I'm currently practising my cartooning via the new Inkscape (0.46) to see how well it ticks, as well as dusting off my lapsed skills. I've set myself a target of starting a webcomic sometime in 2008 (after I graduate, so I've got the time to put in the work required to launch it and build up a regular routine), so I need get my skill and speed up to something servicable. Speed is something I'm worried about - my current technique is slow, slow, slow.
As a start, I've created in Inkscape a version of an early draft of a character concept for one of the two ideas I'm bouncing around in my head for a webcomic (his name is "Eight", and he's loosely based on at least four different characters). At this stage I'm sure he'll evolve from this; I haven't even decided what colour I'd like to make him. But he's a good practice sample.
I made him using my standard Inkscape technique; draw a draft, then craft the figure out of basic shapes. Unfortunately this method is slooowwww. I don't think I can do more than concept art this way.
I'm thinking I should give a more traditional pen inking approach a go and see what it does to the quality and speed of character drawing.
I'm happy for any feedback or constructive criticism on any of this, or the character as he stands. I'm not that sure about my method of drawing eyes; it's something of a staple I do now, but it's a bit different from what people usually do. I may also need to float some eyebrows over them to make them properly expressive; emotion can sometimes be hard to read with eyes like that.
Edit: Since I ended up adding in that last paragraph about eyebrows, I'll add in an image here on some tests I've been doing with eyebrows and expressions.
I'm not sure how well these faces will read without the eyebrows. I can just deform the eye shapes, but they won't be as clear. But with the eyebrows, the whole face is "busier". It's something I need to play around with.
The eyebrows would be a good idea, as the visor of the helmet may obscure the expression in the eyes. The only concern I would have is of them getting in the way of the number 8, it might seem a bit busy with all those lines. Maybe make the eyes smaller and the eyebrows down a bit lower?
(btw, please tell me he has a sidekick, like a cute little space dog [grin])