10 Years of Sunday Sketches!

Ten years ago on this day I posted the very first Sunday Sketch, titled Rem Kat suggested by Bumpersam, and I figured it was only fitting that I draw a follow up to it today.

At the time, I wasn't really sure how this daily sketch thing would go or how long I'd be able to keep it up. My plan was to keep it going for at least one year if I could manage it and go from there. Suffice it to say, it's gone on a little longer than that, and as a result it's generated some pretty crazy numbers.

As you can see, I've drawn quite a lot in the last ten years. And I find myself feeling strangely nostalgic for some of the earliest ones.

Love at First Crash suggested by Dadrobit was the first art voted for color.

It felt very experimental at the time, but even back then, the format was almost exactly the same as it is now, including picking five colors at the end of the month.

Clearly some characters ended up being bigger favorites than others, though. After 10 years, here are the most popular character tags:

No surprise for many of these. The main four are represented, but Kat manages to pull ahead of everyone! That's always been pretty consistent.

We've also had plenty of fads and trends come and go throughout the years. Some of the earliest were Pet Daughter suggested by TheGamakazi and Snow Leopard Village suggested by BluePhantom90. There was also Twokinds High suggested by Terra the Wizard!

Here are some of the most popular themes and their post counts:

Not a surprise, but a lot of these sketch trends generated characters who originated right here on Patreon! These are the most popular ones, sorted by tag count:

Chimera is the character with the most posts yet no colors. How unfortunate!

And there are many more with just slightly lower post counts, such as the Explorers, the Cheetah Girl, the Deer Girl, the Snake Girl... a lot of unnamed animal girls, actually. lol As well as those that have names but just had an all-too-brief time in the spotlight, such as Lilith or Colleen.

Some sketches I can barely remember drawing at all, but others are so clear in my memory that when I look at them, I flash back to the day I was painting it. All the streams, the holidays, the trends that waxed and waned. I've had a great time. And I hope you all have had a great time too, regardless of when you joined!

I will leave off this post with a few of my favorite old pieces, the ones I enjoyed making the most out of all of them:

https://www.patreon.com/twokinds/posts/autumn-morning-14382769

This is my overall favorite. I couldn't tell you why, I just loved the atmosphere and I was in such a flow state while painting it. Everything just came together. I don't think I could do a better job even now. It was suggested by amenon and sponsored by Alex Carpenter.

https://www.patreon.com/twokinds/posts/umbrella-for-two-20545463

Another Natani and Keith! Coincidence? Maybe. This art, suggested by Sunstab and sponsored by SiliconCarbide, was one of my earliest modern setting paintings. I have such a distinct memory of when I was painting the background for this piece.

https://www.patreon.com/twokinds/posts/rainforest-13502722

What can I say? I like Flora, I admit it! And I like atmospheric pieces such as this. I have an odd nostalgia for this art and its follow-up, Rainforest Flora, suggested by Azuma.

https://www.patreon.com/twokinds/posts/lo-fi-hip-hop-37762036

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't include this one of Lo-Fi Kat suggested by unsteddyphoenix, of course! I had such a great time with this one, painting in all the Easter eggs and sharing them on the stream. It was one of my favorite stream experiences.

I could keep going, but this post is starting to get ridiculously long as it is, so I suppose it's time for me to wrap it up. Thank you all for being here with me and suggesting all these ideas for me to draw. None of this art would exist were it not for your suggestions. Nor would any of the experiences I had making them. So thank you.

If there's an old sketch from the last ten years that stands out in your mind, please feel free to post it in the comments. I'd be very interested to see which sketches you guys liked (or disliked!) Or if any particular ones hold a special place in your memory. Let me know!

And now, with all that said and done, I am going to take a nap. And then draw comics.