What? Already? Yes.

As the new year approaches, I figure it'd be worth writing something like this. Truthfully, I'm not even sure where or how to begin. It's been an interesting year on my Newgrounds account, to say the least. There's so much I could say. Let's just get the obvious out of the way.

A WHOLE BUNCHA OC NONSENSE

If you've been following me for awhile, you've no doubt noticed the major shift in content around the beginning of the year. I'm of course talking about the major focus on my OCs. I actually started putting them out there back in 2022, but it's only this year that I started to really LEAN in on that. Many of them are characters I've had floating around in my head for so many years at this point.

I'm not gonna lie, I was in a terrible headspace at the end of 2022. Not to throw a pity party for myself, but I felt like I was going through the wringer beginning the October of that year. Some of it was self inflicted, admittedly, but a lot of it wasn't. Regardless, I don't want to get too deep into real life shit like that on here.

What I'm getting at is that as I entered 2023, I realized that I'm not getting any younger. Life is passing me by and if I don't start doing something with these characters, these ideas, then will I ever?

To finally put all this out there has been truly cathartic and I'm happy to share that with you all. I can only hope you feel the same about them, in some way. They're very personal to me, two of them in particular. To see any kind of positive feedback for them has just been so rewarding. Whether that be through faves, reviews, or even fan art. My OCs have FAN ART. HOW

It's also been quite strange, admittedly. I've never considered myself a visual artist and in a lot of ways I still struggle to see myself that way. I often feel that it's almost disrespectful to call myself one, like I haven't "earned" it and I'm not really putting in the effort to earn it either. I don't go through steps like sketching things out, I don't really watch many tutorials (some here or there if I'm really struggling), I'm not going to classes, I don't look at references as often as I should, and I haven't got any of the proper equipment. Can I really call myself an artist? Eh, not worth stressing over ultimately.

With my lack of skill, equipment, and general knowledge I'm just diving into it all headfirst, trying to have fun more than anything. Like I said before, I just wanted to put my OCs out there into the world, regardless of it all. Just fuckin' DO IT before it's too late.

Even though I haven't really been following any kind of structure, it's undeniable that I've improved. Like, visibly so! This was the first year where I was drawing seriously in years, outside the shield of irony and, "it's supposed to look like shit bro." In general I've been trying to be more sincere, both through my work and as a person. It can be so hard to be vulnerable like that, but I know it's even more tiring for others to deal with someone that acts so jaded all the time. It's also much more gratifying to be open with others, to an extent anyway.

If you want an easy way to keep up with what I've posted so far for my OCs, you can check the various playlists I've made for them. Though, it's still not gonna be too easy to keep track of since I post content from all over the hypothetical timeline of events I've set up. If you're also just too darn lazy to go through all that, then here's...

TEN HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PAST YEAR

Yep, here's ten pieces from this year that I'm either really proud of now or was proud of at the time. Not in any particular order and I'll try not to write too much about them since they already tend to have descriptions that go on for way too long.

The latest piece I'll be highlighting, I'm a little sad this one kinda underperformed compared to the posts around it tbh. Maybe I just posted it on a bad day or it could just suck. I dunno. Even if it does, I still like it. It was interesting to draw Ninjiro completely outside of his ninja uniform without a mask for the first time and I think this is the best I've drawn Jenny's body (so far). I've always imagined her being pretty bottom heavy with a slimmer frame up top. That is the, uhhh, nicest way I can phrase that. I'm not the most consistent artist, so that isn't clear sometimes. Hopefully I'll continue to get better at that.

Now the oldest image I'm gonna be featuring. Not the first comic I've done for my OCs, but the first one to focus on the daily life of Jennifer and Ninjiro. This was back when I was using Photofiltre 7 to draw before switching to Gimp later on. All of the images I used Photofiltre 7 have a certain, "crust" to them as it's an old photo editing program I stuck with for so long because I liked the UI.

You can see I was still using (mostly) handwritten text and speech bubbles. My handwriting already sucks, but done with a mouse? It's ROUGH. I didn't like typing the text in back then because whenever I tried it always looked out of place with PF7. Even with a more proper font. Just so much visually inconsistent with this one, some of it done for humor but most done out of error or laziness. I've gotten better with visual consistency in the time since, even if I'm not great with it even now. Still, I like the premise behind it so much, that I feel it (mostly) shines through the presentation.

I didn't do a lot of fanart this year, it just wasn't where my passion lied. Still, I did put out some here or there. Of them all, I think this is the best. I love the TMNT and their rogues gallery. Like I said in the description, I truly believe they have the best villains of any comic characters outside of Spider-Man and Batman. I didn't take from any one adaptation either, just drawing whichever ones I liked the best with the designs I liked best (at the time). Heck, in Rat King's case he's not really based on any one canonical look for the character. He's based on the Mirage look but with the colors of '87 toon version.

