It's 1 AM as I'm typing this, so pardon if it sounds weird I'll probably forget I did later. If you do read, I thank you. This is one of the most personal journals I've posted here I believe.

I was a bit down earlier, not sure what caused it. Probably a combination of things. Maybe just being tired all day. I decided to look through my entire gallery here, just as a pick-me-up. It was amusing to go from one image to the next, seeing my style evolve and what types of art I've dabbled in. A lot of things I cringed at, but occasionally there were a few stand out things that were satisfactory. I read comments I haven't in a while and it tugged at my heart a little. And finally upon coming at the end of the gallery, after looking at 400 + images, I curiously asked myself what would come next. A lot of things were done for fandoms, some for friends but seldom were things I drew to simply draw. And naturally I've come to the conclusion that that is because people online love popular culture, anything familiar instantly strikes up a connection and your piece becomes that much closer to the viewer. And I do admit, it is a nice feeling to be apart of that. The comments, the faves, the shares. All of it circulates and it gives us a bit of happiness. A feeling of success. It charges our pride, feeds our ego. It makes us feel important. It makes us set time aside to work on drawings for hours to see how people will respond to them. I feel that art online is usually that. And there's nothing wrong with it. Wanting to feel appreciated and praised for our hard work is natural, and we all deserve it. We want to know that we did good. And 'good' online usually means a comment here and there. A like or a favorite on a piece. And when we don't receive that, it is a blow to our self-esteem. We take ourselves too harshly when it comes to the value of our work. We've become so attached to the technological aspects of our world between all the social media and websites that we've forgotten how to really view what's in front of us. Online, where we're exposed to an infinite amount of artwork, we compare our own works with others and instantly feel inadequate next to an artist of better capabilities. Sometimes it seems as if people become numbers and if they don't add up we're no longer worth anything here. I guess the whole reason why I made this was to jot down a few points, reminders, for myself and for anyone else in this sort of slump.

- You draw what you want, when you want. Unless you are on a paid job, you have the freedom to do what you wish. If you feel like doing fanart, you go ahead and do that. If you want to paint, paint. If you're going to write, write. No one is going to stop you because you are the artist.

- Faves, Likes & Reblogs do not amount to the value of your work.
If you are satisfied with what you create, then you have made a good piece. These numbers are just numbers. They may indicate popularity, but they are not definitions of what makes it important to you. How does one measure a like anyway? How do you know if a person REALLY loves your piece or just saw your art while browsing around and quickly clicked that button because they simply could? You don't, so it's something you shouldn't worry about.

- Appreciate the comments and compliments you receive.
Comments are a better way of comprehending how people perceive our work. Appreciate them because a person took some time to digest what you did. Even if it's a short compliment, a compliment is a compliment and that alone is nice to have.

- No responses does not necessarily mean bad art.
Many of us who are active online and are social with others expect immediate responses when we post things. And when we see that no one has come to like or fave our work it's very disappointing. Always remember that people are not always online, some people may have browsed pass your piece unintended, people have different tastes, or just plain and simple, this work just has not connected with them. Remember, your value in your work is the most important. If you like your piece and stand for it, everything else should not matter.    

- Your style does not define your skill level.
This is borrowed from a friend. If you want to try something new or different, by all means do so. Everyone has a unique hand to what they make, it what makes art special, and you should value yours because no one else has it. And don't feel as if you are being defined or confined to a style.

- Don't feel pressured to go to another medium.
A lot of people debate whether Sai is better than PS or if traditional is better than digital. Upon feeling this pressure a lot of artists are frustrated when they can't work in certain mediums. Whatever you're comfortable with you use that. And when you want to explore something new, you have the freedom to do that. Don't feel the need to color something in a certain program or with a certain tool just because others have told you so. You decide what to use.

- Do not worry about what the others make. The internet is not a contest.
Unless you are actually entering a contest, do not concern your art against the art of others. Think about this. There are billions of us online. If you want to compete you are choosing to compete against the world. You are one person. You do not need that kind of stress. Draw because you want to. Draw for your own satisfaction.

