HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012 was a tough year. Yeah. I've been brought down many times and lost some artistic direction, but in the end, it was a fun year that opened up a ton of opportunities to improve.

And for the breakdown, let's get started!

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JANUARY: "Stealing the Precious Thing"

The year-opener. it is a piece I liked, and at the same time hated. The background turned out worse than I expected, but there's something really nice about the atmosphere of this piece. Definitely something worth revisiting this 2013.

FEBRUARY: "Flantasm"

The explosion of color that highlighted February as the best month of the year. I'm glad you guys liked it! Easily one of the most recognizable pieces from 2012.

MARCH: "Tipsy" (Or "Suika" or...whatever...)

A significant piece, in that it marks a transition to rougher outlines and detailed shading. Also, stopped using SAI with this piece, since it would often run so slowly. And wait, this was submitted towards the end of February, but, whatever, it's a piece that didn't get a good deal of attention until the Flantasm hype died down a bit.

APRIL: "Good Girl Sanae"

Continues the roughened outlines and shading style seen on my Suika fanart, but takes it a step further with a full background. I had to revise the sketch many times before settling on a final draft, and that's the least of the problems I encountered with this piece. Still, it's worth a place in the list.

MAY: "Hakurei Shrine"

Struggled with an artblock, but still managed to draw a piece that stands out as a really nice little landscape artwork. No fancy layering involved, this was all done in one layer. Even the light effects.

JUNE: "Lotice Strider"

The spiral of collapse starts here. Tried stripping down already rough outlines into even rougher ones. Style-wise, it's similar to the March and April works, but less flashy. Should have continued with complexity, but the shift seemed irreversible.

JULY: "Black Ash Rose"

Simply a continuation of the reverse evolution seen in my June artwork. This is even sketchier though.
Hit the lowest point with the completion of this piece, forcing me to suspend all activities for the next few months.

OCTOBER: "Blades"

But I did return for some time to post this rather technical and complex artwork that continues the roughness seen in the post-February works and mixing it with epic scenery similar to "Hakurei Shrine" and tons more details. There's still visible lineart in some places, but most of it has virtually disappeared. Well-received and still looking legit.

NOVEMBER: "I Am A Cat!"

Unreleased artwork, and a break from all the Touhou craziness. Yes, this is a fanart of the character "Neko" from the hit anime "K". I won't be giving a reason as to why I didn't post this.

DECEMBER: "Christmas Lights"/"Flantasm 2.0: Explosion of Lights, Rainbow Psychedelia, and Electric Red"

Yes, the real title is a Word Salad title, but regardless of what you want to call it, this is "Flantasm" taken UP TO ELEVEN, with a little of every style I used in 2012. Hands down, this is the best piece in my gallery so far, being as well-received as the 1.0, and being a really enjoyable piece to begin with.

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So that's about it for 2012. It wasn't a productive year, to say the least, but it was one awesome-as-hell year. I wonder what 2013 will bring, though.

Now let me know what you guys think about the works, the periods, the changes, or the summary in general. I would also like to know which of these are the best (and worst) so that I would be able to deliver more this 2013.

Comment away, and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!