Excellent comparison - and I couldn't agree with you more
I also took a long (25 years) break from drawing, and got heavy into photography. I'm back now and have been working on my first pencil drawing in 25 years and it's a blast - and I am loving the result - can't believe that I have this ability - we may all have it.
The coolest thing is you can see different skill levels from older parts of the picture - what a difference even a few weeks can make