- You decide what to share.
A lot of us feel the pressure to share our works because we are artists. It's what we 'do'. And indeed we do like to share. But you do not need to share everything if you wish not to. All of your works do not need to have a digital version on a website. You can have art to yourself, that's perfectly fine.

- Art given and received should be cherished.
Creating pieces for others as gifts or for friends are one of the few occasions where the other person does matter. Make it special not only for you but for them so that you can both enjoy it. If you are receiving a gift, be highly appreciative because art is a piece of the person trusted to you. While you see just the surface, you may not know the full process, and the work that actually goes into creating something.

- Just make it.
Inspiration, ideas, thoughts, whatever comes to mind, if you want to create it, do it. Do not worry about the turnout, do not worry about the technicalities, do not worry about the process, do not worry what others will think. If you need to start over, start over. Even in the end, if you think it's bad, you took the time to create something out of nothing, and that's pretty amazing, when it comes down to it.

--

Now that I've typed this all out in the open, I feel more empowered and ready to get out of my slump. I want to spend the summer creating more things and learning new techniques. I hope after reading this, you too can feel more positive about what you make.  

Hopefully I get to update soon. See you guys~

My profile finally says I've been a deviant for 5 years and I feel OLD LOL. Started here in High School and still striving to draw as I'm well into my college years. Drawing's been a struggle. Before, I used to see my stuff and think I've reached my limit. My cap. That I can't get any better. But very slowly I've seen improvement. I've realized now that when it comes to art I progress very gradually. I often find myself leaving dA for a few months and returning when I feel better about drawing, but now I'll try to just work on my pieces and hope that more practice will result in better artwork.

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And here's the part everyone's looking forward to, the features! I haven't accumulated too many watchers, so I'm very grateful to the people that have stuck with me over the years. Here are just a number of you guys. Art can tell us a lot about a person, so take this opportunity to learn about one another


Soundwave3591 is best known for his SBT fanfic Hands and Hearts. I love the accuracy of his Ilana drawings, they're really some of the best here c:



There's a lot of neat deviations in infrafan's gallery in a lot of mediums. You should check it out~



I support artists who are fond of their OC's and pokeninjagirl has no shortage of them. It sparks creativity and I like that in her drawings.



I've had the pleasure of friending quitoxica through tumblr and there's no words to describe her art, especially her stunning B.A.P portraits. I hope to be as good as you one day xD



I love the craft artists here and craftcandies is definitely one of my favorites! Her charms are so realistic, they make my mouth water xD
(and when I get the money I will buy some from you )



THIS fabulous person is one of my IRL friends. His specialty is fashion and high contrast minimilistic art. I love all his pieces~



Schnubbii is my sweet little German tumblr sis All of her pieces make me smile, they're so cute and fun ^^



If I recall, we ended up finding each other through the Nosemilk comic project we were both commissioned for a while ago. Lots of fun things in his gallery



All of nyanmako's pieces make me cry because they're so cute and adorable and quality dang it Ninya post more things here omg



Albedraca is a fellow Titan fan as seen in her gallery ^^ Her Titan plushies and doodles are adorbs ;u;

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That's it for this journal. Thank you guys so much for supporting me! I've made a personal promise to work on more art this summer and study up on techniques. This means I'll be back to my Trio of Misfits comic! And lots more to come from me ^^

The request sketches for everyone is here:
Thanks guys c:

UPDATE 5/8/13- This offer is closed!
The sketches are here:
--

Hey guys, 1 more day until my 5 year anniversary here! I'm so excited!
To liven things up, anyone who comments on this journal I'll give a feature on my anniversary journal [I'll showcase 3 pieces I like from your gallery] and also draw a tiny sketch doodle of whatever you want. It's my small way of saying thank you for supporting me. Even if you're a new watcher, or just watched me, I'm opening this up you guys too! In your comment just tell me what you want! I've decided to wait until 6 PM my time to close this offer. It's not a lot of time, I know, but I'm hoping some of you will at least read this _{And maybe my work load won't be too much if the number is small xD}

And thanks to everyone who enjoyed my character challenge! They weren't the best I know, but it's nice to draw things I haven't drawn before c:

I'll update again soon ~
Please leave your comment if you want a drawing and a feature!

