122713-HOME!

Well, the family and I decided that we'd come home a day early.  I got a little hurt skiing yesterday and we were all tired and running out of things to do, so we came home.  I've caught up on my deviations already and most of the journals.  Still need to go through comments.  The trip overall was good.  Kinda stressful.  I need my alone time every once in awhile and I didn't really get it..Plus some tragic things with IRL friends really has irked me in the last couple days.  I'm not goingto detail either one of these.

I've finished all except for one of the Christmas gifts.  The one I haven't finished I'm just goingto do later after I get some practice in.  They've already okay'd it with me.  I have three standalone abstracts to post and two dragons.  I'll be posting them within the next few days so I don't spam your inboxes like I did Christmas day. 

About those Christmas gifts....I'll say it..I can't do what I did this year again...I did too many, and I still wish I could have done one for everyone...It was too much...I resorted to doing busts for everyone...and I felt like I rushed some of them too.  It was too much to do within a month..It was exhausting and it really began to just feel like a chore...I had asked people to volunteer to be removed, but I ended up doing ones for all of them, too...I felt bad..But I cannot do it again.  I've done some improving art-wise but I spend alot more time on pieces now than I used to...

That kindof brings me to commissions.  A big reason I don't do them is because I don't have very much confidence in my art.  I'm really working on fixing my anatomy and shading, but I don't feel like I could charge people money or points to draw them something at my current skill level.  And second is points themselves..  Enigmatic-Ki outlined this very well in one of her recent journals. I spend between 2-4 hours on just about everything I make now except if it's a sketch or a traditional shaded thing.  Charging even 80 points is just one dollar...One dollar for something I put my heart and soul and time into..It doesn't feel right.  Back when I was just doing standalone abstracts before I began drawing, my grandma told me I could sell them for alot of money.  Drawing, eh.  I'd say, when I improve I could--but not for the equation of one dollar..It's not right. Drawing, though, is just a hobby for me and I have no intention on selling any of my art at this point in time.  It's not my goal to make money doing art.  I draw because I enjoy it and enjoy learning it.  If it was my goal, I would have taken art classes and be drawing for more than a year and a half..  Sorry for that little rant.  I'd much rather work for an art trade or a collab than commissions that are underpriced because dA's point system isn't great and because it 'isn't professionally done'.  I don't necessarily find myself a good artist, in all honesty.  I'm happy with how much I've improved in the time, but it doesn't mean I'm proud of where I'm at..It's what pushes me so hard to improve, I think.

I will now feature all the awesome Christmas gifts I've received this year. I love all of them!  Thanks so much to everyone!

Uglypenguin  Sonikku337  Kyorgra  leiyue  plexusdynasty  Enigmatic-Ki  bloodkitsune11  DragaFlammis <da:thumb id="418870777"/>