I tend to disagree with the claim that Castle_Builder gave nothing but good advice. But first about Peabody:
First my opinion about MS Paint: MS Paint was not created as an art tool. Which doesn't mean that it can't be used as an art tool. People use coffee for colouring, carve in wood, Paul Klee painted on hankerchiefs instead of on canvas and all in all, you have to be open-minded if you wanna be an artist. And punkers made good music not even knowing how to play them guitars.
Yes, Paint compared to Photoshop is a sledgehammer to carving tools, but doesn't the sculpture made with carving tools have it's appeal too?
MS has it's drawbacks is jagged line, limited palette and all, but it's just those limits that can attract some people. Just like some people draw with a mouse and still get beautiful results, MS paint requires more effort and resourcefullness, but it is possible to create nice things. If you don't believe, you should check out "Unicorn Jelly" and dare say that that artwork is putting anyone off. After all, Oekaki is one of the most popular ways of sharing art on internet and it matches MS Paint quality in most of boards.
I still reccomend everyone traditional tool unless I see a need in their concept for use of MS Paint.
Peabody, great stuff can be done with MS, but your art, even in MS, can use more work. I mentioned "Unicorn Jelly", and "Insanity for the poor" is mentioned, but your art isn't comparable with those. I am lured in here with the drama and with some claims that I find grossly untrue, so I can't check your comic right now (I checked it briefly earlier from the link on FF site) but it seems that you're still using minimum possibilities of Paint. Perhaps the thing you should do is asking people who had notable MS Paint comics for tips and advices, instead of asking generally.
There is only one strong reason why I think you should work with Photoshop or some other art programs, whether it is through your comic or on the side: MS still has limited possibilities for learning. The more you learn the better your art is, and the more control you have over it; The knowledge you gain in other programs or in drawing on paper, you can use in MS Paint later.
The point in place: The comic you posted done in Photoshop, still uses minimum of Photoshop possibilities and there isn't much more to be said about it except that it seeds more work and to keep learning to draw. That means, same thing as with Paint comic.
There is nothing worse for an artist than not improving himself, which is why you have to aim bettering your skills.
Now, back to Castle_Builder:
You said a lot of nonsence, made a lot of generalizations and put words in people's mouth that they never said.
FIRST ~ You a) ask for ways in which you can improve "anything" your words not mine and then b) say you are "not willing to change" which ultimately means that what advice you get is absolutely useless so really what you want is for people to kiss your @$$. So, in two words my greatest advice has to be, "grow up." Or at least be honest with your agenda.
He doesn't say he's not willing to change. He just says he's not willing to change the tool. Do you think that all art can be sublimed in the tool artist uses? No? In that case, your claim that he said he's not willing to change is false, isn't it?
Second: You conclude that he wants us to kiss his ass just from the fact that he doesn't want to change his tool? Dude, don't you think that's far-fetched? Even a professional psychoanalysist couldn't make a character profile based on one sentence. The fact is, you made a pressumption based on some cliches of artists that you got somewhere and you applied this cliche to Peabody. With his later posts he's proven that he is much more mature and open-minded than you gave him credits for. I haven't seen a proper apology from you.
SECOND ~ DON'T use mspaint. It looks like shit. It's an automatic turn off. Even if the writing is funny, take longer then 10 mins to lay out your comic. Unless this is just something "for you" and you "don't care" what other people think, which is what most people say when they get defensive about thier "art." And hey, that's fine, but seriously, there are thousands of web comics out there and most of them are really crappy. Yours just does not stand out.
He asks what he can change besides changing MS Pain and you advice him to chage MS Pains - thus your advice is totally useless, unneeded and unwanted. Makes me wonder why you posted it at all, unless if it's to make you look smart and superior to poor people who still use MS Paint.
Instead, you should consider why he uses Paint. What is it that he tries to achieve with it, since he obviously didn't pick that tool randomly. Perhaps his comic concept shouldn't work with less crude art? Perhaps he has a certain vision (like we all do) and MS Paint is the integral part of that vision?
Your advice isn't useful. It's something he's probably got a lot of the first advice from the stack. In your first post, you used rude words, with attitude of looking down at him. That won't make him take your advice seriosly, why should he take seriously an advice from a guy who can't be polite and who insults him rightout by presuming bad things about him?
And no offense "Kris X" but your stuff still looks jagged and choppy. You don't want to see the pixels of a circle. You want to see a circle not a bunch of squares that kind of end up looking like a circle when put together. THAT is the problem with mspaint. It's like cave wall paintings to a canvas and oils.
Why? Why do you presume everything has to be smooth and slick? If the effect that artist wanted to achieve is jagged circle, then, if he drew a jagged circle, he hit his point. Image is the mean of achieving certain effect needed for narrative and there is no rule that the desired effect can't be a jagged circle. And as for appeal, to some people even jagged circle has it's appeal, even if it doesn't for you.
There's an example in front of you: KrisX's slick character design clashes with the crude execution due to MS Paint and forms an interesting contrast. This contrast makes tension in her art and tension, as we know, least to a dynamic style. There, Pain is used as a mean of invention. There are thousands of smooth circles out there. Significantly less stylishly chopped circles.
And are you suggesting that cave paintings don't have artistic value? Because every art critic in the world will disagree with you.
I just don't understand how people can honestly sit as say it's a "style" choice etc. Bad artwork is bad artwork. Granted people have differing opinions and what not but ultimately mspaint is a BAD tool to use and not wanting to use a more effective program without having some sort of logical reason makes no sense to me.
Let me explain how crude or, as you call it, 'bad' artwork can be good:
For centuries, artists gained knowledge they used to make art more photo-realistic. After some point, around 19 century, they reached the point where this was not a valid goal for art (probably with invention of photography) and went in other direction. Most of 20 century was spent on making art cruder, simpler. Artists like Pikasso, Matisse and Dubuffet were researching primitive tribal art, art of children and even art of mentally ill. Why, you wonder. Because they believed that crude art is in closer contact with man's essence, his, let's say, soul. Tribal paintings were a product of tribes where civilisation didn't stand between man and nature. Kid drawings are art in which no learned technique stood in the way to honesty, naivety, and they were ever more direct. With every level of technical perfection gained, you lose something of your honesty, your initial inspiration. Therefore, artists who were already technical masters aimed to return to the state of crude drawing.
I am saying all this to explain that crude art does not equal bad art. That childish drawing can sometimes have more power than the art of a great craftsman. Using MS Paint can be an extention of that line of thinking. I am trying to explain that what seems like a bad artwork (if I may say, to the untrained eye) is sometimes simply not bad - just crude and simplified, which are some of reasons why it's bad.
(This is not reffering to Peabody's example. I am simply explaining why crude artwork can be good, because it seems like you asked that question).
When people ask for crits I tend to open the box on them because thats how I personally learn the most. Some people take offense because they take it personally. It's hard not to, as ones art IS personal, but I think you understand.
Diplomacy never hurt anybody. You can be diplomatic and still honest and direct, that's not too hard.
But you gave Peabody more than he asked. He asked for review and tips on him comic and you have him an unfair review of his character and also one rather subjective vision of art presented as a matter of fact.
Sorry if I am rough on you, I was sincirely not trying to match the tone of your first post in this thread.