Personal - 2015 Art Summary

~~~

2015, Year & Art in Review.

Out of the past few years that I've been doing digital art, I think 2015 has been the heaviest, commission-wise, year to date.  And that's no small feat, considering that this was also the year my Naval Aviation career was really jump-started, and with earning my wings in OCT2015!  

This was an epic year for me, training- and art-wise, and now that I know I'm so skilled at balancing my military career with my art activity, I'm confident that this will be a trend for many years to come, even as I deploy overseas.  I have some great portable tools at my disposal now, and time- and schedule-management comes naturally to me.  This means a lot of upcoming Navy action, and lots and lots of artwork!  And this artwork will literally be done in between and inspired by real-deal missions that I'll be an integral and forward part of in the theatre.  It legit does not get more awesome than that.

I am also proud that this was the year that I FINALLY got my Lineless art back.  Those who watched me, (and still do,) on DeviantArt years back know that I used to do Lineless artwork almost exclusively.  After a turn of events, I quit doing it altogether, in 2013-2014 opting more for my Gradient Shading style.  That's when my commission work really took off, and I began to offer more styles, the most popular in 2014-2015 being Realistic Shading.  

I could tell that my Realistic Shading was advancing, and throughout 2015 began pushing myself, trying new techniques I'd never attempted before.  Finally, about mid- to late-summer, I found a technique that really worked for me, and I honed on personal pieces in the fall, finally being confident enough to offer Painting commissions, learning and improving my Painting skills with each piece I completed.  Other shading styles notwithstanding, I also experimented with Soft-Cell, Cell, Gradient, and even my Flats, trying new techniques to pack even more detail into these works for commissioners.  I also famously made my Flats 'not your average, everyday flat colours.' B)

Of course, along with my shading, I continued to improve my anatomy on various creatures as well, most notably dragons.  My proportions and knowledge of the skeletal and muscular systems have improved since years past, but I'm continuing to learn and observe real creatures.  My next hurdle is to add a realistic layer of skin and fat over my creatures - my eagerness to show off my improved muscle knowledge hindering me from wanting to cover it up, hehe.

In other news, this year, I learned I can dance!  My fursuit, Sniper, really opened up those doors for me, fursuit dancing being something that I had admired for years before.  Once Sniper arrived, one of the first things I was itching to do was dance, and y'all know the story from there.  I also feel that, with my different fursuits and characters, my performance in fursuit has improved dramatically, making it even a more fun and immersive experience.

I also really branched out into social media this year, becoming more active on Tumblr, and also grabbing accounts on Twitter and FaceBook.  These sites have really helped me keep in touch with people, and reconnect with folks more active on these sites than DA/FA.  My YouTube account has also been growing, hitting over 1000 Subscribers, and not to mention the 10,000 Watcher mark on FurAffinity!  These are really cool milestones that I couldn't have hit without y'all!

All I can say is thanks to y'all for continuing to support me over the years!  It's been awesome getting to meet so many cool people, and I appreciate every single comment and favourite!  And thanks to everyone who has commissioned me and is interested in doing so in the future - every one and even just the interest means a lot to me, and it's been a pleasure having the opportunity to work on so many wonderful and awesome character designs!  I can't wait to offer even more commission types in 2016, with improved work for even better pieces for folks.

I'm really looking forward to 2016 and many more years to come.  With my Naval career really taking off in the theatre and my art improving with shading, anatomy, and Painting techniques, there are only epic things in store for the future.  And I can't wait to be able to share it with y'all!

So cheers to 2015, and Happy 2016!

Two-Block, FOXTROT!

~~~