would experiment with colors, line width and shapred brushes. Backgrounds were almost exclusively monochromatic with random effects and brushes.

These pieces were generally just scanned, colored and uploaded with very little editing and rarely did I "fix" anything like deleting overlapping lines or re-drawing a line that I messed up inking.

2012 (19): I learned to make use of layers, and used them for new effects, working with makeup and adding new details like tattoos and fisnet. I began drawing more than just my own characters a lot more regularly and began to rework characters and their designs.

The first picture is a concept of both the ideas such as drawing characters that were not mine + changing a character's design. I had removed the blood eyes and shortened Illuma (red head)'s hair. Where the dark skinned man, Nukpana, belonged to a friend. The second image shows the use of layers for fishnet, makeup and tattoos.

2013 (20): The year I learned to shade! I started shading pieces back in 2011, but didn't really use it in most of the pieces I made until the end of 2012, and almost exclusively in 2013. I even started using tutorials to learn how to do things, like texturing hair.

The pieces here are from random times in 2013, any that caught my eye and made me go "ah yes, good example of hair texturing and/or shading technique".

2014 (21): My art went from taking less than an hour, to taking several hours. My anatomy got better, my shading improved, and composition became even more important to me. I also started learning how to use reflected light effectively.

2015 (22): New characters, redesigns abound, and giving digital life to all the characters who never had it before. Plus lots of drawing other people's characters more than ever before.

First picture show's a friend's character, second picture is a newer character, third was to show a character never given digital life and got a complete redesign to boot! And then Seshi Claus because Seshi Claus. (And it also shows off Seshiro's redesign .. or rather 'updated design' since it has more reason than 'I wanted to change his appearance' but ... meh!).

2016 (23): More redesigns, more OCs, More non-"human" art. Better lighting, new techniques. And I started to move away from black line art.

So the first picture shows off using lighting techniques for the first time, the second picture is to show another new OC, and then the third was to show off character redesigns (Illuma once again) And shows the lack of black only line art. The final was to demonstrate something that was stand alone (well okay there was two) drawing of a non-person.

2017 (24): What is Black Lineart? Better shading, more backgrounds, longer turn around time. Re-designs, images that tell stories. More digital touch ups.

So the first image is somewhere between showing off better shading, better backgrounds, redesign, story telling images AND the lack of black line art. (Jack's just that special). The redesign for Jack isn't drastic, but he got a new outfit, more controlled hair, and a more defined body type and appearance. The rest of the images are good examples of one or more of these changes but Jack's picture is basically all of them.

2018 (25): More reflected light practice, more new characters. More stories, more actual backgrounds. Better shading, better anatomy. More layer work. And more reviving old ideas and images into something new.

Oh boy ... well the first picture is a revival + light practice and backgrounds with some good shading and anatomy thrown in. The third image is also light, background and anatomy improvement + a new character. Last image is a new character as well. These pieces are also to show off my favorites from 2018 in not only character design but overall piece. This is the year where my artwork went from <i>maybe</i> 20-30 layers per piece to easily a MINIMUM of 30 layers per piece and usually using over 60 layers unless the character was stand alone on a super simple background.

2019 (26): Got better at digital touch-ups. Put more effort into designing each piece. Got better at shading, pickier with colors and backgrounds. Put more effort into each piece and turned out less pieces this year. In fact, 2019 has only a total of about 12 total pieces (13 since I finished one after this meme was made) and currently has 9 (8 now) WIPs waiting for me to work on them.

The pieces I picked here were my favorites. The first image being the official first piece of 2019 (since I finished it in January), the second was a commission piece I was super proud of. The third, the picture of Ebony, has some of the best shading work I've ever done and just looks fantastic. I ended up actually removing the original background (though never updated the online pieces) and the "Screen shot" border because I didn't like them after some time. And the last picture ... which it's not .. .err ... the best, I was SO DAMN PROUD of that shading on Proton's little green body. It's ... almost perfect! The reflected light, the highlighting from the lights all around, the depth ... everything turned out so damn good and I've never been more proud.


The pieces shown were the best of the best of 2019, which ... is actually 1/3rd of all the art I did. I was a little disingenuous, however, as most of the lack of artwork had nothing to do with the process or creation of the art but rather a lack of motivation or caring. I spent more time making better pieces and got less attention/feedback on pieces than ever before, which was a massive blow to my self-esteem in an already trying year.
Sadly, even my best of friends gave me a "Cool" response and I pretty much just quit doing anything beyond doodles after that. I know that it's not easy to comment on other people's artwork, and I personally am not fishing for compliments, but sometimes when you're like "I cannot WAIT to show someone this piece, it's SO GOOD!" and their response is basically "meh" - it can make you feel kind of shitty, especially if they're usually just as excited as you are. Or my other favorite is "I like it." And them not being able to say anything beyond that. Again, I know, 100% that it's not on them, but between that and other actual failures in my life, I ended up just kind of not feeling like the effort to make art was worth it if all my pride in my work could be so easily crushed. Hopefully, 2020 and beyond will see a more confident me!