Five-year progress

I'm working in this big sketchbook I started 5 years ago. I tend to jump from sketchbook to sketchbook and I have several unfinished ones. This one is big and therefore perfect as a studio sketchbook.

As I looked at the first few pages, I thought I could see a distinct improvement over the past five years. So I decided to redo one of the drawings, a Jan Steen Study, drawing it as I would now, to compare it with what I did back then.

I've been trying to kind of "design" the outline so that it is extra thick, adding black that gives punch to the image, so I don't have to use blacks inside the shapes to suggest shade. The goal being trying to make it easier on the eye. In the 2012 image, you can see I was trying to smooth the outside of the outlines. I now think that was a mistake. The lines are thick and bold, but they have a relation to the inside of the outlines. I wonder how far I could go with making these outlines thicker.

I thought I'd post this, more as a note to self. It is encouraging to see progress in one's art.