Is 5-8 years of art evolution the most realistic timeframe I can expect regarding going from left to right? I value art skills as much as I do storytelling, and while some weekly manga artists might improve in the span of 5 years due to drawing 80 pages per month, I'm an adult with a job so the best is can do is 50 pages one-shots (working on 2 right now) and, if I start anything beyond that, 20 pages chapter released any 2/3 months.

Smurf isn't even my main inspiration (I'm currently doing master studies of FF7/8 era Nomura and Kazushi Hagiwara) at all, but he's a realistic outcome considering I'm self taught, and most likely more reachable when it comes to technical skill and visuals quality than gods in the industry like Boichi or Murata if I'm working on a comic for 10+ years while trying to constantly improve.