"well i figured i'd try to start a thread that hopefully everyone can participate in.basically one of the things that i find interesting with art is looking back at your old stuff and seeing your progress.i have all my sketchbooks from the past 7 yrs and i've gotten better as most people would expect. anyways i know how some people including myself wonder what types of leaps and bounds other artists here have made. so basically here's my propositon to all who want to participate. upload 1 old drawing of yours(as old as you can find would be awesome) and 1 very current one. i'm curious as to whether or not this will take off but heres goes nothing."

From the other forums I go on. I thought it would be interesting to post it here.
I'll post mine later...

I've not been at it for "years" but over the course of 6 months, I have improved a lot. It was 6 months ago when I decided to start attempting to draw people and create a comic. (Been drawing animals for years but never people.) I think I've improved a lot.

BTW, I thought this first sketch was amazing when I first drew it, but now I think it's crap. It's amazing how one's best work can become an eyesore in due course.

Then:


Now:

I'm 17 now and I decided to start drawing at around 11 or 12-ish. I started using the computer as a medium back then and I think I've improved a lot. Practise doesn't nessisary make perfect, but it can get you close :D

Old:


Recent:

Ooo, neat thread :D

Wow, you guys really improved a lot!

Let's see... I started comicking when I was like... 7...(?)

Although, I don't feel like scanning anything, so I'll show you the first serious comic I was ever planning to do... I put this one up on comicgenesis when I was about 13... It was all hand done since I had no clue how to use a computer, really. So, here's the first page:

(I gave up on this comic after drawing 5 pages. I even had a whole storyline made up. Oh well.)

I drew this when I was 14, I think. I stopped doing Ice cream town and started working on other stuff:


I drew this fanart for eunice p a few months ago, I think:


And this is a recent picture I drew for a title page:


:D

Wow, some of you guys got really better over the years/months/eventuallies! I'm way too embarassed to post most of my old stuff, so I'll pick a once-good picture I drew about 10-12 months ago, and the most recent picture I did just the other day. Unfairly, one is CG'd, but still...
Old

New


But you know, I seem to get better at drawing after I have a really bad art block where I can't draw anything, or everything comes out really anatomically incorrect. Then I just... get better. It's weird. :0

EDIT: The CG one came out kinda grainy, http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/59104953/ if you want to see it UNGRAINY.

Let's see...







And, for Nadya...



to



Sorry for the spam!

Wow, D0m, you REALLY improved! You're a great artist.

LOL, improofmint? I gots yer improofmint rite 'ere!

12 years old:


Now (well, recent):

That's awesome; you should put up some comics, mlai!

DancingChaos
That's awesome; you should put up some comics, mlai!

Thanks Dancing, I'm working on it! But my co-artist for FIGHT2 is slow!

You were farther along than me when you were 12, and you've improved a bunch within a few years. However, let me tell you how I made my dramatic improvements: I emulated varying different art styles as I grew up, not just manga/anime.

From the doodle I posted, I went from Pink Panther, to Don Bluth, to Akira Toriyama, to life art, to the Kubert brothers, to Frank Miller, then back to dabbling in various manga/anime styles, moving away from Akira Toriyama.

If I only learned from manga/anime, I'd never be as well-rounded (as much as I can be) as I am now.

mlai

DancingChaos
That's awesome; you should put up some comics, mlai!

Thanks Dancing, I'm working on it! But my co-artist for FIGHT2 is slow!

You were farther along than me when you were 12, and you've improved a bunch within a few years. However, let me tell you how I made my dramatic improvements: I emulated varying different art styles as I grew up, not just manga/anime.

From the doodle I posted, I went from Pink Panther, to Don Bluth, to Akira Toriyama, to life art, to the Kubert brothers, to Frank Miller, then back to dabbling in various manga/anime styles, moving away from Akira Toriyama.

If I only learned from manga/anime, I'd never be as well-rounded (as much as I can be) as I am now.

Thanks :)
I never really studied any other art than anime. Come to think of it... I don't think I've ever noticed that... Huh.

Maybe I should be as well rounded as you!

I'm not as well rounded as you may think. Art history class and going to museums bored me to tears.
And while my teacher loved Picasso, I hated him with a passion.
Rembrandt was kinda okay though - LOL big googly eyes!

Unfortunately, all of my REALLY old work is 500 miles away at home, this one is from approximately 2001:



To my most recent page:

So 2001 is when you first started training yourself in CG colors? In fact, in coloring, period? It seems your eye for light/shadow was just beginning in 2001, progressing to your current level.

Mlai, yeah, more or less. I didn't have a computer that could handle any art program at all until about 2000, and then I was doing coloring with Ulead PhotoImpact (which is what that drawing was done in, if I'm not mistaken). Before that, all of my coloring work was done with colored pencil - although I'm not sure if it was better or worse than my CG work. Unfortunately that stuff is all at home in folders. =P Next time I visit I'll grab some of it.

Sorry, I didn't upload my pics. I unexpectedly had gotten signed up for going to school so yeah...

