In Your Face I See Myself (20-year redraw)

[yhlee]

Title: In Your Face I See Myself
Artist: YHL (yhlee)
Rating: PG
Fandom: Legend of the Five Rings
Characters/Pairings: a Crab Clan bushi
Content Notes: For the 10-year redraw challenge: have a 20+ year redraw! :D

Spookiness, skeleton monster, implied blood. The Crab Clan are the specialists in defense against the Taint and the monsters of the Shadowlands in canon. Naturally, they also tend to go over to the Shadowlands/dark side at the drop of a hat. :D

This was originally a Hida (family) bushi, whose aesthetic are THE MUSCLES HAVE MUSCLES HAVE MUSCLES!!! although my anatomy is not good enough for that. (Canon example card art: Hida Kuon Experienced 2 by Ben Peck. In fairness, they're all descendants of gods or something, but...)

The original dates from over twenty years ago. Other than my childhood "girl cars have eyelashes and boy cars have neckties!!" drawings (in my defense, I was three? and I grew up in Texas...), it may be the oldest thing I drew that still survives...:sweatdrop:

Preview:


Redraw and original behind cut:



Quick-ish (about an hour) redraw in Procreate.

The original dates back to 2001 or 2002, when I was in grad school 20+ years ago.



Notes on the original.

- the FIRST thing I noticed now is "why is the weapon in his LEFT hand." :p I automatically drew figures facing left because I'm right-handed, a tendency I didn't learn to correct until much later.

- the base pose isn't wrong as such, but the DEAD-ON side view and not remotely dynamic pose are kind of dull and generally reveal lack of imagination, which is related to a very, VERY weak understanding of anatomy and figure. (I am not much better at them today, but maybe a little better haha.)

- borked anatomy and proportions.

- zero clue about perspective! Notably, there's weird confusion between bits that are slightly not TOTALLY side-view and bits that are trying very badly to be in perspective, e.g. the torso and the top of the dai-tsuchi.

- this is not a complicated composition, but the lack of clarity in values and contrast and all the busy weird black border stuff means that it's very difficult for the eye to find a focal point.

- my lettering is ass...that's still true. XD

- I was experimenting with Prismacolor marker on this weird translucent oil paper (?) stuff. Surprisingly, the color has not faded at all.

- this has ALWAYS been true, but trying to lean on a concept and bunches of weird border ornamentation to hide the lack of art skill. XD

In the redraw, the biggest thing I did was redo the POSE, try to fix the worst problems with the anatomy (my anatomy still has problems, but it's a start), and clarify the concept. I don't have the weird translucent paper anymore so I just went with Procreate for simplicity, and focused on trying to draw a single point of interest.


(Mods, might I have a Legend of the Five Rings fandom tag?)

Comments

[mific]

They're both interesting, and the redraw is a lot more dramatic, with great perspective and POV, and of course, more muscles! :D

[yhlee]

Thank you!

MUSCLES FOR ALL :)

[amberdreams]

I feel the early one is more illustrative and the current one more expressive, if that makes sense. I do like the soft colouring on the old version as a counterpoint to the macabre.

[yhlee]

The early one was a character portrait for a friend (not paid, just as a friend thing)! So yeah, that tracks. :) He was happy with it but God, I wish I were still in touch with him because, uh. XD

Edit: also it turned out that it's very hard to GET saturated/vibrant color on that weird translucent paper, so the soft colors were sort of an unintended although fun side-effect. The translucent paper looks extremely fake frosted stained-glass when you hold it up to a light, which is also very cool. I wish I remembered what it was called and where the heck I got it!

[amberdreams]

You can get Yupo paper that is translucent, maybe it was that, or something similar?

[yhlee]

My recollection is that it was called "vellum," which was CONFUSING for years. I don't think it's animal-based and it doesn't seem to be e.g. vellum-finish Bristol. I'll Google later and see what I turn up! I'm pretty sure it wasn't YuPo because I've used that and I would have remembered it. XD

[goss]

Oh cool! I really like the poses and expressions in the second one - the visible tension and creepy/intimidating vibe draws me right in. The figures definitely feel more fleshed (heh) out and in the moment.

Also, brings to mind the skull study you did during your drawing lessons some time ago. :)

ETA: I remember using vellum in college for drawing - a translucent paper that absorbed marker really well. :)

[yhlee]

Thank you! It was fun to revisit this.

I think that's the vellum I'm thinking of! Now to see if I can find it anywhere these days, haha. XD

[minoanmiss]

This is a gorgeous compare and contrast!

[yhlee]

Thank you!

I'm now debating a redraw on a terribad drawing my mom preserved and sent me from when I was FOUR YEARS OLD. (It's...I think...Cinderella's horse and carriage? Maybe???)

[minoanmiss]

I vvote yes. :D