The very first Optipess strip
As you may or may not have noticed before, I’ve threatened on a couple occasions to post older and more embarrassing comics from my “archives”, i.e. various sketchbooks I have laying around. Now, none are quite as old and quite as embarrassing as the one below, which is none other than the very first Optipess strip, scrambled together with hackneyed means (well, pencil & paper) moments after the thought “Huh, maybe I should try to make a webcomic” went through my mind. For your reading convenience, below the image I’ve transcribed the admittedly unintelligible and poorly constructed sentences in each panel.
Panel 1: "I've gotten a new weekend job." "As a Head Procrastinator." Panel 2: "The pay is lousy." Panel 3: "But the hours are great."
Also, below the sketch are “revisions” of the character design I made immediately after completing the strip. Apparently I figured a more rounded look was an improvement, and that it probably better reflected my own appearance. Which also means, yes, that guy is supposed to look like me.
Luckily I have only a couple more of these strips (which may or may not end up being posted sometime as well), as I was pretty soon to start using proper tools like uh, actual pens at first, and eventually Photoshop and Wacom Tablets. Actually the strip above probably only predates “Amazing Superpowers” by a couple weeks, and personally I’m rather proud of how (hopefully) the art has improved somewhat in the 2,5 years since then.
it’s funny. :)
I think it was pretty good for a first strip. You can never disregard the first because it’s basically where you began. Your art *has* improved since then, and I agree with you on the fact that the “rounded” look is better. Either it’s because that’s how you draw people in Optipess now, or it really does look better :P