I saw a 10-Year challenge going around the crazy Interwebs which asked you to post photos of yourself 10 years apart. I really haven’t changed that much in 10 years, so I thought I’d share how I updated the “Pirates” drawing of the 1977 gang. First up, is a comparison of the original from 2011 and the updated version of 2021.
In some ways, not much changed, and that was by design. I essentially pulled a George Lucas here and took the original and made it “better” by the sheer fact that I know how to do coloring and shading better in 2021. I made sure everyone’s shadows came from the same “light source” this time as I had a habit of not being consistent in my older drawings. Then I did a significant change to the background adding in ropes plus a whole ocean and sky behind the gang. I also framed Lorraine, Robyn, and Bud better by enlarging the overall canvas size so I could make them larger in comparison to Lorraine. Jeff just did not change that much as he was pretty cool as he was.
Let’s take a look at each individual’s changes now.
Bud changed the most as I was never happy with his original pose and expression. The most significant change was his torso which was nearly a full-head size too short in the original. His “Mr. Happy” was up where his navel should have been. Bud was essentially missing his hips. So, he now has hips and his junk is down where it belongs. I did a major overhaul of his eyes, nose, and mouth because the original was so off. I then drew his right hand in a better position instead of having it simply go off screen. Overall, I have no idea where I got the original flesh tone from, but it was really off and that was corrected for everyone obviously.
Lorraine’s eyes originally were really off so I resized them and positioned them properly in the 2021 version. I changed her nose too, but decided to leave her lips alone. I fixed some lines on her extended arm giving it a proper foreshortening effect. I then expanded her waistline as well as I had a bad habit of making everyone’s waist way too small back then. The biggest change came in coloring and shading her hair. I used a simple technique and it makes a big difference in her looks.
Robyn’s facial features were off as well. As with Lorraine, I redrew her eyes and nose plus I corrected her chin line ever so slightly, and then added in her glasses. The biggest change came by my actually adding in the sword she was supposed to be holding. I either got tired and/or lazy in 2011 and just said “F**k it, it’s good enough,” and left the sword out of the drawing. It has bugged me for a decade her hand was empty. That’s fixed along with a proper belt to hold the sword. Also, you will note in the lower right hand corner, that Lorraine actually has four fingers now. I simply missed I only drew in three in 2011.
Good ol’ Jeff was simply too cool for any major changes. I changed his nose, tweaked his smile and that was it besides making sure his shadows were consistent with the light source of the other three. When you get it right, leave it alone. George Lucas needs to take note of this fact.
Discussion ¬