Can you call it fanart if it's technically for something you aren't a fan of? I dunno. I love Boba and Cad, but I'm not a fan of Book of Boba Fett at all, honest! I know I talk and joke about it way too much for someone who doesn't like it. The impact this show left on me and a group of friends has been damaging to an unspeakable degree. Unironically mindbroken, we're actually still living with the consequences of it to this day. This was so much fun to do and it... raised a bit of controversy lmao. Shoutouts to Cad Bane's little red blinking light.

This was perhaps my most ambitious comic of the year. Multiple backgrounds, dynamic paneling, and more involved posing. I think it was worth it. I've always been a big fan of Simpsons style "screw the audience" jokes, so I wanted to do something like that here. I liked this one so much, I even extended it out. It was originally going to end with the reveal of them eating literal Hertz Donuts, but I added those extra panels at the end to have a cute moment in it. Seemed like everyone else agrees since this one did major numbers and I am so thankful that.

My submission for the Loss Kollab. Truthfully, I wasn't planning on participating in this until @CrockettDK sent it my way and I was like, "Eh. Sure." I don't join many collabs since I'm not confident enough in my art to really do so (this is also a reason why I skipped out on Secret Santa 2023, which I kinda regret in hindsight).

Despite being a funny shitpost, I undeniably got some quite valuable practice in with this. As simple as they look, it was my first real attempt at that kind of background/object angling and perspective since middle school. The poses are a bit stiff, but that's because I was using CAD as a reference LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Nah but seriously my posing is generally kinda stiff, should continue to work on that.

I was cookin with gas or somethin around this time since the last three images were posted concurrently. This was a bit of fanart for @HeartisttheArtist, featuring his character Contessa Scarlatta. My own vampire OC, Lord Velo Belosa, is also in the background there. I've drawn a couple pieces of fanart for Heartist this year, but conceptually I think this one hits the hardest. I was going for a Hammer poster type of vibe and think I nailed that aesthetic about as much as I could. It's very rare I use filters on the actual characters I draw, but I think it paid off here quite well. It's something a bit different for me. I've put some genuine thought into a Ronin/Ninjiro crossover, as forced and unrealistic as that'd likely turn out to be. Would certainly be cool, though!

Speaking of something different, this! This was a radically different style compared to what I'm usually doing and it was so exciting. Just filling out the page with all these different sketches and thoughts from the perspective of Jenners from around the time she first met Ninji. Jennifer being an artist has been a fairly recent addition to her character, though I've always seen her as a bit of a creative type. That hat you see her wearing sometimes was her own design, she sewed the "eyes" on herself and most of her skateboard decks were also designed by hand.

I can't believe how nice this turned out for what was ultimately my first attempt at this sort of style, one that's essentially the polar opposite of what I usually do. I'm not ranking these in any order, but this might be my fave of the year. Maybe. I'm just thrilled it performed so far above my expectations!

This one is important for a couple reasons. First of all, it introduced Carol! Carol here came to be when I wanted to recycle Jennifer's original gothic character design after I revamped her to be a more upbeat punk type girl. She's an important part of the dynamic since she sort of, grounds both Ninjiro and Jen. She's not only the straightman to their shenanigans, but she's also the closest their little group has to an 'average' civilian. Carrie here has slowly raised through the ranks to be my most reoccurring OC outside of the main two.

You'll also notice the second appearance of running gag Skate Dracula. This gag was actually born from this image. By the end of drawing this, I was so tired of it I couldn't think of anything to put on Jen's shirt so I just wrote SKATE DRACULA and called it a day. From there, I've just kept the bit going. I adore the absurd fake movie and TV shows/commercials gags in shows like The Simpsons and Gravity Falls so Skate Dracula falls into that category, fueled by my unironic and ironic obsession with Dracula. Surprised nobody had done much with the concept before now.

This also began the more subtle running gag of Jennifer being thirsty as fuck, always drinking something. I actually don't know if anybody has even noticed that this is a recurring thing. Truthfully, it wasn't even intended to be a bit at all until I noticed the following three posts also involved her sipping on something in one way or another. So I bring it back sometimes. Goddamn, can't believe I got this much out of this one.

There's a lot of posts I could have finished this retrospective with. In particular, I'm also quite fond of these. In the end, though, I decided to go with this one. While I've always had a loose idea for how Ninjiro would look without his mask, this is where I finally solidified it. I didn't think I could design an unmasked Ninji that I liked as much as his masked look, but I pulled it off somehow! This post also marked a sort of, slightly belated one year anniversary for when I first posted the original Ninjiro character sheet so it's worth highlighting for that as well.