Hey everyone! April is finally over and so are my classes!
I CAN FINALLY BE LAZY WITHOUT PROCRASTINATING.
 

Anyway, it will be my 5th year anniversary here on Deviantart on May 7! A full 5 years on this site. I think it's something worth celebrating, don't you think? According to my most recent poll, Cartoon Characters won the theme (unless votes change before I start drawing), so I will do a mini daily challenge to feature a favorite character everyday until Anniversary time. And I'll be planning some other things as well c:

I will be updating frequently this week, so stay tuned for everything ^^
Meanwhile I will be working on whatever's on my to-do list to keep me busy.

Thank you!~
See you guys soon  

HEY GUYS! It's another edition of things I fandom! If you're a new watcher, it's basically a segment I do once in a while that features random things I've gotten into recently.  Since I've been feverishly working on my Youtube case study for marketing, I've been watching TONS of youtube videos. So why not share them? Here are some that you should check out!

Nutrigrain Commercial
To start off here's something funny c:



Mat Zo & Porter Robinson - Easy
I found this gem from my friend ~Banditgirl808
Lovely animation; something I want to make in the future ^^



PS3:  Kara & Behind the Scenes of Kara
Another vid from my friend, this video circulated a while ago, but not too many people have seen the behind the scenes footage.
I'm linking both here~




Evangelion - Radioactive AMV - Easy
This has been circulating around tumblr, and I want to share it here. This AMV has won several awards at Sakura-Con. You should definitely watch c:



Epic Rap Battles
I've been getting into Epic Rap Battles recently, and this is one of my favorites~



Bad Lip Reading
Bad Lip Reading is my favorite channel on youtube. If you don't know who they are, they basically remove the audio from videos and replace it with their own random giberish. This one especially made me die of laughter xD



The Most Popular Girls
I discovered this from Tumblr, and I swear it took over my life, I've watched all the episodes so far. Seriously one of the best things ever, you NEED to watch it if you haven't yet. *Language alert*




Ikoki Train
This one is for  Baby watchers! Challa Bros, The creator of the Matoki mascots (my journal here), has a mini web series that's been released. I think it'll be quite quirky ^^



Mystery Kids
This animatic is made by *Zakeno and she's planning on expanding it! Please give her lots of support ^^


Finally, before I go, here's a vid by ~Cherry-sama. If she gets 1000 views she gets an automatic A, so please support her!



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That's all for this edition on Things I Fandom! Check out the videos and tell me which you like
Also, if you have some favorites, share them with me since I love watching vids on Youtube xD
Now back to work~

Congrats to for catching my 28,000th pageview on the nose! This Kiriban prize was pretty competitive, so I'll be sure to open it again for the 29,000th or at least 30,000th view ^^

-------

This month I'm going to be very tied up with my final projects
Which reminds me, I'm doing a marketing case study, and I would very appreciate it if some of you guys can fill out this Youtube survey [link]

I'll try to update once I have school under control. I always feel bad for being active for a short while and disappearing again. Hopefully I can upload something soon. My big project is due on the 22nd so I'll be out of free time until then. Sorry for leaving you guys hangin as usual~
_{please fill out that survey I'll love you forever, K bye}

First off, KIRIBAN AT 28,000! I haven't had a Kiriban prize in a while, so I'll set it in effect now. There's less than 500 views left, so get stalking if you want something! Rules for Kiriban are the same as always:



If you win you can choose between:

- A full page digitally colored pic
- A full page traditionally colored pic (mailed)
- 4 panel digital comic

Good luck~

---

Spring Break is just about over and I haven't made as much works as I thought I would, but pretty productive I think for the most part. I've decided to put my to-do list on my page like before so I keep track of things. I'm planning a couple more comics (misc fandom) so look out for those! Also, I've got some new stuff in my shop if you want to check it out.

