The 10 minute sketch that inspired a cute commission

I thought it would be interesting to show two images side by side, to illustrate the difference between a quick sketch and a commissioned drawing. In February, as part of an Instragram drawing challenge, I created a sketch (shown here on left) with the prompt 'Mardi Gras'. I wanted to add both the carnival aspect and the fact that Mardi Gras is also pancake day, so I did a quick pen drawing of an elaborately costumed lady flipping pancakes.

Not long after, I was contacted by Marie, who asked me to create something similar for her bird-mad daughter, Rose. The commissioned drawing is shown on the right.

The drawings are created on different types of paper which I think shows. The left had image is drawn on bog-standard printer paper, but the right hand one needed to be a bit more robust and long lasting, so is drawn on acid-free watercolour paper. which makes the lines appear stronger and darker.

The sketch has all the collage added in on Photoshop, for speed, whereas the commission is all original cut out paper with drawing on the top. This means that, while the sketch took 10 minutes to complete, the commissioned drawing took hours.

The final differences are obvious - I swapped the frying pan and pancake for a pretty bird, added more feathers instead of a mask, and altered the body shape so that it was a younger girl, as Rose is only 9.

I'm not sure I can pick a favourite - can you?