I was looking through some of my old archives, and the thought occured to me after looking over them: When did I improve? What point did I stop using dodge/burn for everything? Start using more dynamic poses/angles? Etcetera, etcetera...

Then I thought it would be interesting to see what people thought of their own archive pages on this very same topic. (Or I just like seeing other people's art evolve!)

I invite you to post a few of your pages, those where you feel you made signifigant improvements, or your best page/s from your archives. This means old and embarrassing art of course, but where you can see the visible changes that you kept later on.
For example, a page where you drew the eyes different and decided to keep it.
Sort of in the same vein as the old "character evolution" thread (that one disappeared didn't it? Couldn't find it in the archives, I'd love to see that sort of topic up again!)

Anything you may consider a milestone:
Pages that stood the test of time, where your art improved, your favorite page of all time, best use of colors/inks, I would very much like to see what you have to show ^_^
(I hope this is a fun topic!)

Lol! omg this feels awkward...I think that was the first time I even discovered anime/manga, I was randomly surfing the net and I ran into, MEGATOKYO :p (notice the spikey hair, I dig the spikes XD) anyways, I didn't know crap. I didn't know how to draw hands or anything, (still don't draw em much but I can if need be)

My second comic. I actully like the thick lines but then again everyone kinda does this so I was like fsk it. tried really hard to go emo, then I was like fsk it, but I like the hair over eyes thing so I kept that... and the non eye sun glare thing, I ditched that.

This was sorta a turning point in my eyes, I kinda saw where I wanted my style to go> Decided plain character but detailed object was better and easier on the eyes

now days when I try to do stuff I concentrate on the scene alot again, hair in the eyes, plain design, easy on the eyes. I'm still figuring out how to do action scenes, shading, ect. But I'll figure it out :P

wow, this is a cool concept for a thread...



This page came out especially well, and I thought I was badass for having the hand hanging out of the frame. Also, rather than relying on static facial closeups like I usually did (still do... I try not to though T_T!!) I incorporated movement and background.



I was kind of disillusioned with my drawings, because I felt like I was rushing them, and sacrificing the quality so that I could quickly propel the plot forward, so I did a few pages of just color drawings, using references (except for one of them, I couldn't find any good ref's...). Mostly the utilization of a reference image helped make this picture look nice, but also I tried really hard and focused on minute details, shadows, wrinkles in cloth and lightplay. Also I used a pretty photo as a background. This is probably my favorite anime picture I've done!


this page showcases my revelation of, "OMG I can have more than 3 panels a page?! neato!" So yeah I crammed more frames onto this page, which really sped up my comic!! (and look, Pikachu!)



This is kind of an idiotic milestone for me to have *125 pages into my comic* but I realized that if I set the diameter of the paintbrush on photoshop to 1, it would produce (holy cow!) finer lines. After I did that, my style got a lot better. >.< I'm dumb, I knowww...

and finally,



I drew this on paper with pencil, scanned it in, and then inked and shaded it in photoshop! Revolutionary, I know! but this was my first time that I hand-drew the page (I'm better at hand-drawing anyway) and then photoshopped it. It gave me a lot more artistic accuracy, and I liked how the page came out ^_^! although..... I think I drew it meticulously because I was excited for the kissies...

Well there you go! MisfAs Milestones!!!

Shrank it down to avoid taking up tons of space on the thread, lol. But I consider these two "milestones" simply because of the backgrounds, which took me forever and a day. I'm trying to teach myself to have more patience when I'm drawing, and these two were definitely a step in that direction, lol.

My old stuff :3



My new stuff :3 I color now ^~^

2001


2002




2003



2004



2005



2006



Present:

I change my style so often that theyre both milestones.

This certainly isn't my greatest page, but it does signify the point where I finally settled on a distinct style. I've improved further since then, but I consider the art here to be my baseline:

Here's one of my turning points in my artwork in general.



Here's one of my turning points for the comic. This is when I made the transition to hand drawn, and hand inked. :D



Great thread idea! :D

-W

I am not sure why, but this family picture of two of my main (now adult) characters in Art of Veiling really released a lot of creative juices:



This tattoo I made for a friend (hands off or she'll have my head...)




And then, for the comic growth spurt, this illustration of a scene in book 1:



There are probably lots more, but these are the most recent ones.

Well I took these from pages to give a gyst of the scope of improvement, although its really quite gradual, but clear if you read Shifters ( my oldest comic) from beginning to end and then check out the new "Redux" pages, the difference is like night and day. However, I put this together to just show the progressions on one character. The time frame is from 1998 to present. There are various style shifts and you can see when I'm trying new things and whatnot.

