Above is the 1st page of my very 1st comic I started making when I was 12 years old.
I started making comics after I bought my 1st TMNTurtles comic.
It was pretty much a rip off. I later made a Ren & Stimpy rip off comic.
Then I decided to try to make something a bit more original and not based on something I watched.
I was not very good at drawing people so I looked to anime as my influence to draw.
I was/am a big fan of Ranma and that style looked pretty simple to draw to me so I tried drawing my human cast I came up with in that manner.
The 1st 2 characters I made up were Fenny and Sally
and here are the horrendous 1st renditions.
And here is how they look now.
I took about a 5-6 year hiatus from drawing much of anything from around 2001-2006 which I regret very much now. I was still working on story and character designs but had another hobby that was my main focus.
Anyway, now I am trying to get back the lost time. I put more effort into my art than I ever did before.
mlai
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.
People that always rely on the "story is more important than art" aspect usually are not happy with their art. I know that applies to myself in a sense.
Many people are not patient enough to dedicate the proper time to art.
I like to draw. I like the challenge of taking on a certain pose or character design. I like to see if I can surprise myself. But if I had enough money I would draw the pages out and let another, much better, artist actually make the official pages.
To dedicate as much time to art as you and others do is a testament to your determination and drive. I wish I had put forth that much effort growing up.
So now I have a lot of road to catch up on. I want to improve on art and I want to actually get the story rolling. Not so much that the story is more important than the art. Since I'm using the art to tell the story... story > art is a silly statement.
If the story is THAT IMPORTANT then a person should write a book =P
Luckily you also have a real good grasp on story telling formulas. Many authors that pain for years to perfect their craft seem to forget to research story telling and characterization. Too busy honing their artistic skills, then can't make a comic properly.
And your line art may not be as good as it was... Because you developed and researched your CG and probably have been researching story telling and so many other aspects of comic making. As to make yourself a very well rounded comic creator. Otherwise you would be somewhere else making random art and stuff (theoretically =P)
