Have you read Angel Densetsu? It's the mangaka's first series, and at the start of it he could barely draw bodies. His art improves dramatically as the series goes on, but even the start of Claymore (I never got past volume 1) is markedly better than at the end of Angel Densetsu.

(It's an interesting read: gentle boy gets a rep in his high school for being a badass mofo because of his scary face. Kinda repetitious in the last third, but it wraps up surprisingly well, and has a couple of literally kick-ass female characters. Unlicensed, but scans are complete.)

---L.