I think I've found the perfect balance between my facebook, dA and tumblr pages. This month (April) I'll be a bit busier with a final, but I'll try to update as frequently as I can. Thanks everyone ^^

First off, a million apologies for pretty much being dead for the past 3 months. School this year has been crazy and I haven't found a good day to just sit down and update my page. So after blowing through hundreds of old messages and watch updates, I've finally updated a few things here (except this journal LOL, this is probably staying for a while until I figure out how to make my own). My gallery has been updated with new folders and I cleaned out a few images that were unnecessary. Also if you check my main page I'll be posting my shop updates there under a new widget. The box links to my shop blog and the items there.

Anyway, it's Spring Break here and I'm looking forward to working on some art! WOOT! And yes, I'll actually post things during break. After my art slump last year, I'm feeling much more positive and I'm ready to make some new stuff. After visiting a local anime convention here with my friend we've decided that next year, we'll be reserving a table to sell merchandise and art there so there's no excuse to not be busy! I'll make sure of that, lol. ALSO, Ill try to enter a few contests here. I feel bad since a few of you sent me contest links last month, but I was too caught up with school to work on them. I'll try for this and next month. So, if you guys have any contest suggestions, leave them here! I need as many opportunities as I can get!

Here's a quick run down of my to-do list here:
SBT Comic
New Keychain Set
Movie Fanart (deciding which)
Misc Concept Art
Contest Entries

Hopefully I can work on these soon. I never usually complete my dA to do lists, but I'll have more free time this week so we'll see. It's good to be back again xD

I'll update soon. Thanks everyone!
PS my awesome friend Janeya is having $1 comissions here
If you guys want something you should totally check her out.

~ See you guys ~

HAPPY LATE NEW YEARS GUYS!
Wow, sorry I'm not on as much anymore. My new shop blog and life and laziness took over. As part of my 2013 self-improvement I told myself I would draw more, so expect more things to come hopefully! The Trio of Misfits comic will still be under hiatus. I'm actually building a website for it (I have the layout and all the coding done myself I'm so proud LOL), so that I can manage it separately there. I'm not sure if this is official yet, since I will need a lot of money to run it, but as far as me working on the comic, it will have to wait for a bit. Nothing much else new, besides being busy. I might work on some SBT art, but that seems up in the air as well. Also, I am planning to complete my year challenge of watching 100 new movies in 365 days. I've failed this challenge 3 years in a row, I will not let 2013 slip me away. If you guys have any suggestions, (I like anything animation especially ) feel free to tell me!

That's it for this update, see you guys~

There is a hacker going around deviantart with the username of
"neomoti". She will comment on one of your deviations saying
"stolen by :link:"

IF YOU PRESS THE LINK IT WILL SHOW YOU A LOGIN WEBPAGE OF DEVIANTART
DO NOT LOG IN
IT HACKS YOU
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE
THANK YOU

If you guys would like to see a picture of it go to here
[link]
AGAIN
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW ON HERE
--
If you see a comment from ~lilsweetmandee with a link, DO NOT CLICK THE LINK.
If you click the link, and you are logged out, DO NOT TRY TO LOG BACK IN.
IT'S A HACKER LINK.

THEY WILL HACK INTO YOUR ACCOUNT AND SCREW UP YOUR PAGE, CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD, AND MAYBE MESS UP YOUR ACCOUNT.

PLEASE PASS THIS JOURNAL ON TO HELP SAVE ACCOUNTS!!!
--
Don't try to go to Neomoti's page.... it leads you to login page, and if you log in then it will hack you.
--
Taken from superskeetospro. Spread the word, I've read several journals where this hack was successful. And I'll try to upload something soon. I don't know how soon, but soon O:

HI EVERYONE. AHHH I've literally saved a few things I was working on all this week in my Stash and posted everything all once. And I revamped everything on my page. Everything. I've made a new avatar, a new ID, also  rearranged some other things. And I've updated my merch photos with clearer pics. Still keeping the Matoki skin though xD
I love them too much. Don't judge me. I'll change it when I learn how to code.

I've got other important news! I have a new tumblr blog! [link] And there I'm selling all my keychains and stickers. I've gotten a few orders already which is nice. I'm asking everyone for some help. If you're on tumblr, could you please help and reblog a thing or two from the shop or help promote it in some way? I'd love you forever.

