My Doodles from 2009 vs 2019

There was a hashtag going around twitter last week where people were showing a comparison between themselves of ten years ago and now. The pictures were taken from 2009 and 2019 respectively. I don’t have any pictures from when I was sixteen though, and even if I did I don’t particularly feel like sharing them. So in lieu of that, here are some drawings I made back in 2009 so you can see how much I’ve improved. Or…not improved at all.

A note, unless otherwise specified these are all drawings from the past.

ONWARD!

First up I’ve got a sketch from one of my old school sketch pads that made its way into my personal doodles at some point. We had to draw a house from a reference photo. This is what I came up with.

If memory serves this might as well have been a photocopy of what we were given. To this day I am still envious of people who can draw something that looks real from their imagination. My inability to do that is why I leaned a lot heavier into cartoons. Now let’s take a look at some toons from almost a decade ago.

Here’s a familiar face.

I…uh…couldn’t include what he was looking at because it’s a bit offensive, so just imagine whatever you’d like for where Link is looking.

I thought this guy was interesting enough so I redrew it with one of the pencils I have lying around my apartment. How do you think it compares to 2009-2010?

This next one also gave me a laugh. I imagine this is a scenario all too familiar to anyone who has played a Legend of Zelda game.

I don’t really know what this guy is, but he kind of looks like a Pokemon. Has a bit of a chameleon vibe with spikes mixed in for good measure.

This is just a frog. Not bad all things considered, though the lily pad that it’s sitting on is a wee bit off.

That same page also has this horse-cow thing. As I was going through my old sketchpad Mir burst out laughing at it and that is as good a reason as any to share something. Though its face is very penis shaped. Not sure how I feel about that.

Here’s a Hoppip. For a long time growing up I kept trying to draw Pokemon exactly the way they were presented in the official art. As I got older I decided it was more fun to mess around with the source material though. Here’s another Hoppip I quickly doodled out under the other. Not evenly remotely close to the official art, but much more fun to draw.

Here is one of a Grim Reaper looking guy. Looks like I went through a few different ideas on the page.

And then I did a new one with a few liberties taken. I wonder what past me would think of my current artistic abilities…

Here’s something from my GaiaOnline days. The Octopus fish pets they had looked like cat-octopus hybrids. I also re-drew this one, but I gave it a bit more expression.

Alright, final one. Here is a rhino looking guy. Also wanted to mess with this one a bit and redrew it.

Alright, that’s enough of me subjecting you all to older art. Even without some of the comparison shots it is still really interesting to see how much better I’ve gotten at drawing since I gave up trying to make things look correct. Leaning into long smooth lines and really hard edges helped me to develop a distinct style that I’m really pleased with.

I hope that was neat. All of these were taken from one of my high school sketchbooks. I also think they work as good proof that if you want to get better at something all you need to do is practice. No one is born with talent. My old drawings should be proof enough of that.