I wanted to start a thread where we post the earliest published art by an artist and their most recently published art, as a way of seeing how they developed. Not sure where to start, but if anyone wants to jump in, feel free. I'll do some googling and see what I can find.

Mark Bagley. Apparently Nightmask #9 was his first published work, inked by Ernie Chan.



From Brilliant #1, inked by Joe Rubenstein (couldn't find original art that was more recent)

John Romita Jr. - Iron Man #116, inked by Bob Layton



Superman #32, inked by Klaus Janson

Huge differences!

JRjr's work is so much more powerful now.

It sure is! Way back then he was just doing layouts for Layton to over power.

Art Adams from an unpublished New Defenders story.



Army of Darkness #1 cover

I like this thread.

When Alex Raymond started in about 1934, he was doing the more typical Golden Age style, more primitive in layout and line work.

He quickly grew more advanced, towering over his field. Skipping ahead to Rip Kirby, which he drew after his return from serving as a Marine in combat during WWII, he became the defining figure of the photo-realism school of art. He is the figure of influence on artists like Neal Adams, and through Neal and others it carried over into comic books for a time.

Actually, Romita Jr's first published work was in Spider-Man Annual #11.....a backup story called "Chaos At The Coffee Bean", inked by Al Milgrom.

He got the Iron Man gig not long after this.

Ah, cool. Spider-Man is more appropriate.

Fixed link.

Mike Mignola, from Comic Reader #9 (1980)



Cover of Frankenstein Underground

Barry Windsor-Smith used to draw like this:



As opposed to this:

It's tough to know how much he's improved, since Ernie Chan is a very good inker that improves the work of most of the guys he inks. I think the older Bagley stuff you posted has more depth and more of an organic quality thanks to Ernie's touch.

Erik Larsen: early on, he had a more conventional but stiffer style, but you can still see that it's him --







Then he got more confident and stylized in his early 90s "fan favorite" days --









And for the last decade or so, he's been in a very loose, sometimes sloppy art style --

Great thread idea and I like that Hanzo added the 'midway point' look as well.

Larsen's looser work reminds me of Klaus Janson. Never noticed that before.

Bill Sienkiewicz

Bernie Wrightson, from his first published comic work in 1969.



From Frankenstein in 1983



And from Frankenstein Alive, Alive! in 2012.

Alan Davis...