I just wanted to conduct a little informal poll. I was curious how many actual webcomic creators on this site are under 18, and if they were under 18, how well drawn the comic is (If it's not a sprite comic).

REMEMBER, this is just an interesting little science-like experiment I have thought of here, nothing else. Also, since I'm making this, I should go first.

I myself am less than a month shy of 17 yrs. old and I would have to say my comic is drawn reasonably well. I actually can draw much better than how the strip looks, but then making each comic would take a looooooooong time.

age doesn't really matter with skill later on. it's just how hard you work at it.

At 23, I really ought to be better at this crap than I am. :roll:

Shoot, I forgot to account for the fact that a lot of art is subjective. Oh well.

Being stylized is alright, though, as long as it's not like "Yeah, my style is squiggly stickmen. ROCK ON!!!"

Oh, and subcultured, that is half the reason I started this thread (altough I never said it). Wanted to see if the stereotype that most kids just do sprite comics or stick figures is true or not. I agree with you, though, because after all, Picasso was a better painter at 16 than most adults.

i rather see kids try to create art even if it doesn't look good, rather than copy and paste

I'm 13 and I think I pwnage(lol that word cracks me up) for my age.

what do you draw?

16. But I don't draw, just write.

I'm 16, and I think my stuffs basically good for my age. I'm taking figure drawing classes over the summer to get better.

hmmm how can one differentiate what good and bad art is? doesnt it depend on the person looking at it? some may say its good some may say its bad depends on the person

You talking to me subcultured? If you are I draw realistic stuff. I am into drawing realism for now. Till I am good enough then I am gonna draw more stylistic drawings.
For Example:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j39/Ninjadoo/ShadingPractice.png

If you weren't......nice avatar.

I am 15, I have been on Drunkduck since I was 12 years old.

My current comics are: http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Revenger_Tradgedy/ and http://somethingvile.biteyourlegsoff.com

I believe my work would speak for itself as to how I've worked to acheive this quality, though I still strive to attain much more in the ways of skill.

Huxley
For Example:

lol the guy looks like Butthead

before this thread goes into the top drawer, lemme put itback on track.

Age does affect drawing. As well as every kind of skill that can be learned.

Lol, don't you love the horse teeth.

Ohh, Age does not effect drawing.

age doesn't matter.
it's how much you put into it.
an artist can be stunted if they surround themselves with yes-man and
think too much of themselves.

i wouldn't say you ownage, just cause your 13 and draw a certain way.
If you do that, you just turned yourself into a side show
"look what the 13 year old just drew"
don't get too full of yourself. You still have a lot to go, even if you
think you're ahead than most 13 years old, if you dont keep
challenging yourself to do better, you will be left in the dust when your 15.

Artistry doesn't go with age, just like any skill you learn in life.
if you dont practice it, or try to strive for the next level it goes down.

Cough, Cough I was joking about that pwnage thing. My bro lets me know I suck like every day..... anyway I think subcultured pretty much summed it all up in that paragrah. I say how good you are depends on how early you start. Like if you start at age 5 and draw like mad and always practice by the time your a teenager you will pretty much be up there with all of the pro's.

Also something I learned is that drawing on and off doesn't help at all -.-. You will pretty much stay at the same stage you are at. A friend I know started drawing at the age of like 16 and by 18 he was pro and actually doing concept art for an upcoming movie.

In the three years doing my comic, I've never ever revealed my age or name (something to do with staying faceless).

But, for being young. I draw better backgrounds than most people my age or sometimes older. :wink:

.: Myxomatosis :.

Huxley
Ohh, Age does not effect drawing.

Technically age does matter but only if you're 6 or something. Most kids I've taught draw poorly partly because their hand muscles haven't quite developed yet.

I keep thinking of Tenshi when I read this thread. That girl was insanely talented and she was only 13!

At my age though, I think I should be doing better. :S

.: Black Kitty :.

Practise is the biggest factor.
BK is right about muscles and hand coordination though, but even those strengthen with practise.

You can tone up intellectually too: the better you plan a picture, or can conceptualise it in your head before you make it, the better it'll look when you draw it and the easier it will be to bring forth to reality your magical mental image!

Other factors include the time you’re willing to invest in it, how comfortable you are with certain media, how comfortable you are with certain styles, and wether you’re drawing from imagination or reality. It’s obviously a LOT easier to make something look more realistic if you’re working from a model, photo, landscape etc.

