A pro artist once joked to me that the very first thing an amateur artist works on is his signature. That seems to be the case with many pros as well!
No offense intended Crash but I am wondering how much significance did you give yours?
I was firmly in the fan-artist tradition. I worked diligently on my signature beginning in junior high school (aka middle school, roughly age 12). I was inspired by Russ Heath's signature. He had the same initials and I dug the way he made the last stroke of the "R" work as the cross for the "H." I signed my name a helluva lot better than I drew!
I modified the original signature somewhat when I fell in love with Milton Caniff's
Terry and reorganized the pieces to fit into a box like the classic newspaper strip artists did. This was the signature I used forever after, except that it became sloppier over the years. Nowadays my unsteady hand makes it hard to draw it with the same flair, which is okay because I seldom need it anymore!
Your mention of bank signatures reminded me how the entire notion of handwritten signature as identification is all but dead. My bank signature looked nothing like my comics sig. I remember my bank periodically had me sign a little 3x5 card which they filed for comparison purposes in case a suspicious check crossed their desk. Not that it would actually have been used. During my wife's grad student days somebody swiped her checkbook and cashed a hundred-dollar check with the lousiest, most completely made-up signature imaginable--at my wife's home bank! I think in the "old days" my present signature would give me trouble, as the initial "R" has a big loop, but now 95% of the time my shaky hand makes the top of the loop come out flat. Very frustrating.
