#in terms of original stuff; I wanna redesign/design as many ocs as I can

[mrultra100]

And here we are, folks! As of this coming out, we're only two week away from the start of the new year (along with Christmas being just a week away), so why not come with me on a little walk on memory lane, and discuss not only the progress that I made this year, but also the progress that I've made as an artist in general so far?

While it hasn't been stated much before, I started doing digital art in general back in 2019, more than 5 years ago. And ever since then, I've been steadily making art and improving my skills. The pieces that I made back in '19 were hella rough, as I was just a newbie at the time who didn't knew what he was doing. But over time, I started to get my footing; making new friends that shared the same interests as me, my interests changing and maturing over time, and just generally slowly improving my craft. And that can't be more prevalent than this very year. I mean, think about it; Fakemon design, an art trade, experimenting with different brushes and art styles, having your work featured on a Youtube channel (twice on two different occasions), and especially working on TWO different monthly drawing challenges in the same year. I usually don't wanna toot my own horn, but looking back at the input for 2024, I can certainly say that it's been my most successful and experimental year yet (despite how long it can take between releases).

So with all of that said, what's next for me as an artist? While I can't fully say right now (mainly due to how I'm still trying to brainstorm ideas atm, along with maybe coming up with a secret project or two? I'll need to get that figured out in due time), what I CAN say is pretty neat, as I got a few things to share and tease for the future.

More Maryanna: At this point, Mary has basically become her own character, gradually evolving from what she was originally. As much as I wanna continue with the JT stuff, I've been getting kinda less and less interested about it atm. Not only due to how there's not really much an audience for it, but also due to how Johnny Test, as a franchise, is likely dead in the water for real this time (Wildbrain using the episodes as content farming doesn't really help). This... wasn't easy for me to come to terms with in the slightest, as I did admittingly grew up with the show during Cartoon Network's CHECK IT era back in the early 2010's, but given that the series itself has faded in the public eye after it became the target of so much ridicule due to how the actual series itself has gotten worse with time, it left me thinking on what to do with the original ideas presented with Primal Eternity. Keep in mind; I still LOVE what I suggested for JT: PE so far, but I feel like it could be put on the backburner for a long while. Maybe I could return to it in the future? Perhaps. But, as it stands now, Maryanna (along with Susanic) are going in their own path. What started as me drawing and rambling about the vampire versions of a couple of characters from a 2000's flash cartoon has resulted in them becoming their own distant characters by now, and given that Mary herself is basically ONE of my mascot OCs now (more on that later), it stands to reason that her own adventure is about to begin...

Fakemon Design: As many of you might remember, I tried experimenting with my ideas for a whole Fakemon region based on the Pacific Northwest back in 2022, mainly inspired by the announcement of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. While the steam on that series has long since ran out, I still kept the thought of making Fakemon in the back of my head, as some of my earliest memories on the web involve looking up all sorts of Fakemon designs on places like Tumblr and Deviantart. And as such, I wanna get back to making Fakemon next year. Will I get back to my region-making idea? I'm not sure, but I'm down for it if I get enough ideas to fully make it work. I also wanna experiment with redesigning certain Pokemon as well, so stay tuned for that too.

More Paleoart: Between the few one-off pieces and the second May-strichtian Madness challenge, I really made alot of paleoart this year, haven't I? I'm happy to announce that I'll planning to make more of it in 2025, as it's gearing up to be a MASSIVE year for paleomedia, mainly due to yet another Jurassic World movie coming out next year, but also two big paleodocs in the form of Survivng Earth and the upcoming Walking with Dinosaurs reboot. We just need PHP season 3 to complete the trio of high-quality paleodocs in 2025. And not only are we seeing those projects come out in the new year, but there's also plenty of other forms of paleomedia that are not only coming as well, plenty have already been released in this paleomedia resurgence (Amber Isle, both the Dinosauria and Sauria series made by David James Armsby, the aforementioned PHP already having 2 seasons released, and even TUROK of all franchises coming back next year, along with many others). Needless to say, it's a very good time to be a paleonerd, and I'm hoping to make more art to show off my love for the ancient past.

Art Rebranding + New Look!: Time for the biggest reveal of all! Recently, I've been thinking about updating my current look and style to keep up with my ongoing progress as an artist. The look that I've been having has been around for 6+ years now, but I feel like I should do some spring cleaning to keep up with my work, especially after getting inspired by @space-dragon14 and his recent rebranding. While I can't fully share every detail that I've got cooking in the oven as of right now, I've got some big plans in mind for the future. New look, new logo, same nonsense, and ESPECIALLY a new OC/persona in the works, as you can see up above. Just who exactly is this odd-looking hammerheaded newcomer? You'll just have to wait and see. Just know that soon, you better get ready to take the plunge and experience the madness for yourselves...

And with that, we are fully done with this update+ recap, folks! After a crazy years both in terms of art and real-life stuff, it just fees nice to kick back and to relax for a bit (also went on a quick weekend trip to Atlanta recently, so that was fun). While I'll remain to be active on the web as always, keep it mind that art will slow down for a while, as I wanna get my plans fully figured out first. While the world is gonna be a bit more rough for the next few years, which I'm not looking forward to, I'll always continue to keep making art and other sorts of weird things. If 6 years of being on the internet has taught me anything, it's that making folks’ lives just a bit better with my work will always be my main drive in life.

Hope you all have a very good Christmas, and a happy new year (assuming that the world doesn't go down the crapper by then), and stay tuned for what'll be rising from the depths soon...

[hitomishiga]

im gonna write some shit like some fandom shit these hols if I get the time + motivation between original stuff + real life lmao hmu w suggestions any time