Progress :)

Well, both are excellent drawings - the tortoise appeals to me more (which I hope is the right answer) because a) I like tortoises - I still mourn Oswald, who succumbed to pneumonia in a soggy Summer - b) it would have been a more difficult drawing to do, even though neither would have been easy. Congratulations on your competition win and sale - I hope this will have dealt a wicked blow to your modesty, which deserved a firm biff on the snoot. Your tortoise should be on the Gallery - I doubt that I can persuade you of this, but far more people would see it there. You will note how few replies you've got to this post - viz and to wit, one: mine - whereas you would have got a dozen or so on the Gallery. Exposure is important - not the kind you can get arrested for, obviously - if you do that, on your own head be it and don't say I encouraged you; but no good can come of hiding your light under a bushel: neither Mrs RJ or I have ever hidden our lights under a bushel (there isn't a Mrs RJ, but you might get the inference, and if you don't you might think I've gone mad, and it won't matter because you'd be right either way).

I probably meant reference rather than inference there, but at least now you've got two replies! Just a pity they're both from me. Your point, which I missed - yes: it's important to keep your old work and compare your newer stuff against it - very often, you'll be encouraged by the improvement; I look at things I did a few years ago and know I could do better now. Now and then you'll also discover things and wonder how the hell you did them, too.....you can make technical progress, but you can also tighten up and become too cautious. Either way, the back catalogue is helpful.