I never realized it growing up but with hindsight, I seemed to have had a natural talent for drawing taken from my father (he never pursued art as a career if anyone asks). And the first signs of it were when I was 10, which is where my artistic journey began. I was really into Dragon Ball Z at the time, and so much so that it got me to draw the characters. And not stick figure representations of them (which I did do most of the time), but reference drawing screencaps from the show. Two of those were from the Gohan vs Cell fight, the first being of the father son Kamehameha. Those were the only two Dragon Ball reference drawings I did for a while, and didnt start doing them again until near the end of my 8th grade year when I was 13, although I did do other reference drawings in the form of railroad logos. I would continue to do reference DB drawings on a more frequent basis through the end of Middle School and into the summer. And then when I came up with the idea of what would become my comic that July, there was a growing desire in me to improve my artistic skills to where I could draw my characters, which were dogs and I felt I was really bad at drawing any sort of animal. Of course, I wouldnt get anywhere only referencing DB stuff so I began to also reference Disney stuff like Lady and the Tramp which I remember being very embarrassed by at the time. I guess I didnt want to seen as weird for liking cute animal stuff instead of souly being into "manly stuff" like Dragon Ball Z and anime. I would continue to do reference drawing from Dragon Ball, Disney, and eventually other animes in the form of eyes into high school and midway into my freshman year in early 2017, I was beginning to get to the point where I could draw stuff competently well freehandly. Prior to this, I was only getting by on the fact that I was referencing stuff from artists and animators more skilled then 14 year old me, and trying to attempt anything without it was loosing battle. But this was a sign that my artistic skills were evolving to where I could draw stuff straight my imagination without any issue, though I still had a long way to go before then. As time went on, I would begin to move away from referencing Dragon Ball stuff and would mainly reference Disney material as I had decided to use that style to draw my characters, because I didnt know how I would draw a character like Scamp in any other style (yes, my current art style was a tactical decision made out of convenience). I would also take reference from artists I liked online. By 2019, my skills got to where I could draw a full-bodied character without it looking off or wonky, which was when I decided to begin drawing my comic. My skills would increase during my time in community college and that brings us to today, 11 years later, where Im leagues above where I was back when it all began thanks to constant repetition, resilience and hype fixation pushing me forward.
Wow that ended up being longer than I thought 0_0