Creative Iterations - From Photos to Drawings

So, I took this picture of an American Bald Eagle in February of 2013. It isn't the greatest picture from a pixel perfect point of view but it is a cool bird and it was fun to see it and get the shot.  I had quite a zoom on it as it was about 75 yards away and I was pleased with the pose and and composition.   I posted in on my Flickr account for all to see. (Why not right?  I can share things I like.  That's the point of this post after all)

In the Fall of 2014, I decided to make a sketch of it.  I'd been reading about how I should draw what I see and I really focused on getting the proportions and shapes right.  It was a fun exercise and I was pleased with how it turned out.  I posted it on my Instagram account for all to see. (Again..Why not?)

The reason I started drawing again is largely because I stumbled upon a challenge to do an ink drawing every day in October and post it for all to see with the hash tag #inktober .

But I was a bit afraid to the inking because I liked the sketch and I didn't want to ruin it.  I had a few other sketches that I inked and  I didn't like how they turned out after the ink.  (Ink isn't erasable) .  It took me a week and a half to work up the nerve but I finally jumped in.  

I like how it turned out and to be honest I'm pretty surprised.  I'm glad I took my time and kept working at it.  (There's a life lesson there right?)   If you look at the timeline, it took almost 2 years from photo to drawing and nearly 2 weeks for the drawing.  Obviously, I didn't work on it every day for those periods but it took that long for me to build up to it.  

I wonder how many other things in life are that?  Did something I do years ago set the stage for something I may do tomorrow?  Somehow I think so.