Y'see, my main problem isn't people saying the comics are bad, it's the way in which they say it. What you just posted, Lord, I find perfectly acceptable, however, how Evil Demon Creature and many others have posted in various topics is simply rude and arrogant.
I whole-heartedly admit that my Sonic sprite comics were rather bad, I'll admit that RSI was a million times worse, however, I don't feel I was given a fair chance when I came back with Pokemon XS and now Pixelated. As you said, there has been some improvement, but most people have labelled me as the 'guy who makes awful comics' after the Sonic ones and RSI.
There is feedback there, alhough it's scarce, and I do look at it, try to use it and try to improve, but having to filter it out between posts by people such as Evil Demon Creature is something that I should not have to do, as all it contains is blatant bashing and flaming.
You want real criticism? Fine, I'll accept that. I am completely capable of dropping the label of "you being the guy who makes bad comics and has no intent or capacity to improive"
if you are willing to drop the lable of "me being the guy who mindlessly flames and bashes you with nothing of real value to say".
People say that this one should be called "DBZlated". Why? Personally, I don't see a link in the art styles. If any of them could elaborate on exactly why it should be called "DBZlated" that would be fantastic, however, it hasn't happened, and from the general attitude I come across from people on this forum, I highly doubt anyone will.
It's obvious there must be some kind of link to DBZ ecause two seperate people have mentioned it, but neither have said in which way it resembles Dragon Ball, so it doesn't really help.
Ok, now this statement reveals the real problem with your approach to art that is keeping you from moving forward. You depend too much on other people having to do the work to help you understand how your art is viewed. Introspection, and good visual skills in general is arguably the most important thing an artist needs to have. Being able to look at things and notice patterns, similarities, and differences are core to an artist's development, and it's theese talents that are most likely to explain why someone who is 12 years old can draw 20x better than someone who is 22 years old.
You said yourself that it must be obvious there are similarities between the work you posted and DBZ. The fact that you cannot find them shows that the people who did make that comment are seeing something in your work that you are not seeing. Now ask yourself this. Which will make you the better artist? Having the people who did see those things explain them to you, or you carefully examining your work, until you can figure out and see those things for yourself?
Now, if there is anything you want help with, don't hesistate to ask. I understand how most people here are gratuitously harsh when it turns out that all you want is help. But you have to understand how hard it is for us to help you when all you do is post pictures and expect in-depth comments detailing every single aspect.
The responses come off as elitist because any artist can only look at another's work from the perspective of his or her own work. If in that artist's eyes, it looks like EVERYTHING needs to be worked on, then the only options are to either sound like a fucking elitist about it, or to blatantly lie. I'm sorry for coming off this way, especially since I have a strategy for whenever I come across work that comes off like that to me.
Whenever I come across work, what I usually do is look for certain things that are missing, and if there is a whole lot of them, I start with the one that I feel is most important and comment solely on that. 99% of the time it is construction, and here you are no exception (am I coming off as elitist right now? I want you to comment on this post after I finish so that I can make better ones from now on. People who make bad posts need explanations on how their posts are bad too). Do you have a construction/roughing out phase in your work? That is, before you start on the final linework, do you use 3d geometric shapes to simplify your characters and make sure their porportions are correct? This kind of planning can make a world of difference in how well drawn your characters are. Either way, I'd like to suggest a book that can get your construction skills to a near-immaculate level. "Fun with a pencil" by Andrew Loomis has been one of my most favorite instructional drawing books. The style he employs in the book isn't very appealing, but his ability to instruct people more than makes up for it, plus the methods he employs works for
any style (especially anime), and you can use that to practice his methods by drawing stuff you like to draw rather than what he demonstrates in the book. If you want a link to download it, just PM me and I can send it to you.
I could point you in the direction of a ton of things by other people that are much worse, but I get the feeling that if it were shown here they'd get a much warmer reception and actually be given constructive critiscm and a fair chance.
I am actually REALLY interested in seeing you do this. Mainly because it would actually be really helpful in us understanding what advice to give and how to help you in general. By judging other's art It would show us what priorities you have when it comes to judging your own art, by giving us a huge amount of perspective into what you think is "good" and more importantly why you think it's good. And if we disagree with a judgement you make, we can point out to you what qualities in the art you judge as 'worse" we appreciate, and why they should be qualities you might want to concider experimenting with.
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Pixelated - Hand Drawn Comic