End of Year Retrospective and Thanks

I'll be the first to admit I've always tried to hold off making dozens of entries everyone month. Hell, weekly updates are things I've done in the past. I do dislike over saturating followers with journals as I feel the important ones may otherwise get overlooked. However with the end of the year fast approaching, an annual reflection has been on my mind and I wanted to take a moment to write one.

End Of Year Retrospective

This year has been... Interesting. On the one hand I've lost my last two grandparents, news I've mentioned a few times this year. Ultimately it's been a reminder of my own mortality and how I'm not getting any younger, as well as reminding me about the others I've lost over the years and continue to miss to this day. This year could have also been A LOT worse as my mum was hit by a moped back in January. Thankfully nothing major occurred bar bruises and her favourite jacket getting destroyed, which is ultimately why I forgot about it shortly after. However in light of everything else that's happened, the possibility of a different ending has been playing on my mind a little since I recalled the event a few days ago.

Following on from I've said before, I had been dreading Christmas quite a bit this year due to how my gran was a big part of Christmas and Boxing Day. While there was an empty space at the dinning table on both days and it felt weird opening presents and watching TV without her, it wasn't as bad as I though it would, which is something.

Now, with that aside, I do feel this year has been great for me creatively. I do feel I've produced more this year than I have before, even if some of the pieces I uploaded were revised and refined versions of the same piece, along with the ones that never got uploaded. I've found myself trying to move away from my old, bad drawing habits like relying on Flash to auto correct my lines and instead use both dedicated drawing programs like Sketchbook Pro and trying to produce more traditional pieces. I've also find myself investing more time and ideas into my OCs, trying to help grow them beyond what they were before, especially the ones I'd adopted last year. A big part of it is due to help from others, which leads me to...

End of Year Thanks

I think it's fair to say, the best person to start off with is toonartist. As I've said on a few occasions, I added him on Facebook nearly a year ago and we've chatted nearly daily since. From random things like series we're a fan of to games and of course, art. It's through commissioning him that I've been able to help get a number of my OCs off the ground, including a number of previously scrapped characters, ones I adopted from my good friend Thompson as well as new ones that he's either created for me or I've been inspired by in one means or another through our chats. It's also through these chats that he's helped me flesh out my ideas and universe with concepts I'd never considered before. He's truly been a wonderful friend for me this year; I can't really put into words just how awesome it has been to chat to him so frequently and I look forward to more conversations in the years to come.

Next I would like to thank both CMBaggs and User-2018225d for their continual support and advice over this last year. While I know it has been a busy year for the both of them with offline responsibilities, it in turn means the advice, feedback and criticisms they offer carry an extra level of weight for me. I look forward to continuing to support the two of them in the new year, seeing what art they have in store that I can appreciate and critique myself.

Finally I would like to thank kagato007, kaeveris, Shadako26, PactMaker, Keem-Toon and DEADMANNARTWORKS for all the commissions they've done for me over this year. All of you have offered your own take and ideas on my characters, helping me grow them in ways I hadn't previously considered and either offer your own take on an idea I have for them or go in your own direction, putting forth new concepts and suggestions I hadn't previously considered before. I look forward to working with you all in the new year and rest assured I have a fair few ideas brewing in the back of my mind that I hope to message you about soon

So thank you to all of your for making my time here on dA enjoyable and your help in my artistic growth. No matter what you do, you've been of amazing help to me and, as I keep saying, I look forward to seeing how these relationships grow in the months to come .

I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope you enjoy whatever festivities you get up to.