I was a pretty driven kid, all things considered. I've known all my life I wanted to be a cartoonist. And I actually made sure to take assignments to teach myself to draw on a deadline. I took jobs that I didn't necessarily want to do, or weren't in my wheelhouse, just to train better. Doing a more realistic style wasn't my strong suit, but I tried it here on my high school musical's poster for The Pajama Game.
Design-wise, and especially on the logo, I think I did pretty well. In actual drawing, 
oh Lordy is there a lot to wince at. Bad figures, deformed faces, steroid-induced bodies. But you get better by doing, right?
I also was in the stage crew for that musical, which was a lot of fun, and I wished that I had done that sooner. I waited until I was a senior and had a girlfriend in the cast to get involved. But I loved my time on that show, and still have one of the sewing machine pieces (lovingly referred to as the Satan Desks) that I designed for the show here in my house. I can't bring myself to get rid of it.