Remember how I said I'd try not to write so much about this? Crazy how long ago that was, huh?

I've definitely been keeping myself busy with all this, as you can no doubt tell. When I started this, I was more than a little scared. Scared how it might be received by friend and follower alike. Would this be seen as embarrassing? What if nobody cares? Why should they care? It was completely new territory for me and it still kinda is, really.

Yet, my passion outweighed the fear and I just kept going. Kept going because I love these characters and I'm gonna keep shoving them in your face until you do too... or you at least tolerate and acknowledge them. That works too.

Oh, but they've definitely gotten some major love! In general, my posts have gradually been getting a warmer and more consistent reception as the months and my art progressed. And as I said before, I've even gotten fanart! Lots of great fanart! Love to see it so much!

I really can't thank everyone enough for the support. The reviews, the faves, the follows, and everything else. Like, really, I can't. I know I'm not the most skilled or talented artist, but in spite of that I've been truly blessed to have more people who enjoy my stuff than I could have hoped for. As I said before, I'm so happy I get to share all of this with you, whether you like it or not. Thankfully, a good chunk of you seem like you do. All this out the way, let's finally move on to other things.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWGROUNDS GOINGS ONS

I also lent my voice to a cartoon this year. That's right, I got to play the illustrious part of Ratmire McRat in the cartoon Eugene's Show! It feels like the role I was born to play.

Seriously, though, this was a cool thing to be apart of. Being a voice actor has been a bit of a dream of mine, but I also hate my voice so it's not something I've ever seriously pursued. Being asked to do this was really something else, Fezbet was totally cool with the few changes I made to their script and was very nice to work with overall.

If you ever want my vocal talents, feel free to ask. I don't know if I'm going to really be searching for roles myself quite yet.

If you're curious how things are going with me outside of NG, I'm doin' pretty good. Better than I was doing this time last year at least. That being said, I think I should wrap this up since good god that's a lot of words.

But before I go, I'd like to give a special thanks to a couple people.

THE BIG SHOUTOUTS

@HarukaFucksBees

@CommanderFordo

@Turbo-Tastic

Genuinely my oldest and dearest friends. Thanks for dealing with me through all this, even joining NG after I got so hard into it again. I know I can be a bit much to put up with sometimes, but you guys are always there for me. It's offical, you rule!

@Xaloid

Xaloid, my bro, you've been supporting me for so long and I really cannot explain how much I appreciate that. That validation has been so vital for my journey as an artist. So fun to talk with and so supremely talented, I'm glad I can call you a friend. I can't believe how lucky I am to have met someone who enjoys my company and work so much on the NG forums of all places. I hope to see more from you in 2024!

@HeartisttheArtist

Heartist, your OCs and dedication to them have proven to be vitally inspirational to me. It's always a delight to talk about them (and literally anything else) with you and I can only hope you feel the same with me. It's crazy to think someone as good as you likes what I make, but I'm so thankful for that. It means the world. Excited to see what you got in store for next year.

@CrockettDK

Another person I met on the NG forums back when I used to post on there and I've made many connections thanks to them. Genuinely a cool person with a bright future on here. Really looking to that Transformers collab, good luck with it!

@TheShokBlok

We don't talk much since the general forum closed, but you've always seemed super cool and your art style is too cute. Your Ninjiro and Jenny fanart really came at the perfect time after a particularly rotten day at work and I cherish it so much, you don't even know. Thank you.

@BUNKUMBITCH

We've never really chatted much so this might come completely out of nowhere for you, but your support for Jennifer and Ninjiro hasn't gone unnoticed. I appreciate it a lot and I really dig your sharp art style too. Dominique is a cool ass OC, keep up the good shit! Grateful for your support!

This year, I tried to actually reach out and form new connections. In some cases for the better, in others maybe not so much. That's just the way it goes, eh? For what it's worth, I've formed some of the strongest friendships I've made in years thanks to that, so I'd say it was totally worth it. I might just try more of that in the new year. I've never been the most social person in the world, but I'm trying to improve.

FINAL THOUGHTS AND PLANS FOR 2024

Uhhh, none? I dunno, I don't have a solid plan going into next year. I don't think I'm ready to do anything serious with the Moon's Eye Saga stuff yet, but that can always change. Either way, I'd also like to say thanks for 180 fans! Wow! Never did I think I'd get this far on NG, but I've managed it! To think I might even reach 200 one day...

Until then, stay cool. I appreciate every single one of you, much love for your support! I have one more new comic for the year going up sometime tomorrow and then that'll be that. I hope you have a happy new year and may 2024 be a better year for us all, regardless of how good or bad your 2023 was.