Recreating an illustration from 2014

So I don't know if any other illustrators/artists do this, but I love looking back at my old work when I'm stuck for ideas.

I found this piece of work from early 2014, and remember thinking when I had finished it that it was the best piece of work that I had ever created.

Of course, I am now cringing at the fact that I thought this but it just goes to show how much we grow and evolve as artists/illustrators over the years. We are constantly learning and our styles never stop developing. In 2014, I was transitioning from a traditional artist using mainly gouache and colouring pencil to working entirely digitally on Photoshop. I'm pretty sure this piece of work was one of the first that I had done 100% digitally.

I thought it would be fun to recreate this tea party illustration in the way that I work now...

This version was done on Procreate using the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. As you can see my colour palette has certainly brightened up! I'm really happy with how this turned out. The characters feel a lot more expressive, something which I feel the previous one lacked.

Maybe in a few years time I could recreate this illustration again?

Which one do you prefer? The 2014 or the 2019 version?

Mermaid Palace

I recently received an iPad Pro and have been using Procreate to create my illustrations. Still a lot to learn but I am loving it so far! The fact I can work while sat on the sofa or lying in bed makes it a bonus too ;) 

Pig Pool Party

Is anyone else fed up with the cold weather and dreaming of summer? These pigs have got the right idea!

Sketchbook Sundays

Here are some doodles and drawings from my recent sketchbook. 

I tend to have a love/hate thing with sketchbooks and put way too much pressure on myself to make them look 'perfect'. But I'm learning to loosen up and I'm actually enjoying the process again!

 You can follow me on instagram (@beckydownillustration) for more insights into my sketchbook, as that's where I post more frequently!

I'm Starting School wipe clean books

Exciting news! I can finally share with you the covers of a series of books I worked on with the lovely people at Pat-a-Cake! They're activity books which are wipe clean, so you can use them again and again!

They'll be available to buy from the 6th April 2017 but you can pre-order on Amazon. 

First Writing

First Numbers

First Phonics

First Day

I had so much fun working on these illustrations. They're also some of the first to be published by Pat-a-Cake, a brand new imprint of Hachette launching in March 2017. (No pressure!)

Space Ships

These chaps are having a blast zooming around in their space ships!

Mermaids

Some mermaids that I illustrated as part of a bigger project a while back.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!