#follower bonus

I really want to say thank you to all of my followers. Thank you to those of you who started following me in one fandom and are enthusiastic enough about my artwork to stay with me even when I move into a different fandom.  If you're here with me because you liked my TF2 artwork, or Sherlock, or Johannes Cabal, or BioShock Infinite, or whatever other work I might've done that you liked -- I'm so glad to know that you're not done with me yet. Time changes everybody, and media tastes are always shifting.  Today there are a lot of things I want to draw for SNK; tomorrow it might be The Muppet Movie.  (Disclaimer: It won't actually be The Muppet Movie.  Ever.  Sorry.) But when I make a shift like that, and people stay with me because they enjoy seeing my artwork regardless of fandom, please know how motivating that is.  Please accept my gratitude for your positivity in my life.  For your belief in me.  You don't have to stay with me -- and it's not a bad thing if you've moved on to other things yourself, or just choose not to! -- but when people do stay, I figure I'm probably doing something that you enjoy.  So thanks. When people reblog my artwork and tag it with things like, "wow that art style" or "dem lines tho" or "beautiful artwork," that means the world to me, too.  If you like not just what I did, or the idea that I had, but also how I did it?  Wow, thank you.  Like a lot of artists, my art style is always changing (in either subtle or significant ways) as I attempt to adjust things about it that I find unsatisfactory.  In that way, it can be hard to feel I have a "style" at all -- I just feel that I'm inconsistent and faking it in hopes no one will catch on fast enough.  When I think about my "art style," what I see is not a pattern of brushstrokes -- it's a recurrence of flaws that I haven't yet corrected.  "My art style is heads that are too big, necks that are too long, facial features that take up too much of the head, and wrists and ankles that are too narrow.  You mean that style?"  But what you guys see are the things I do when I draw that are no longer visible to me as decisions: I don't think about how I draw a bellybutton or an ear because that's how I draw a bellybutton or an ear.  Maybe to you I draw really sensuous ears or something, I don't know. But when you make a comment like that, a comment that says my execution really worked for you -- I assure you I read all the tags people put on my reblogs and that kind of positive feedback really lifts my heart up, sometimes when I badly need it.  Please accept my gratitude for your enthusiasm and your praise.  For taking the time to say something so unnecessary and so thoughtful. Thank you to all my followers for following me.  For liking something of mine enough to want to see more things by me, all the things by me.  Thank you!  I hope you enjoy as much of what I produce as possible. Thank you to all of the people who like or reblog stuff I do that is weird, unexplained, or outside your realm of knowledge, just because you like it and it seems neat.  That's amazing of you!  You don't have to like things in the same way that I like them in order to enjoy my work.  I'm thrilled when you enjoy and support my work even if you can't make heads or tails of it beyond the obvious.  Thank you for liking or reblogging and letting me know. And thanks for sending me asks.  I love getting them.  Whether you have questions about what I did, or why I did it, or what I think about some fanon thing or other, or you just want to say hi or tell me you liked something, I know it takes time and effort (and sometimes willpower) to reach out and talk to someone personally, and I'm glad you picked me.  Thanks. :D Thank you.  All of you.  Thank you for enjoying my work, for supporting me, and for making sure I know how you feel.  You're my followers, and I treasure every single last one of you. Happy 2014.  - lifecrystals / artcrystals / smutcrystals