Bound Fates - The Throne (Redraw)

Now, this painting is very important to me. I did a similar one in 2019 (shown above in the second image), which back then I considered among my best works yet, and yet nowadays when looking back at it I felt unsatisfied, like something about it was wrong. So I decided to repaint it entirely. Same concept, same characters, yet different everything. And now I'm much happier with it; the eyes focus less on the details on the throne and more on the main character, Artur, Mask blends better in the background as he should, the palette is warmer, my characters have since had a major redesign- I could go on, but it captures what it was I wanted to capture back in 2019, and that's what makes me happy that I took the time to redraw this. My aim in my artstyle has since vastly shifted from what I was going for back then, to something I'm much more comfortable and happy doing, and I could not be more satisfied that I took this direction.

I know I haven't really been actively working on Bound Fates as of late (I'm more concerned with BoHS and my other series I'm working on, so all things in due time!) but it is always living in my head and I'm always ready to draw these characters. This redraw I like to view as the perfect kind of indicator of where I've been getting better as an artist in recent years, I've felt an understanding of my craft recently that I've been waiting for that's allowed me to go further than where I was, and where I thought I would stay. So when you think you've reached a height, don't delude yourself into thinking that that's it, you're done; there's still and always will be plenty more to go - you just have to keep working at it.

And that's what I'll do! Maybe I'll repaint this again in a few years, and I'll keep seeing improvement in small ways. Who knows? We won't know until we get there!

Recently I did a small list of creative resolutions/plans for 2023; I won't dive too much into that here, but I'm aiming to make this coming year another one of improvements and constant progress in my own understanding of what I'm making. Thank you for sticking around while I do that!

Here's to a fantastic new year!