Hello, Hive friends and fellow artists alike! 
Back in 2019, I already gave Stella—but I prefer to call her by her nickname growing up, Atet—a digital portrait for her birthday. Fast-forward to this year, and I thought, "Why not revisit that portrait and recreate it?" It has been a while, and I thought my art skills had leveled up since then. I find it fun to see the difference and progress of my current craft from my past ones—it's pretty inspiring✨.
Throwback Digi-Portrait
First and foremost, let us all take a moment to appreciate the OG portrait I made back in 2019. Hahaha, I remember being proud of it when I finished drawing it using my good old mouse and Photoshop on our old laptop. It's a sweet, cartoonish, or anime-inspired, straightforward piece that captured Atet's essence (or so I'd like to think today, hahaha. I promise this was a lot cooler when I first made it!)
Hahaha, I was sooooo proud of it and Atet
While it had charm, I knew I could push myself further this time. Now, let us all dive right into the process without further ado.
The Recreation Process
Starting the new portrait, I wanted to try my new style of a more detailed semi-realistic painting. So naturally, I added more depth, detail, and a flair that reflects my current style. For this recreation, I switched things up and used Clip Studio Paint. My toolkit was simple yet very practical since I was exploring CSP—I only used the round mixing brush, the paint and apply brush, erasers, and the blur tool. That'sit!
I started with a rough sketch and after I cleaned it, I began by laying down the base color of the skin. Fun fact: I love working with skin tones; it's the easiest and most fun to paint. I added the shadows to build dimensions and then laid down the base color of the hair and shirt before diving into rendering. I usually "lock in" when rendering, so I blend, blur, and add more details and other stuff into the art without thinking much. I might not get to elaborate on more information step by step. Just see some of my layers in process in the pictures below.
Finally, after adding the finer details to make the piece pop, I used Canva, by the way, since I still suck at drawing backgrounds—and voila! The finished product!
The final product:
Software and Devices used:
📌Clip Studio Paint
📌XP-Pen Deco 01 Ver 02
📌Canva
Thoughts to Ponder
So there you have it, people—a little birthday gift special that doubled as a reflection on my artistic journey this past (counting numbers using my fingers, hahaha) five years. One key takeaway from this experience is that growth happens when you're not afraid to revisit where you started. Whether you're a painter, writer, or crafter, we're all artists trying to improve our talents. We must also look back and be surprised at how far we've come—something we sometimes forget as we are blinded by our present struggle (art block).
Thanks for joining me on this little throwback and art showcase! Have you ever revisited an old work or project and decided to give it a glow-up? Let me know in the comments—I'd also love to hear them!
Until next time, Hive friends! Keep discovering and creating! And oh, Happy Holidays!🎄✨