Karthikeya vs Tarakasura

After a series of drawings of Karthikeya, I decided to go back and revise one of my earliest drawings of him based on my updated design and see if I could improve on anything. I changed his pose to one of a javelin thrower (after all, I had revised his armor based on one) and added more detail to the circlet adorning his forehead (inspired by Lord Elrond from the Lord of the Rings perhaps). 

Perhaps the greatest change I’ve seen in myself is that I’m no longer in a hurry to finish a piece. Instead, I see myself taking time to tinker around with details until I’m really satisfied. 

One thing my wife did point out was that she still liked the original version for its simplicity and clear focus. As the revised version became bigger with more detail, it had started to lose focus and I had to figure out how to bring it back.

Originally, I placed the focus in the form of a halo around Karthikeya’s head, but quickly realized that there was no use of placing a focus there because it was a small area when compared to the rest of the image and nothing was really happening there. Quite possibly by chance, I had placed the focus on the point of attach in the original piece and realized that this was where the focus always belonged. 

And so, I learned a valuable lesson with this. Sometimes, more detail does not always imply a better design. It’s about how effectively you tell a story with whatever you have, with every stroke or color chosen with some meaning and purpose. 

So what do you think? Do you like the old version or the new?