Artist Vs. Art 2025
I'm creeping onto 15 years of digital art in a year or two and I'm just amazed that this is something I've stuck with for so long. There were times in the last decade that almost made me give up on art, but I always managed to make at least something every year. 2020/2021 was a particularly bad time for me (dare I say the whole world would agree lol), it was the closest I had been to seriously putting down the pencil.
I let 2021 pass and tried to be nicer to myself in 2022. I was bumbling around for that year aimlessly, rolling into 2023. Still kinda reeling from the last 2 years, I figured I'd try to put myself out there and try and find communities I could join. I had just started getting back into fanart again and making a small social media presence for myself. Come the middle of 2023, I stumbled upon a post made by a pixel artist I had followed for years, talking about just the thing I was looking for.
Well, you know the rest. I yap enough all over the internet that you can find my musings just about anywhere. I'm feeling very sentimental these holidays. The realisation that these artist communities and fandoms are a part of my daily routine struck me the other day. We may not know each other personally, we're all from all the corners of the world; but communities like these help me stay grounded. If you had told mid-pandemic me that I'd be where I am right now, making video games, meeting like-minded people, participating in global art events, finally learning how to draw a background (lol), I would have just laughed.
Despite my positive demeanour, I'm a huge pessimist and usually my own biggest critique and hater. I've had a lot of personal loss in the last 10 years, it's made me a bit cynical. The last few years have taught me to be softer and nicer to myself.
I love community and creativity and I love the people who make those things special. Happy holidays and end of year folks^^ I can't wait to see what next year has in store for us.
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