July Before and After Challenge - July Before & After Art Challenge

Rachael Gray · 2026-07-30T15:56:43.750Z

I drew this skull and sakura blossoms roughly 11 years ago. I, for some reason, chose charcoal for this. Looking back at it, it wasn't the worst attempt, but I can see that the anatomy is way off, there is not enough shading, especially really deep shading, and everything feels a little flat as there is no distinction between the skull and the flowers. My re-draw was instead done with fineliners and a brush pen for the larger areas of shading, and I tried using variation in line weight and value between the skull and the flowers. I think I've come a long way, but I know I have further to go. Maybe I'll try this again in another 10 years.

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