Happy new year!
Journal updated to add some personal thanks
Well then, it's the end of 2012. My first full year as a brony and as an "artist." This has been a really interesting year and I had lots of fun. I'm going to use this journal as a retrospective for 2012 and to outline my plans for 2013 and beyond. Also, I have a Thanks section at the end. I encourage you to do the same in the comments (Or your own journal) if you want. I'd love to hear about how your years have gone!
2012
Last Christmas is when I first got my tablet and consequently when I first really started digital art. I had been on a Christmas vacation (Like this year), so I didn't really start using it until the last few days of the year, so I might as well say I started in 2012. When I started off, I got a tablet as "just a toy," not really planning on going very far with it. I would use it to do some random art stuff every now and then and that would be that. Oh boy how plans change. When I first got my tablet, I made a sort of promise to myself to draw something every day. Obviously that didn't last more than a month or so, but it did start good drawing habits. I would recommend doing that to someone else who just got into art.
On the MLPDrawingSchool, back then we were still doing livestreams and community events all the time. Draw-Alongs were very common and very educational. Some of my best work back then came from draw-alongs. In the months of May and June (And a little bit around them) I went on an art-spree. I'm not sure how it started, but for two weeks I did something almost every day. Sometimes I even had two pieces a day. My improvement was incredibly rapid and I was having tons of fun. I would definitely recommend taking a month or so to dedicate all your free time to art. I still think that those two months were extremely foundational to my art today.
A lot of stuff has happened since then, and I won't bore you all with the details, since a year is a lot to cover and most of the interesting stuff was in the last paragraph. After that "art spree," I kind of slowed down for various reasons, even considered stopping for a while. I've pushed through and become an even better artist (Like usually happens when you push through).
It's been an awesome year and I never expected to gain this much popularity, no matter how relatively small it is. Every time I look at my page, it's still surreal realizing that I made that art and that I have that many watchers. Especially when I see so many other artists better than me with a fraction of my watchers. If I would describe 2012 in one word, it would be either "art" or "creativity." I've been rediscovering my creativity this year and it's been awesome.
Edit whoops, almost forgot this:
2013
Before I begin, obviously plans change, things will almost certainly go differently than I expect. That said, I do have some vague plans for this year. If last year was the year of "art," this year is going to be the year of "development." Yeah, this year I want to dedicate to game development. I want to try to have some project, no matter how small, at some presentable stage every month (Unless I'm really busy, like finals or something). A few of you may know, I want to be an indie game developer. For years now I've been teaching myself all the skills needed to make a game (Unknowingly). I've been doing Python programming, visual art, music, storytelling, even voice acting a little tiny tiny bit (Still suck at it). You might think since I have all these skills to some degree, I could just sit down and make a game! It's not that easy. You see, I have these skills, but I don't have the experience of putting them together into a cohesive project. I don't know very well how to make a game from conceptualization to completion. So this year I plan on rectifying that.
Whenever I "complete" any of these projects, I'll make sure to share them on here, so you guys won't be in the dark or anything. A few of them might be pony-related, but I have no idea at this point. Most of the time, I'll make them open source, but again no promises.
So what does that mean for you guys? Well, it means I'm going to be dedicating a lot more time to game development. Which means either a lot less time doing art or a lot less time being active on dA. Either way, you guys will be seeing less of me this year. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not leaving and I'm not going on hiatus. I will simply be less active than I was this year (And I was really active parts of this year).
Now that the meat of next year is down, I'll move on to the more artistic parts of it. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, but I'm planning on moving away from pony a little bit. I won't stop altogether for a while, as long as I still enjoy it, but I need to move on to greater challenges. Not to mention most of my games will be non-pony and so I need to be able to do non-pony art. So you'll probably be seeing more humans and landscapes and objects on here. Also, I recently got a watercolor set and I plan on picking that up.
As I said before, this plan is probably going to all fall through and who knows what I'll end up doing. Either way, I'll make sure to have fun doing it.
Thanks
Now that I've finished with the main point of this journal, I want to thank a few of my friends who made me who I am today for the last year and hopefully more in the future, especially artistically.
First and foremost would be viwrastupr who taught me 80% of my artistic knowledge. Not only that, but he taught me how to learn and how to teach myself. Honestly, I owe all my artistic skill to him, though he won't admit it. Viw, you are amazing and I'm so glad you've been around. You've been a major influence on me and I won't forget it.
Second would be my friend Cowz, who likes to remain somewhat anonymous and doesn't have a deviantArt. I'm not sure exactly when we started chatting, but it's been awesome since. We've had tons of deep conversations, especially about games and art. Maybe you don't think it was much, but your friendship does mean a lot to me.
Next is MR-1. For several months this year, we would bounce artistic ideas off of each other. I'm glad you haven't given up on art and I will honestly do everything in my power to help you whenever you want.
Thanks to Firgof for you know exactly what. Also for putting up with my incessant questions. You're awesome.
koetsu. You may not like me and we may not exactly get along, but I won't deny you have talent and skill. I'm glad you shared at least some of it with me and it would be a crime to not at least mention you. Thanks for being around and answering my questions. You spent hours helping me with tedious things like 5-point perspective and volumes.
CosmicUnicorn for that awesome critique. It inspired me to work on my composition a lot and I'm honored you liked it enough to give me input. Not to mention you're an amazing artist and an idol of mine.
shortskirtsxplosions. Oh boy, where to begin? I don't think even you quite realize how much you've touched me with your writing. All of your stuff I've read (Admittedly not enough) has made me think. A lot. End of Ponies had me getting lost in imagination for hours on end like I haven't done for years. I'm still honored someone so insightful and talented as you is willing to interact with me.
PianoPonky. Oh Ponky. My greatest rival in shortskirts adoration. Pretty soon, you're going to be gone for two whole years. You can definitely know that I'll miss you while you're gone. Make sure when you get back to find me somehow or another. It's been great chatting with you and watching funny pony videos with you. I wish I'd gotten time to read your fics before you leave, but things happened. Have a good 2 years!
Next is a real life friend of mine, KyleTracyn who I've had tons of talks about art with. We've both pushed each other and shared whatever knowledge and experience we can. I'm so glad to have a friend who started art at basically the same time as me, we can share our experiences more than most people. I'm glad you discovered watercolors and how good you are at them. I look forward to seeing what you create.
I want to mention Kn16h7. He's my oldest internet friend I've kept in touch with and probably the second oldest friend (real life or internet). I'm glad to be able to still chat with you and nostalgia about "the old days." Keep being awesome man.
Karzahnii deserves some credit for getting me interested in digital art. He created the iScribble board where I spent hours using my mouse to draw ponies with some other, much better artists than myself. It was because of that iScribble board, largely, that I gained an interest in a tablet. You're also a really cool guy and an awesome artist.
Everyone on the MLPDrawingSchool, especially in the IRC. Things might be a little different now than they used to be, but you guys are still awesome. I spent countless hours in that IRC room talking about art and ponies and everything else. I owe a lot of my artistic ability to you guys too.
Lastly but certainly not least, thank you! All of my watchers! You all decided you liked my art enough to click a little button and add me to a list of artists whose art you really like. It really means more than you can know and it's because of you guys that I keep going. I wish I could get to know each and every one of you and personally thank all of you, but there aren't enough hours in the day. That said, if anyone wants to chat or has any questions, I'm perfectly free for it. Send me a Note or a Reddit PM at reddit.com/u/darkflame7 or a Steam invite at steamcommunity.com/id/darkflam… . I would love to get to know you guys.
