10 Years of Drawing Project | 2011-2020 drawings compilation

I always envy those Youtubers who would put up videos of their 10-year-selfie-everyday pictures. Or time capsules in the form of Youtube videos. I envy them because why wasn't I able to do something like that? Think of somethingt like that?

And then... today happened.

My unintentional 10-year project

I have never been happier about the Internet until today, when I was cleaning up my Facebook profile and subsequently came across my old drawings. It appears that I began sharing my drawings online in 2011, the time when I first started exploring digital arts.

I was 15 then. I was clueless on how digital processes go, and only used my PC's mouse and Adobe Photoshop's pen tool. I remember practicing on my classmate's selfies, and I would vectorize them.

Then my big sister, @arrliinn, sent me a Genius MousePen i608X tablet as a belated Christmas gift.

2011 - The year I started to draw digitally

The first time I drew digitally, I was really into fan arts. The first drawing I did using the tablet my sister gave me was of Naruto's Team 7. I had zero knowledge -- I didn't know about layers, or even understood clipping.

A few months into using the tablet, I wasn't still used to it. I remember reading tutorials in deviantART -- I was really interested in anime-style drawing. At some point, I accidentally broke the tablet's stylus.

And yes, it happened before I could even successfully master -- let alone learn -- digital painting.

So I settled with using pen tool and my good old mouse.

2012

This was a crucial year to me. I was a freshman in college, taking up a BS in Applied Physics program. It was stressful -- I was away from home and was surrounded by a bunch of complete strangers. More than learning more about digital arts, I only happened to use this as some form to de-stress.

That year, I would draw a lot of fan arts -- from different anime -- but they were mostly doodles on my notebooks.

2013

I met a lot of good friends who shared the same interests as myself. I met friends who liked alt-rock bands like Fall Out Boy and All Time Low, so I drew them. I also met friends who enjoyed anime and manga, and I would gift them with fan arts (they would cover anime OST of my choice in exchange).

I drew a lot of fan arts that year, but more than anything, I also tried my hands on traditional drawing. My favorite subject was my nephew, Roulan @divinekids, who left the Philippines back then for the UAE.

2014 - The year I truly enjoyed digital drawing

At this point, I felt like I was finding my own style. I drew quite a lot that year, and mostly enjoyed doing Naruto fan arts. I was a big fan of the anime and manga.

The really well-known manga by Masashi Kishimoto ended November of that year. Suddenly, I felt like that would also be the last time I would draw fan arts. I remember drawing a whole Team Kakashi art work in tribute to the completion of the manga, and I literally, literally cried.

2015 and 2016 - School took priority

2015 and 2016 were seriously crucial years in my academic life. Back then, while I truly enjoyed drawing, it has to take a backseat as I prioritized my studies.

There was a time when I really wanted to draw, but my anxiety was so bad in those years. I failed a very important computer science course and a much more important (and foundational) physics course. It was horrible -- I couldn't even pick up a pencil to doodle. The only times I did were when things were finally settling back into place.

Come to think of it, I actually wrote an illustrated story about how I survived 5 years of physics. You might want to check that out haha.

2017 - I explored traditional art

By this point, my laptop was getting really old and would always die on me. Drawing digitally was a challenge, so I got back to how it was 2010 and back.

I only had the time to draw after I graduated college, though, and a few months before I got to work. That was also the time my sister introduced me to the Blockchain-that-must-not-be-named, where I met a lot of really good people.

The most unforgettable person to me in 2017 was @tonyr. He hosted this really fun weekly learn to draw with friends contest. He was also really supportive, along with the other friends I made during that period, as I ventured into colored pencil drawings.

That year, I super enjoyed making illustrated stories, too.

My In My Life illustrated stories:

_{(some of the images were broken, so you might have to check them out in the old blockchain.)}

2018 and 2019 - Drawing has to take the backseat. Again.

I can only remember a handful of time that I ever drew during this time. The most unforgettable was when I decided I wanted to draw everyday for 30 days different anime characters. But work was hectic -- I had research I needed to undertake and tasks that I had to overtake because some of my colleagues from work were leaving... my immediate supervisor included.

The year 2019 was also ridiculously difficult. We just encountered a lot of personal and filial responsibilities that it was taking a lot of my time.

While going through my old files, I realized that I only ever drew once during the past year. Once. Forgoing my favorite hobby during this period paid of, though, as I got to publish two research works in local and international conference proceedings (yay!).

2020 - The global pandemic brought the passion back

Ironic, right? This year stole a lot of moments, opportunities, and many other important matters. But it also brought a lot of things back, at least to me.

I was so sure I would never take drawing seriously again. I'm an adult now, and I have a career in science and technology. My experiments and research works over the cloud take precedence over everything else. And then, lockdown after lockdown happened, and I find myself needing some constant to keep myself grounded.

Imagine this -- I managed to draw so much more than I did the past three years combined. Three years. For some reason, I was able to explore things I never did before. Do paintings like I wanted 10 years back.

This sounds cheesy, but I felt what I felt when I was 15 years old, when I held my old drawing tablet's stylus pen for the very first time. It's difficult to craft into words how the exact feelings went because it's simply indescribable, but if I would try... I would say it's heavy.

Like it's making itself known.

I keep saying I want to improve my drawing, but deep inside I also know that something will always come up and take precedence. But maybe opportunities like this will come again, and like full circle, I'll try again.

The unintentional project

So this is my 10-year-drawing-history project. Albeit it was unintentional, it really made me happy to see how I did in the past 10 years. Actually, it's really amazing how I can still connect stories and experiences to each drawing, as if I'm back to the time I was creating them.

You can watch all my compiled drawings in the following video. Enjoy! (AND PLEASE DON'T CRITICIZE MY OLD DRAWINGS I KNOW THEY'RE REALLY BAD HAHAHA)

The drawings are in order of when they are actually drawn. Most of the old ones are in my Facebook, while the newer ones were in my Instagram and deviantART accounts. :)

_{▶️ Watch on 3Speak}

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_{ko-fi | deviantart | twitter | instagram}