Old vs. new - Dryad

During last year's Inktober, I decided as a challenge to myself, to redraw some of my older art. I looked through my Deviantart gallery, and picked out a couple of pieces that could be fun to redo in some way. Mainly because my skills have developed since I last drew the particular picture in question.

First, the original one. Done in felt tip pen, and colored in Copic markers

I still like it, but it's one of those, that you feel could use some improvements, both in the case of anatomy and the background. It's a little boring with the background being all dark, and you don't get the full "Dryad" impression the way I felt I got in the beginning. (and yes I know there is bad shade in the top which doesn't help the quality either).

The Redrawn, from Inktober 2017

This one I feel is a better improvement. Looking back, there are some things that can still be improved (maybe shading in the background of some kind, more than just leaves, maybe) but other than that I'm generally pleased with it.

Coloring this time is done in a mix of watercolor and gouache, and I feel the body language speaks more than the line of dialogue in the original. We have ourselves a dryad who wants to invite you, the viewer, to join her in some way. For the leaves way of covering her, I looked up a bit of how some dryads are predicted, especially in Magic the Gathering art, where there are some very lovely examples. Ink was done with acrylic ink, which comes in several colors, so for another time, I could improve that by using a different color.