A lesson from Slick

Over a year ago, a friend and co-worker sent me a humorous e-mail after experiencing one of those "drama days" at work. The e-mail included an attachment, a relevant panel from a comic strip called "Sinfest", that I really liked. A quick "Googlesearch" led me to the Sinfest Archives. I spent a lot of time reading the entire collection, and these days, the newest panel is one of the first things I check out after logging on to the internet every morning. The premise of "Sinfest" is unique and entertaining and makes me admire the creative genius and artistic talent of the artist, Tatsuya Ishida. In fact, I'm such a big fan of the comic strip that I learned a very valuable lesson from it that applies to virtually any endeavor one can undertake in life. I'll share that insight with you now.
Below, I'm posting the first Sinfest strip in the archives. Check out how both characters, Slick and the Devil, are drawn. In fact, notice how the entire scene is drawn.

This next strip appeared in 2004, four years after Sinfest debuted. Both the look and of the strip is dramatically different. The characters are drawn better, they're posed, and Tatsuya is using a negative silhouette in the third panel for a dramatic effect that is aesthetically appealing. There's a tremendous change, great improvement, while staying true to the original premise.

Now check out two recent panels from 2008. Specifically, note how The Devil and Slick are drawn and compare them to the first image posted above.

Both remain true to the original design but are far more sophisticated and developed than when they first appeared.

The characters and layouts evolved, improving with time, effort, and passion. I'm certain that it took a lot of hard work for Ishida to get to this point, but it's been well worth it as the results are magnificent! The lesson is about preserverance and diligence paying off.