I enjoy looking at an artist's progress as much as seeing the finished product. I'm always fascinated by the directions they take with their pieces, whether they be improvements on problem areas, or a complete switch of style.
Thanks for sharing this with everyone, it's fun to see where you were then and where you're at now :>

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Dream Journal:
[link]
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"Earth did not...become perfect for life: life became perfect for Earth" -- `technographer (and others).

It must be a begining to get further....
Good work... Good luck!
I'm waiting to see your future pictures and observe your progress.

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S.m.

I love it when awesome artists do this sort of thing...gives me a ton of hope! I love your work and seeing your improvement over the last decade is very inspiring.

I love the expressions in all of their faces. Very awesome, you're really good at conveying emotion in your work.

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"Its a silly time to learn to swim when you start to drown"
-My number by Tegan and Sarah

{I need more indie loving friends!}

It is quite interesting to compare older and newer works, specially if they are the same.You've evolved a lot since 99.

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Is constantly behind on commenting, sorry!

-:Mesai:-
The Mouse of North. Mus. Nezumi. Souris. Maus. Muis. Hiiri. Ratón. Topolino.
-:A Mouse With Rabies Is More Lethal Then A Monkey With A Banana:-

I swear these are one of the most amazing things an artist can do. xDD Especially cool when it's an artist you've been tracking for some time. :d Anyhow, I find your progress really interesting, Your 1999 style is similar to the early styles of a few other artists' early styles in their own improvement series process sort of things. :00 I just find it fascinating how, for example, two people who began with similar styles can end up with totally different styles in like a few years. o.o I realized that there's 5 years between 2004 and 1999 so I'm quite curious as to what your art was like in this time span...

Heh, I also wanted to point out how many of us seem to achieve amazing feats of traditional work in those 'early years' and then go into digital, where, although the digital image is tons better, it may seem less impressive because it seems easier to achieve then the traditional equivalent. =3= It's really the same thing for me, except my early traditional works are crap compared to what you have there. xDD I mean, GOD, CUT AND PASTE!? Talk about hands-on approach! D888>

Alright, I think this is going to turn into a weird double comment on this, the process and then on the actual "EAR CANDY +SOUND+" piece, so I apologize for any confusion because I’ll be jumping around:

I keep all my old old works_{chicken scratch} in a folder/Box, and every once in a while (usually when I 'improve' ) I'll take everything out and redraw the first image, so in this sense, the 2009 version here is more like redrawing the idea instead of the image. But that's not really a bad thing either, maybe that's what you meant to do, or so it would seem from your description on the actual piece. Sounds --> Cells --> to Iodine dye, I think that actually make a lot of sense, and so the indigo blue there, but to be honest(frank) I found myself liking the 2004 version better for it's composition and color.

Ok, let's talk composition first, as much as I like 2009, 2004 looks like it's got more movement and that's not because of the white circle/sound wave things,_{although it does help. =3=} I'm mainly talking about the guy's pose, he looks like he's sidestepping or something as opposed to 2009 where he's kinda standing there. Although I think the main reason is because he's off center in 2004, whereas, in 2009 he's right in center (even if the balance there is beautiful). Which leads me into another subject/idea, (ohgod, this comment is getting so long 8D; ) The background in 2009 seems more like 'wallpaper' then it does in 2004, but I think there are many ways to go about changing this, for one thing, you can the color reflect on him like it did in 2004. I think what that does it that it establishes a visible link between subject/BG. Ok, now, despite what I said about 2009 vs 2004 there's something in both these pieces that I think can be changed, and that's the upper right corner, yeah ok, it's not like it's an empty space, but it is the free-est out of all the corners, I just think that both would look a tad more balanced’ or ‘full’ if you moved all the text to that corner. *shrugs*

OK, THAT WAS LONG, NOW ONTO COLOR, I’ll try to make this shorter…try to, again, the 2004 vs. 2009 thing, this might just be me being biased after seeing the previous versions because the background there is more purple, or should I say, more ‘colorful’ then the indigo in 2009? I just think that the 2009 BG would look better if there was a purple splash here and there, but nothing too much, because you do have that central idea about the cells and the indigo dye there. HOWEVER, this does bring up the subject of ‘content’ since the big idea is all about music right? So in that sense, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to add more color because music is diverse like that? *shrugs again* SSSIIiinnnince we’re on the topic of content, I find his expression in 2009 slightly odd, it works if I think he’s in a trance because of the music, but from your description I got the impression that music is a magical, enjoyable thing, so what if he was smiling a little? Or had his eyes closed instead of opened? Alright, back to color (Yeeahhh, I still have stuff to say about this one. 888D;;; )

There’s something I’ve noticed about your color choices in general, gonna pick on the skin colors because it’s easier, but the different shades there look like lighter/darker versions of the midtone, so instead of using a darker shade to shade, why not use an analogous color to shade instead? Ack, actually, I’m looking through your image folder saved to my hard drive and I’m seeing this in some other pieces, BUT then there are also a lot of pieces where you don’t do that, in those I can see you shading the skin with a different color as well as using more contrast, like in [link] . Anyhow, just pointing this one out, really up to you to decide if you’re going to do something or not. xD;; Alright, last two points (yes, I have more. = w = ;; ), CONTRAST, I’m going to point this one out real quick on in the 2009 piece, and that’s right below his jaw line, around the back of his neck where his hair and the earphones are coming in/stopping at, I just think that should be a lot darker then the rest of the skin. Okthat’salloncontrast, LAST OF ALL, I can’t help but feel that you should change the solid black in the hoodie, Hahaha, at this point I just think I’m biased, I do like what you did with his clothes in the 2004 piece. XD;;;

OKOK I’M DONE, BUT ALLOW ME TO NERD OVER HOW YOU DREW THE EARPHONES * v * I-It just looks so professional! And amazing and like a REAL PRODUCT, seriously, I can see that as an illustration on an earphone box for the product itself~ 8D Ohgod that was perhaps the longest critique I’ve written ever, I hope it was uh…not exhausting/hard to read, sorry for a lot of the meaningless rambles, or roundabout way to say something andand uh, haveagoodday. 8D;;;

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Wow! Your progress is amazing! XD Job well done on the journey and looking forward to seeing more.

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Is life like a photograph? People smile just because you're told to?