Trying to get more active here. Hopefully when winter break comes I can  have more stuff up. I'm not sure who's still keeping up with me, but if you're reading this, thank you ;o;
I'll try to have things up here again soon lol
Later

Congrats to for getting the kiriban! I'll be making your prize probably in the next week ^^

OH AND SOME KINDA EXCITING NEWS FOR ME I SUPPOSE. The documentary I worked with my teacher on a few semesters ago (I did animated graphics) is being featured in the Hawaii Internation Film Festival! And I'm a credit at the end of the film
Not sure if I can check out the premiere, but it's pretty awesome to say the least.

Also wanted to get out there that I'm finally learning CSS (thank you web design class) so I might be taking a crack at making my own journal skin soon. Upload stuff will come...in due time xD
Sorry for hardly posting things

Hopefully I'll get more stuff done. Later~

LOL SO I JUST CHECKED MY PAGE. Just about 50 more views until 24,000! Sorry this is so last minute, but to get out of my art rut, I think it would be good to give out a drawing. Here are the rules if you don't know:



If you win you can choose between:

- A full page digitally colored pic
- A full page traditionally colored pic (mailed)
- 4 panel digital comic

I'd offer more options, but because I have such a huge workload at the moment, I'll just have these listed. If you do win though, don't expect the drawing to come very soon. It might be up a couple of weeks after in fact.
Good luck everyone! And there's not much pageviews left!! LOL again sorry about that xD ~

Here's a quick update cause I'm ready to get cracking on some art stuff! To start off on an unrelated note I noticed my watchviews haven't decreased with my lack of activity which is amazing since I'm hardly here. But hopefully I'll be posting some things soon.

After my last journal I've spent some time thinking. And you know what? The only way I'm gonna get out of my art rut (or art depression as I call it) is to get off my butt and actually make something. And none of this worrying. No I won't do that. I'm tired of that already. Imma make what I want to make.

After going through my watch messages and seeing all these great new pieces from other artists, I feel rejuvenated. I have a TON of art books I haven't even looked at yet and maybe I'll try out some new styles. I'm actually excited about this. And maybe my drawings won't look all that great but better to get it all out now than to wait for another time I'm in the mood to draw. Who knows there might be something good that comes out of this.

Anyway, I'll also be posting some new keychain designs as a headsup. Shop will open again soon only one person has bought something but I won't stop with it.
So that's about it. Anticipate!

Hey everyone, I cleaned out my messages (3,000+ from watchers omg) so I feel safe to return somewhat now. With school starting again, I just wanted to  address something that has been concerning me, and maybe some of you too.

It's about art style. Everyone has one, and there are many different "types " out there. Especially in the different genres (such as anime, cartoonish etc). If you look through certain deviants' gallery most works will display their style pretty consistently. If you look through my gallery you'll see that, literally, I delve in different styles. I have a certain "hand" (the way my art looks) but as far as a style, I feel I have inconsistencies., or no set style? I guess I blame that I like to change it up every drawing.  Like whatever method or type linework I wanna do, I'll do it. But in a way, this has been bugging me. Like, I don't know how I should draw things sometimes simply because I have no set style.

Does it seem this way for you guys? Or have any of you felt this way? I know it's a weird thing to be worried about. Really, I shouldn't be worried about it all. But if say, an employer looks at my work and wonders why I everything looks different, will it be a problem?  I know some companies like consistency whereas other ones like variety. Specifically in animation, it's a touchy topic. Some will need all the variety you can get (especially in more experimental projects), whereas in a studio with ongoing work, consistency is important.

