2015 in Reviewish.

Wanted to wish all and any of you reading; Happy Holidays and all the best for 2016!

Normally, I'd say thanks for supporting my art through this year but 2015 has been a really quiet year for me personal-art wise. It's disappointing for me as I had big plans.

But;

Unexpectedly- This has been a great year for me on a professional level. I've been very busy all the way through the year- this holiday is actually my first time off since the year began so I plan on reflecting plenty on what has happened.

There are so many aspects of art I've wanted to try my hand at for a long time that I have now done and that is really important for me. I feel the amount I have learnt and grown this year is the most I have in a long time. I feel like I'm learning something every day I go to work and I can't wait to get better at what I love to do.

I spent the first half of the year working in mobile games development- something that challenged me at every single turn, I came away from that feeling much more in tune with my limitations- how to push to exceed them but also how to recognise when I can't. It was a humbling, often frustrating and eye opening experience that taught me so much and pushed me so far out of my comfort zone. I don't know how I feel about Mobile games, or how the experience I had reflects on that industry but I now know it isn't for me. I tried my best every second of the near 10 months I was there but the red tape was too much, Creativity was stifled and there was just too much focus on functionality and delivery.

The second half of the year has been in Animation. I've always had my heart in storytelling but I saw comics as my only way in. I've never ever managed to score any sort of paid/professional comics work, and even though I've had multiple jobs working in Games by now and even more in Illustration or design- Working in animation has been incredible. I feel for the first time in my life like I'm actually using and improving my skills.
I know a huge part of this is because I spent 8 painstakingly long years working to get any job in my desired industry and while I had a lot of success with part-time and Freelance work, it's not full time work; it's not long term. At the same time I worked for six of those years in a job that had nothing to do with what I'd spent my whole life aiming for. That was very hard on me over the years to say the least.

So to be given the chance at last to work in a story-driven industry and to realise how well I suddenly feel like I fit into the machine, for the first time in my life- is just crazy.

I'm actively excited to be involved in the process and the amount I've learnt about how actual, real made for TV shows happen is staggering. This is knowledge that feels like gold dust to me- this is the treasure I've sought throughout my life-long art adventures. I have crazy, mad, never-going-to-happen ambitions of seeing my own characters, my own stories on a screen or in a comic and here I am learning how to do it from people who know exactly how to do it. I can't be sure I will continue to work where I am right now for much more than a few more months ahead of me but I feel like my ambitions and goals feel all the closer now.

And going ahead into 2016, I have a mini comic coming early on- Which will be a comedy-Fantasy.
I will be finishing off my big-ass story effort currently named Wayward. And Prey Valiance will make a return in a Scoundrels Issue.

Magpie is an interesting one and I'll save that for another journal- because something has happened there that I didn't expect.

But overall- I'm sorry I couldn't share much of anything I've done this year and I'm sorry my personal goals got sidelined by unexpected turn of events for me professionally but I'm just as keen as ever to get back to it and very much looking forward to 2016 and what it could bring for me.

ALL THE BEST!