triumph in january

When January rolled in this year, with it arrived a strange urge: to exhume those artistic skeletons from deep within my personal Google Drive --- the drawings I'd secretly (or not so secretly) loathed. Then reincarnate them... to better versions of themselves. Ahem.

First on the chopping block? This one.

I just have got to be honest: my expectations were _low. (And let’s be even more honest, this was probably the ONLY thing I was going to finish, given my current state of creative burnout. It's the kind of burnout that's been running for almost two years now. 😢)

But then... magic happened. I loved it. This version. Like, genuinely, head-over-heels loved it. I dove into the details with a newfound excitement. That ear? Oh, don't even get me started. It's a ✨masterpiece✨, if I do say so myself. And the nape? Chef's kiss doesn't even begin to cover it.

where the discontent started. (really, it's my phone's fault! not a me problem. promise.)

Not every artistic endeavor is a resounding success. Especially not for hobbyists like myself. Sure, some pieces emerge from my digital canvas just as I'd envisioned, but then there are... the others. The ones that haunt me. I swear, I randomly think about them at various times of the day and the thoughts are just drop-dead exhausting. 😩

Take, for instance, the inaugural portrait I created on my shiny new Samsung S23 Ultra (caveat: it was, in 2023). (You can read the full, slightly dramatic saga here: I bought a new phone, and here's the first drawing I did on it. But let’s be honest, who has time for that?)

Just look at it here:

I liked it. Then I didn't. Like honeymoon phase quickly faded.

... I mean, OK, it was a me problem.

I’ve always prided myself on my attention to detail, especially in my 2020 heyday. But let’s face it, three years of artistic inconsistency can turn even the most skilled hand into a digital scribbler.

resolutions?

I have long given up on making New Year's resolutions. They're fun to make, but they're doomed to fail if you're inconsistent enough. And inconsistency? That's me. Personified.

Case in point: January 1st this year. Instead of embarking on some grand, ambitious project (i.e. a new diet regimen, new-year-new-me, LET'S RESIGN FROM WORK???), I found myself attacking this very drawing with my still beautiful and handy-dandy S23 Ultra. Why? Because it had become a personal scar, a constant reminder of my artistic shortcomings. 😅

So here's a 2025 vs 2023 close-up view of the drawings.

Looking at the before and after, I definitely think there's been significant improvement.

This time, the eyes have come to have some life in it. It was just with a few adjustments, but they now have some more sharpness that's been missing before.

And the hair! I made sure to do them more justice this time. It flows more naturally this time, disheveled as it should be.

lesson learned... or maybe not. just random spikes in hyperactivity.

I wish I can tell you that this experience taught me that sometimes, the best way to move forward is to look back. No, not all the time. 😂

But there will always be a detail you won't like about a craft you worked on before, and you wouldn't know it until you look at it again with fresh eyes.

And there you have it. The random tale about second chances... in art. :) Maybe there are artworks you'd feel like giving another chance, too.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G3hjSSnLGq0