I just feel sort of torn I guess. I'm at a point where I feel I should decide on this soon to prep for my career. But the thing is, I like to do different types of work and experimenting. I don't know if I can commit to certain styles yet. I always sense some improvement, but in different directions/areas. And I'm always thinking about marketing as well. Like if certain styles fare better than others and if I should use that as an advantage. I don't know, just a lot to think about. Sorry for all the ranting. I'd appreciate if you want to discuss this though. Flem :/

I'd like to say a VERY big sorry to all my watchers, I haven't been very active AT ALL in a while, especially to the new ones who are probably expecting some SBT or Harvest Moon comic or something. My messages are piling up and I probably won't have time to go through all the deviations and stuff. My life is just really hectic at the moment. And I will confess right now that I my life has been taken away by tumblr. Yes you heard me tumblr. However, this is a secret account, and I am not willing to share my URL with anyone at the moment. This is because it's not an art blog or a personal blog, but a k-pop blog. So UNLESS you're into k-pop I will not be sharing the URL. If you do love k-pop, I'll be more than happy to give it to you and maybe follow you back. If not, I advise you stay away from me. Only one non-kpop online friend knows it, and I thank him so much for not judging me (seriously love you bro).

And I'm not desserting dA at all. No never. This site is too precious to me. But it's just idk. I've found a new sort of self-esteem on tumblr. Like here on dA I get anxious when I make a drawing because I'm always nervous how other people perceive it (I really shouldn't feel that way but I do). I could spend days drawing something and it really bums me out if I don't get enough feedback on it. But when I'm on tumblr I'll make a post that says something like "I love you guys" which takes basically NO EFFORT AT ALL and just a single note on it makes me so happy. I have no idea why really. Honestly I feel like I've become a better person emotionally because of it. Idk. Sorry for rambling.

Anyway, my shop is closed at the moment, but I will be working on a few orders over the weekend. I'll open shop again either next week or the week after. As far as art goes, It really might take a while. Sorry again guys.

Repost from ( and )

Apparently there's a hacker going around, hacking peoples accounts, and blocking YOUR friends so that they block YOU. You then get in trouble and banned from DA.

If you read this warning, care about those around you, you will spread this word, tell everyone so you aren't this guy's next victim. ALSO, If I block or say something to you that isn't appropriate for NO REASON, it's not me.

Please spread the word so no one you know is the hackers next victim!

((honestly guys, I don't know if this is a chain or not. I mean, we would have heard of some evidence of this..But ok, whatever...))

Ok so um, sorry for the dry barren of activity that is this dA page. I just bulldozed through 800+ messages of old watch deviations earlier, so I apologize if I didn't comment on some of your things yet. I've been trying, REALLY trying to get back to art stuff, but I have work commitments to finish . I have to finish TWO movies at the end of the month. Ugh. USDGJH UGH. Really, I'm sorry, because I had so much planned this summer and now it's being pushed around.

The contest for Trio of Misfits will still go on as planned, I just want to finish chapter 2 before announcing it to give more to the comic.

To be totally honest guys, I've been neglecting a lot of stuff because of damn B.A.P....ALDFJHLDAEIHFJ. Like seriously, I'm obsessed now. I've never had such an emotional connection to a k-pop group ever. And I've been listening to k-pop since like 2005.

_{GIF spam, cause eff you guys}




I've actually started a fic for them. And once I have the idea I NEED to get it down on paper (or in this case typing). Now I'm already heavily invested in it...BUT WORK AND OTHER ART STUFFS AND TOM AAAGGHH. It's driving me crazy really. Too many feels, not enough time to finish all these ideas xD


So, if you're still waiting for me to actually upload something like ToM or SBT it will have to wait...
_{But if you're a fellow Baby you're in for a lot of B.A.P stuff. LMAO.}

And I had over 40 messages waiting for me...because of the birthday game I just uploaded the other day. Holy cow xD
Thank you, fellow babies! It's really a nice surprise~

(PS I love this skin to death; forever obsessed with B.A.P)



So um, anyway, I have enough money to cover the button costs, which is awesome! I'm closing the button orders for now. I'm hoping to give out some pins for me contest coming up. Which by the way, I'd like more feedback on this poll here for the 2nd theme: [link].
The contest will be centered around my comic which you can check out here: [link].
I'm very slowly getting back to chapter 2 (emphasis on slow). It's a bit hard to set up now since my microsoft office doesn't work and ALL of my comic notes are docx which doesn't play very well with a lot of programs. I'm gonna have to get a new one :I

So yup, that's all. I will upload stuff (most likely either keychains or SBT stuff or the actual comic) when I do. Thanks C:

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