Here's my definitive illustrative thread on the importance of practicing in everything.
I used to carry a big sketch folder where-ever I went, with tons of scrap paper. I drew everything. Here's a small sample of what I have in my several sketch folders.

You never know when you'll need to draw lizardmen! Even better if they have Kenyan head-dresses! Oh and those muscles aren't from copying comics... I was sketching varsity dudes in the gym.


Superhero comics have 1 good thing: lots of exaggerated anatomy.


Always draw costumes and more costumes.


Copying the crap outta Pocahontas (there's more).


This girl had fine cheekbones and happened to be sitting under a strong light. So a-drawing I went (secretly)!


Bird anatomy + dragons = realistic dragons! I drew real animals too.


Spent some time studying squirrels ninja-ing on trees. Never know when that'll come in handy!


Whatever cool action sequences pops up in your head, draw it! Oh, and this girl sitting in front of me in lecture hall had a nice hairdo going on, so I drew her! (No she's not really naked.)


Regardless of style, draw everything!


And I do mean everything.


I did this for years. So when I say "to get good at manga style, you gotta be well rounded," I'm not blowing hot air and being a know-it-all. I didn't decide to draw in my current style and is suddenly good. I clawed my way to my current skill level, drawing everything in sight.

Don Bluth style!


Akira Toriyama style (uncolored)! Hey, I'm pretty good back then... Aren't I supposed to be better as I get older..?


Look at my unfamiliarity with nib pens when I 1st started using them.


Then after 35 pages of practice. Damn I think I drew better then than I do now...

Wow, awesome job! I especially like how you drew the guy and girl hugging. I thought that was excellent! :)

The obscene amount of voluntary effort I (and like-minded artists) had put into practicing drawing is a major reason why I'm very biased against ppl who say things like "story is as important as/ more important than art to me," or "I'll read it as long as it has a good story," or "I'm not drawing the comic for the sake of good art, I'm putting forth a message/ telling my joke/ telling a story." That makes me dislike that person immediately. It's like these ppl don't have a clue how much sweat and blood artists put into themselves to improve.

Neat topic. I really like seeing "before" and "after"...

My own personal growth really hit home for me how important practice is. Here are a few things from 2003:





Ugh.

Here's my first comic page, from March 2006:


Bleh!

To illustrate most clearly my development since I started my comic, I present: Kit through the ages







And my latest most effortful illustration:

Years ago:



and now:





and

my recent update... excuse the boobies and comedy

I've actually been drawing for about 7 years, starting with anime. Now, I don't have any of those drawings so instead I'll just use what I've been drawing most recently.

About 1 year ago, my character designs started a little like this:



Now, my average drawing will look more like this:



I have better examples, but I just wanted to compare the same character.

Good thing the second one was only drawn like a week ago.

I finally went ahead and scanned this....here is the first ever official drawing of Jack. God, I must've been like 13 when I made it:

Yep, Jack has been around for a WHILE. So those who think I ripped off Hellsing can shove it. =3

And now....


Most of my practice was by making comics. So yeah, if people think you shouldn't draw comics because your art isn't good...don't listen to them! It's a great way to get better. (Fun too.)

old drawing of Mara-Nina



A much more recent image of her:

Looks like I might need to upgrade my art further.

I guess a short art course might help. Costs $$$ though... lol!

Why am I one of the few ppl who seem to get worse as time goes by???!? ;_________;

God I hope that's just my self-criticism talking. But I look at my art from 7+ years ago and I'm impressed, like "I drew that??" I shouldn't be impressed.

Why am I one of the few ppl who seem to get worse as time goes by???!?

Maybe you've reached your "ceiling" 7 years ago and right now is your deterioration stage. Its like why can't (*insert band/singer here*) produce the same quality of songs they produced a few years ago?

Maybe its just your mind-state... like problems... stress... it affects your ability.

Mlai- I wouldn't say you were 'better' then, you just have a different style now. I think all of your work is terrific- what you are doing now is a bit more cleaner, and in a 'hipper 'style than your past work which was busier. Both are very well done, but I think from a design standpoint, your current work is more sophisticated.

Very cool stuff. I'm enjoying this thread a great deal!

~B

Thanks Barb and Kyup. I think both are right. I don't draw as much or read as much comics/manga as I used to, so some stagnation is apparent. At the same time, my general CG awareness improved, and I can write better.

I think, when a person stops practicing or studying others, the first thing to deteriorate is page layout. You don't forget how to draw (not immediately, anyways), but you start losing the vigour in your page layouts.

I used to have breaks of years between drawing...

Here's one of my first scanned pics with Juno:
Holy crap! She had long hair?! [vague-inkling.net]

Here's a comic I did in college about a girl who looks like Juno but is named Bean: CLICK! [vague-inkling.net] I kinda miss that fun style. Considering what I've gone to. I'd still be drawing pretty often when I started this little series of comics. I was 18 here. Oh! Here's another one! [vague-inkling.net] My love of photo manipulation and weird layouts started early.

I didn't practice forever after this and my pages turned into this crap:


After drawing on my webcomic for a year I came around and redid that one for print into this:


And now I'm drawing pages like this:


Which makes a Juno very happy. :D I am at peace, I think... for now...