If you follow the comic, you'd know this was not only a turning point for my comic, but also for my life. Thusly, I think it fits well.

My real "milestones" are not actually online yet, just on paper. I tried to pick out ones that aren't spoilers or anything...

My biggest milestone page is page 214. That is the first one I drew after joining DrunkDuck and putting some of those valuable comments/suggestions to use. You can see the big difference. Aside from that, there are no real milestones, just gradual and continuing improvement in drawing ability.

Big-ish image: http://www.drunkduck.com/Used_Books/gfx/improved.png

I haven't even put up ten pages. But almost every page has been some sort of milestone in my art style.

This was a sort of a milestone...
I don't know if my style changed after this much... but it felt like it

Since I've been going at these characters for four years... I should hope they've evolved, lol.


The VERY FIRST comic (ca 2002)


The first page of the new comic:


The latter image was a milestone in the fact that it was the first time that I'd finally gotten a Dax and Deo comic on the web.

This has been awesome to look through. Shadowsmyst your character evolution sheet is neat! I did one of those for my comic and it was just insane how much it had all changed and how much. And wingnut's makes me tear up!

I have a milestone but it's more for me artistically. It's not on the site yet because it's a chapter up. I avoided this page for nearly a year. And then one day...



I was afraid to draw the cars. I was afraid to paint the cars. I was afraid to figure out the effects. I couldn't figure out the poses. I avoided it so bad and it caused a huge tear in my confidence. Finally about two months ago I did it. And it made me so happy to have finally made the progress I needed and conquer the page I swore I couldn't do.

Wow...got some really great examples here. :3 I always love looking back and jogging down memory lane. I remember when I used to think my OLD art was the cat's pajamas...and now I'm like...ew...gawd...what kind of CRAP is THIS? XD

Action comics!

circa. 2003 CRAP! Inked with crowquill pens and nibs and dipping ink. That sucked. Almost got the right angles but not quite. Anatomy issues.


both circa 2006
Notably more meat on the bones, stronger poses, more dynamics. first is inked with Microns, the second "inked" in photoshop. (Near the end of my comic, I got a little lazy).
Another of my greater acheivements hasn't been revealed yet on Negate Never. :3 But I've finally ditched anime style and switched to my own. XD

Some turning points artwise. I started painting and paying attention to color, lighting and anatomy. w00t!
First Successful Painting
2nd successful Painting
Most recent/complicated painting

One of my best pages of recent was my final Fightsplosion page. I was so impressed with myself since I used a lot of experimental effects and spend a lot of time on it.
But I lost so I guess it wasnt that good ^^;
Ive removed all those pages I did for FS from the net for a good reason, so I cant really show it..

Here are some pieces that I like a lot from my other stuff:

Narou:



There are a lot of fun pages in Narou that were very unintentional. I didnt realize that Ran would turn out to be a cute comedic hit, so now I get to play on that and its been fun! The latest Narou page is one of my favorites too, but Ill leave it up to you to see if you want.

Oni No Noroi



Nothing like trying out a little awkward male bonding.

Lament of Lycidas



That was a cheesy little experiment with lighting where I made a color layer and used the eraser at a low opacity. Turns out, I love it.

wow seeing how poeple evolve in their art syle can be really inspiring

New milestone for me, I've been inking with watercolor based paint, so I switched over to a felt tip ink pen for once, the result is more detail and cleaner! I guess the next step is just getting the shading right, and light effects, which I know nothing about at this point.

Hmm Milestone pages?
Soapbox Hill origional page 1 using ink and mspaint:

Very Dark Shadeing (I'm not sure its a plus though)and Much smoother linework:

First Use of Drafting a continueing story arc beforehand:

Much improved backgrounds and continueing action with smooth lineart:

I think, since that page, most of my work has gone down hill, or atleast not moved forward much.

Definitely http://www.drunkduck.com/Angel_Effect/index.php?p=212735

Finally managed with details, thickness variance and the angle is suitable in my opinion^^

Due East has already had some "milestones," yes. Compare Sapphira in the first strip...



...to how comfortable I'd gotten drawing her by the end of Book One...



Another milestone was at the beginning of Book Two, we went to full comic book pages!



and this page took "breaking the fourth wall" to another level (and added a teeny hint of color?? Ooooooh!)



There's more milestones ahead in Book Three, but I'm not ready for spoilers yet!

o i see i stuff looks so cool

This very old Vampire Phantasm page marks the point where my characters start looking like adults and not creepy little children:

Every new page you do should be your best page yet.

Simple as.

This is a cool thread!

Ozone- I remember when that page first went live. That was an 'oh wow' page. Great angle and color and everything.
Silent Kitty- I remember that page too! Wow!

There are some great things here!

~B