I generally don't create especially detailed character refs, so I only have one XD It's for Tai, from a comic currently under construction!
This is what she looked like back in 2012/2013, when the story was called Crossroads: 
And this is what she looks like now: 
Not only does she look fairly different... but she want through a huge personality change o3o"
Oooh, this is fun! Let's see what I can rustle up for Grassblades!
This is what Masahiro looked like 7+ years ago: 
He was a lot more Final Fantasy angst-boy back then, let me tell you! XD Comically oversized sword and all.
This is what he looks like now: 
He's not TOO different from that original sketch of him, but I've made some tweaks, that's for sure. His sword is more reasonably sized, he's no longer got a silly popped collar, his arm is no longer chopped off above the elbow, etc.
I also recently found a pretty ancient picture of Kazue, drawn before I'd even named her Kazue, or knew what she was supposed to do in the story: 
These days, she looks like this: 
First colored drawing of the kids from Tales from the Well. Didn't get a lot of feedback from peers yet.
Post-critique and half a year of webcomic-ing later :B
Wilbur the human and Amira the demon from Manna Magi: Blood Moon back from over a year ago.
"Thanks for subscribing" pic from now! :]
I got a better understanding of shapes as time passed X)
OLD ART OLD ART OLD ART
This is the first?? iteration of two of the MC's for my comic, Cornelius and Robert
theeeeen this is how they look now
and then the two mcs for my other story :Y abaddon and zachriel - they didn't change much in comparison
annnd them now
I can go on forever with this just because a lot of my characters are hitting their 5-6 year old mark :Y
Two of the main characters from my comic. Dunno if it's more their design changing, or just my ability, especially from phase two to phase three of both.
I love this thread so far! Not only does it show how characters have changed, but also how each poster improved as an artist!
My main character had some changes in design (...and personality...), but nothing extreme. It mainly changed because I changed the world settings ( :
earlier:
now:
On the other hand, there are characters who changed so much that they don't resemble their 'beta' versions at all : D
older -> current
My character Candy/Candice is about a decade old since I started drawing her in 2006.
This is how she originally appeared in the comic that was a very early version of Capefall:
This is how she appeared in the short horror comic Blood Zombie in 2008:
This was my experimenting with different designs in 2008-2009:
This is her current watercolour version from Capefall (2013-present)
Well, I don't have many very early sketches for There Was a War, because I like to let things work around in my head for a good long while before putting pen to paper, but...
This was my first attempt at drawing cath. its pretty accurate, but shes a lot paler than the design i went with, with looser hair and generally more eurocentric features. in earlier concepts of her i never drew, she had longer hair in tight ringlets - that did Not last.
this is a rough sketch of how i originally saw balor - a LOT has changed. now, their hair is tight bushy curls and their armour (left) is more streamlined and less... monster-y. the horns are more or less still there, but little more than darkened bumps hidden beneath their hair.
Dredged up some old relics of this comic Welcome Back from when I was 15/16. Mind you I started the comic when I was 17, stopped for a year, started the sequel when I was 18 and ended it when I was 20. So it changed a lot. 
At least by 17 my characters stopped having pumpkin heads.
The comic and sequel I envisioning was not the final product. It was similar in some ways but extremely different plot wise. Got rid of a lot of characters, changed the villain, changed the look and size of other characters.
This is my first sketch of Lizzy from https://tapastic.com/series/magicadvisor :
She looks quite different now:
I've lost most of my old pictures
the one i have is this character who was like this for 60 or so episodes
and then went straight to this
other characters mostly didn't change that much tho
We went through a pretty drastic shift with ours. First we went REALLY cartoony, and that didn't fit. Then we went SUPER hardlined and gruff, and...well it felt too harsh?
So after a bit of work we softened a little from the crazy hardboiled extreme and found a happy place with our current design: 
This was my first attempt at my character Damon, which I did for a thank you message, all before I properly decided how he'd look.
This is the last time I drew him.
Wow, my style's changed a lot. Huh. Less stylised, more realistic. Funny how that happens.
Here are the before and afters for My Comic! The ones on the left are the literal first sketches I ever made of them..how embarrassing. ;w;
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I love looking at all the changes and improvements in art style your guys' characters have went through. timinabox24, yours definitely changed a lot. : D But a lot of these kept the same basic feeling, sometimes it's good to go with your gut.
my characters from Robo Hole mostly stayed the same. i wish i saved some of my other design ideas for them buuut i didnt... these are the oldest and newest character sheets of my main characters tho! and pretty much just the art style changed a little
: 
