Has your art become better since you started drawing comics?

[bluefairy]

Hello, everyone I've been thinking about it for some time: Don't you find it exciting how one's drawing and storytelling skills develop in time? As long as you don't give up but constantly accept the challenges that appear before you, you are bound to improve... When I look at my old stuff and compare it to my skills now, I feel my hard work did not go to waste. And the good news is it is still not good enough, it still has a lot of room of improvement, there is still a road ahead to go and have an adventure! It is so exciting and fulfilling, especially when you learn to choose not the easy and lazy road but the more inspiring, sometimes not so easy one. It can only do you good to challenge yourself in things you are still not so confident you are good at... What do you think?

[heterodont]

D e f i n i t e l y.

It's common knowledge when you do something repeatedly and consistently, you're bound to improve. Comics are no different - but it improves two skills at once! writing AND drawing. Especially if you give yourself a schedule to follow, gradually your skills will improve and soon you'll look back at older chapters and just be like 'Oh god why did I do that?!'

Not to mention, as a reader, I LOVE seeing visual improvement within comics. It's such a neat thing to see how comic creators become more confident in their skills and branch out in playing with framing, perspective, and so on so forth!

[camillabluejay]

Yeah! So I made my comic in a dumb way- I wrote and thumbnailed the whole script, and then penciled all 60-something pages of it before I began inking. And then going back to ink the earlier pages hurts, because I already got better just penciling. I'm trying to fix them up a little as I go, but man >_> But I'm excited that I could already see a difference just in 60 pages, and I hope I grow as an inker just as quickly!

[AnnaLandin]

Yes!

Both if I measure from the first time I started a webcomic (of which we shall not speak - it was a hideous mess, and best forgotten) and if I measure from the start of Grassblades. I've become more confident in drawing my main characters, AND in drawing complicated environments, complex camera angles and stuff like crowd-scenes. I'm better at composing pages now than I used to be - the layouting flows easier, etc. There are scenes in part 5 which I wouldn't have dreamed of attempting in part 1, and so on.

Comics are good because they force you to keep a regular schedule while drawing. Drawing regularly means you practise your skills - and practise makes perfect, and all that.

[LCT_m_a_d]

Significantly

I still work withing the same mode but I'm far more critical of of non-technical details, which I feel is the part that the audience really understands. Atmosphere, presentation, direction etc...

Plus I draw almost everyday now.

[bluefairy]

Oh, you are so right!.. but it is not only those two skills that are improving. .. what about some character features like consistency, ability to focus, and not giving up inspite of some dissapointment, becoming more confident and even the self esteem can stop being dependant upon the feedback, if you find a way to focus it within yourself.. There's a lot of growing up as a person as well I think:)

[joannekwan]

I'd say so. I know I'm definitely getting better at colors, which was one of my goals when beginning Demon House.
With Heavy Horns I'm drawing hands more, not that I didn't do much of that before, I'm just doing them on a more regular basis and I'm forced to do them in different poses (many of which I have to take self references for). So I'm getting even more familiar with hands.
With Erie Waters, the most I'm improving on is composition and contrast. Since it's in strict black and white, those two things are of utmost importance.

[MannyMelancholy]

Yup i would agree,

One of the hardest parts though is that if you are drawing a single issue comic, I was running into the problem of improving as I was going along drawing out the characters and scenes (i like to pencil all pages first). So this made the comic itself seem inconsistent which is hard to do too, for me at least.

[bluefairy]

Oh, I've done that! I totally did the same thing. I made a whole chapter, pencilled it and even consulted with Daz Poser for some of the pannels and when I finally decided to ink and make averything official... I found out that I've gotten better at storytelling and I don't like how I've been telling it in that chapter. So I had to start all over!

[jessiepolfliet]

Definitely yes!. That happens when you draw the same thing more than 20 times. Plus you decide where your comic is about so you can practice whatever you want.

[camillabluejay]

Hahaha, I'm sorry! >_< I still do want to use mine, at least. I've been writing for way longer than I've been drawing- the only thing that's new for me is VISUAL script writing, which is really, really different, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
And it's really, REALLY easy to be self-conscious about writing. I bet yours was still good. With drawing, its visual, so it's pretty easy to see where you went wrong, and how to fix it. With writing, I feel like it's really hard to judge your own work? I always bring in my friends to read it over for me before I start the second draft, because I just can't do it on my own. Their notes are super helpful!

[bluefairy]

Colors! Oh, that was my weak point when I first attempted it. I felt as if there is something wrong with the way I see colors... At first I couldn't stop using very bright and pure colours like a child. Luckily some of it changed with time... Using bright and colours can become a style if one chooses to, but one still has to choose the ones that look best next to each other. But even if you don't use colours, you will have a lot of challenges.... black and white or shading is not so easy either when you are trying to make an impact!

[APM]

I think... yes!

Because I started to use more digital tools, and consequently I started to search for tutorials, references... so I started improving a lot my drawing techniques. Besides that, reading and looking to other works made by other artists helps a lot in acknowledging how to draw something, or how to improve (I started reading a lot of comics since I joined Tapastic, lol)

[bluefairy]

I wish I had someone like that to help me with the writing! Truth is I am begining to suspect that there is a big difference in writing for a novel and writing for a comic! ... Should've suspected it way earlier but... better late than never! In comic you have to balance whay to say an what to not say but leave it to the visuals...

[mg78]

i think yes, dunno how or where... but yes it's the right answer.
mostly because practices help, plus, doing comic set you to draw thing that normally u would not think about and so on.

[camillabluejay]

Yup, exactly! And also things have to be tighter in a comic. You can't even really compare short stories and comics, although they're a little closer. There's lots of little things that make them different. :3
And next time you have a script, shoot me a PM! I don't mind giving them a quick once-over.I've done it for people before, and they've said I'm helpful. And I like people's stories! : D

[bluefairy]

Oh, my God! Really? That's so nice! I have to confess, my script is usually in my head and very often changes in the details ( though I always know where I am going to end). I tried having a written script, but nevertheless it still always changes when I sit and start drawing it. The reason I find this the best way for me is because my imagination is triggered by the drawing much more than when I am writing and some lovely ideas come right at that moment. Ideas that would never come to me while just writing.

[camillabluejay]

Yeah, that's fine. That's how most people work, I think. I can't do it that way >_< I think it's 'cause I'm a writer first? I like to every little detail planned before I start working.

[bluefairy]

I have some main details planned.... others become planned with the birth of an idea I try to be consistant and not have random stuff otherwise the story will become random and confusing! But when it comes to the characters dialogue, I leave a lot to the creative ideas coming at the moment.

[DynamoToon]

EXTREMELY SO!!! The thing is with comics, you need to draw a lot. And the more you draw, the more you improve! Win-win situation there, bruh! Before and after photos:

Before:

After

I mean... dayum