From cartoonist Zac Gorman:

In regards to process, I prefer to focus on figuring out what works best for me as opposed to what is or isn’t standard practice for contemporary comic artists. It has always been important to me to find a process that I’m comfortable with, that allows me to produce work quickly and that is the most fun possible, in order to stay engaged and productive.

I think a lot of what we understand as an artist’s “style” or “voice” is based around the development and maturation of their working process as this tends to produce a lot of variables, so what works for me may not work for you, but I think that fun, speed and comfort are the three factors I look for most in any process. Quality actually becomes a shockingly arbitrary value if you don’t first develop a process which helps you to finish work, enjoy the process of making work, and desire to make new work.

Play around with what works for you.

Another vote for Process > Product.

What's so appealing about an artist's visual style is how it communicates so much of their process. There's a great deal of humanity naturally baked in.

You would think this only applies to loose styles like Zac's, with their wobbly lines or flowing gestures. But even really polished, highly rendered pieces can expose how much an artist revels in the details.

Either way, fun has to be a major element.

(Even in software — I was speaking with a colleague about how the experience of working with a language can change the joy in the process and, of course, the end product.)