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Way back in the mists of time, before The Pub, I started a thread on our former haunt entitled "Doodling D&D", in which I spent roughly 15 minutes a day (typically during my lunch break at work at the time) sketching one creature, in order, from the AD&D 2e Mostrous Manual. I got pretty far along (well into the "M"s) before circumstances in my life changed, I got a different job, and I got distracted by other things. It was always something I meant to go back and finish, but the situation in my life wasn't really condusive for the longest time, and I started devoting much of my free time to other things,.
Regardless, it remained at the back of my mind, and when I spontaneously decided to participate in Inktober 2019, I found that sketching in class at University was a fun way to spend my time and give my creative muscles some relief while math overtook the rest of my life.
So I've decided to go back and finish the Doodling D&D project, so many years later.
However, there were several issues with this. First, I don't still have all of those original pictures, not even online scans (or maybe I do somewhere, but they are so buried in my files that I cannot find them, and the previous thread on the other forum is full of dead links at this point.
Moreover, many of the doodles I did back then I really can't stand looking at them now. I have a tendency to gradually dislike every piece of art I do, with rare exceptions, and this is generally within a 48-72 hour time period. Years of distance only exacerbates the effect. Regardless of the caveat that these were done in 15 minutes or under, there is a point that all I can see, frustratingly, are the flaws. This is not a bad thing, as one of my art teachers once said "the minute you are satisfied with your own work is the minute you stop improving as an artist", advice I took to heart early on and the reason to this day I tend to look at everything I draw as simply practice for the next drawing.
But what that means is that, excepting a few older pieces from the last project I've held onto because they turned out better than expected, I've decided to restart from the beginning. That doesn't necessarily mean the new ones will be better, but they will be newer (shrug)
Anyways, without further ado, let's begin with the very first entry in the Monstrous Manual...
Aarakocra
Here is the picture from the Monstrous Manual
This is the original pencil sketch I did for the first D D&D thread...
And here's the new one...
Regardless, it remained at the back of my mind, and when I spontaneously decided to participate in Inktober 2019, I found that sketching in class at University was a fun way to spend my time and give my creative muscles some relief while math overtook the rest of my life.
So I've decided to go back and finish the Doodling D&D project, so many years later.
However, there were several issues with this. First, I don't still have all of those original pictures, not even online scans (or maybe I do somewhere, but they are so buried in my files that I cannot find them, and the previous thread on the other forum is full of dead links at this point.
Moreover, many of the doodles I did back then I really can't stand looking at them now. I have a tendency to gradually dislike every piece of art I do, with rare exceptions, and this is generally within a 48-72 hour time period. Years of distance only exacerbates the effect. Regardless of the caveat that these were done in 15 minutes or under, there is a point that all I can see, frustratingly, are the flaws. This is not a bad thing, as one of my art teachers once said "the minute you are satisfied with your own work is the minute you stop improving as an artist", advice I took to heart early on and the reason to this day I tend to look at everything I draw as simply practice for the next drawing.
But what that means is that, excepting a few older pieces from the last project I've held onto because they turned out better than expected, I've decided to restart from the beginning. That doesn't necessarily mean the new ones will be better, but they will be newer (shrug)
Anyways, without further ado, let's begin with the very first entry in the Monstrous Manual...
Aarakocra
Here is the picture from the Monstrous Manual
This is the original pencil sketch I did for the first D D&D thread...
And here's the new one...