Everybody knows “practice makes perfect”, right?
The thing is, the changes tend to be so gradual that you don’t even notice, and you might not even realize how much you’ve improved.
This is one of the things that fascinates me about web comics with archives that span years. You can actually go back in time and watch the artist/cartoonist get better month by month.
Here’s some random examples of early comics vs. recent comics in the same series.
Penny Arcade
Then:
Now:
Questionable Content
Then:
Now:
Achewood
Then:
Now:
Ctrl-Alt-Del
Then:
Now:
Perry Bible Fellowship
Then:
Now:
xkcd
Surprisingly, even stick figures improve.
Then:
Now:
Spamusement
Yours truly, in the name of fairness.
Then:
Now:
Regardless of what you think of the comics themselves, it’s hard to deny the effect of consistent practice.
It’s always impressive to me to see just how dramatic the improvements can be. If you ever doubted that daily (or even weekly practice) at something makes you better — well, here’s some pretty concrete evidence.
(Aside: I still get emails asking why I stopped Spamusement. Basically, I just used up all the punchlines and started repeating myself, so it seemed better to quit while I was ahead. I still entertain the notion of starting a new comic, if for no other reason than to give me this kind of regular drawing practice. I’d especially love to do something story based, rather than one-panel gags. I’m not so good at coming up with stories, though.)