Age doesn’t matter at all, unless you’re talking about little kids who have a lot to learn about everything and a lot of growing up to do anyway…
A good test of drawing skill would be to time how long a person takes to draw a “realistic” image of a man’s face in ¾ profile purely from their imagination.
-rather than looking at the work they’ve already produced, their age or how well they draw from life. But even so, such things can still depend on someone’s familiarity with the subject… Maybe it would be better to show them an object they’d never seen before, take it away and THEN get them to draw it from imagination. Ah well, the flaw in that method is that the more times you do the test, the easier it’ll get…

You know what makes you a better artist? Competition! Always try and draw better than the best artist you can find, -or at least your idea of what’s better.

exactly...the hand muscles and coordination factors to it, but after awhile
it's all about practice. lately I've been trying to draw with my left hand,
and it's frustrating cause it feels like my brain know what to do and how
it should look, but my left had is jerky and not as smooth as my
natural hand.

To me I compete with all the artists I see unconciously, sometimes
I even get so ashamed of my work was bad that I erase all my
archives and start over :D

I'm sixteen, seventeen in October, and I draw my comics in manga-style because it's easy and I like doing it that way. I'm alright, I suppose.

Except you can't really clarify because Y2K is empty right now.

Age is a minor factor. Very young people may have problems holdng a pencil, but also as you get older, it becomes harder to pick up new skills, so someone who starts drawing as a kidor teenager is more likely to pick it up faster than someone who starts in their 30's.

The way one practices is also a major factor in how quickly they improve. One online artist I know was very stubborn about not learning from the real world. She has never cared to take art classes or learn basic anatomy. As a result, even though she has been constantly drawing for the past seven years for various comics, her artwork has not improved since day one. Unfortunately, as she is trying to replicate the manga style, the glaring mistakes (like how she can't draw heads in profile and the bodies all have strange proportions) in her work can't simply be written off as stylistic choices.

.: isukun :.

I'm 17, i use to draw all the time when i was little, i stopped for about 2 or 3 years in high school because of a problem with an art teacher at school, i enjoy drawing now and even though im not THAT good or amazing or anything i'm happy. The whole point to doing free web comics is to have fun and let people see your work, though it might not be the best work as long as you enjoy it that is all that matters.

I'm sixteen. I've said it before. And I'll admit, I don't have the whole "photorealistic" thing down yet, or even just the "sleek, clean digital art" thing. Mine is more of the "burn a hole in the paper from erasing so many times" thing.

But I plan to get better. The way I see it, getting into webcomics now just means I'll have more years of experience later on, plus I'm that much closer in time to my ultimate goal: conquering the comics world.

~IJ

PS: I had no idea everyone else was so young! Especially you, Lukee. I would have pegged you at twice your age. (And I'm diggin' the new TMBG Venue Songs avatar. "The House of Blues is fabricated entirely out of recently constructed material, and was built by Dan Ackroyd himself, with his pudgy Canadian hands.")

Well, Gemini Storm isn't that bad (Looking at some comics on DD) but it's not that good either (Looking at the other drawn comics)

In any case, I'm 17

14 here. I guess I draw okay (in a simplistic manga-eque kind of way).

I don't really say that age is an important factor, but in a way, time. The more time you put in, the more you get out of it. It's experience is what I think counts. Think of it in the big picture. Or small. Bleurgh.

I might compare a bit of art I did when I was 9 with some I done a few months ago. Might.

Im 15 and i would say I'm a decent artist. I'm still learning a lot about comics and just basic drawing, but I'm proud that I'm better at drawing then millions have people the same age or older than me.

As for the age and skill factor. Age does effect your skill, but its how you look at things that effects how much you grow. The Artist's eye for detail effects EVERYTHING. For instance, i know a 12 year old girl who puts my drawings TO SHAME!!
compare for yourself:

www.dozie-kitty.deviantart.com - girl
www.phatscurl.deviantart.com - me

That's the difference an artist's eye can make

[imageshack.us]

Ta-da. Pokémon fan art, which basically stole the story an added a different colour. Like the sprite comics of today. I did the most recent picture a few months ago in bed. The funny thing is that I always come to hate my previous work after a few months. I don't know why.

I can pretty much say that this is a tiny bit of improvement.