Welcome to my profile.

My real name is Eli, as seen in my username. I am a young amateur artist currently at the age of Twenty-One, and I usually draw as a hobby. I also specialize in other forms of art, music design and video editing. I have dreams to eventually animating my stories and characters.

I mostly specialize in drawing an art style that resembles the Japanese Anime/Manga art-style. I am capable of drawing humanoids of both typical human features, and of bestial and/or alien physiology. These characters are part of the story which is currently in the making.

I have a tendency to get a little distracted from my art, and may take a long time to finish something. I also acknowledge that my art is far from perfect, and still has room for improvement. My main goal on my social media is to tell stories through my characters and worldbuilding.

I may also post journals which contain updates on both my art and my personal life. Although be warned, I'm still a teenager. So if your an adult you may find some of the things I say to be a little angsty.

Anyway, to whoever views this, I hope you enjoy my art.

By the way, if you ever feel like commenting, that's great! But please try not to be rude. Constructive criticism is fine, but I'd much rather not see this relatively friendly site become a cesspool of negativity. Don't worry, no hard feelings. I just want everyone to be nice, okay? Thank you.

Link to my Deviantart account: https://www.deviantart.com/theothereliarts2001

Hello everyone.

Yes, I have not posted anything in literally a whole year.

Basically, I'm going to be talking about all the stuff that happened up until now, and this journal entry will be my last one for the year of 2022 AD.

The first half of the year was not particularly interesting, and there is nothing noteworthy that I can really describe about it here. Other than perhaps there was A LOT political drama on the news when it came to my home country, and it most often got me riddled with frustration. But nothing really interesting comes to mind from that time, which as of now seems simultaneously so recent yet so long ago, even despite my memories of it being as blury as they are.

Indeed, time never stops being an odd thing for me, and neither does my perception of reality.

But it isn't until the months of July and August when things get really interesting for me. Because that is when I began my first college semester. Yes, I am a college student now.

So up until these months, I was constantly anticipating and even dreading the moment I would once again begin another online school semester. Primarily because I knew what to expect from having done it for the past, well... nearly ten years now. I started home-school back in 2014 when I was twelve years old, and it will be 2023 literally a day from now. It's almost hard to believe. Yet here I am.

Despite beng unsure for a time of what I wanted to do with my life as an adult, I knew it had to be art related. Primarily because things that had to do with creativity were the things of which I was most good at. God knows I'm terrible at math, and every other school-subject I'm familiar with are things that only mildly interest me at best, and they would only interest me more if they somehow benefited me personally. But there is nothing I enjoy more than putting the effort into the creation of something and then putting it out into the world.

So, knowing this, my parents decided to get me into an art college. I won't tell you what its name is or even its exact location. But I will say it is stationed in the United States, namely on the western coast of the country. So obviously, I wouldn't be attending this college in person, as it was seperated from me by nearly twelve-thousand or so kilometers worth of water. Likewise, I would be doing what I've already been doing when it came to my education for the past near decade now.

I would be attending it online from the confines of my current home.

But one remaining problem was that, for me, art was a hobby. I didn't want something that I did because it was what I loved to be reduced down to something I did solely because it was my job. That would mean I would never have the time to actually work on my own personal project whenever I wanted to, and I would no longer have any ownership over my talent anymore as it would inadvertedly belong to whatever company I ended up working for. That, to me, sounded joyless.

So, I took the time to research what classes were available for this school. They had all sorts of options, ranging from visual development, graphic design, music production, cinematography, game development and plenty more.

My mother kept suggesting to me that I choose graphic design, as she thought it was something that suited me better when it came to a career choice, given what I was capable of. Not to mention, had heard other young artists on Youtube mention that they too had chosen graphic design as a primary subject when they attended college, because that was something they found to work out well for them. So, I thought to myself, 'Alright. I guess I'll choose graphic design.'

I went downstairs to tell my mom what I had chosen, and that was that. I'm learning to be a graphic designer. The reason being that I'd have a career which allowed me to utilize the thing which I am most good at, being my creativity, and still manage to make a living for myself whilst still having the freedom to do more personal creative projects as an aside. What I'd make with the intention of it being products would simply be products, and what I'd make with the intention of it being my art would simply be my art. That's really the best way I can explain it.

So after I got signed up and had a couple of interviews over Zoom with who I presume to be members of the faculty, they accepted me in soon after. I officially became a student of that university, and I am pining for the achievement of a Bachelor's degree in graphic design.

My first semester, if I remember correctly, started around the end of June and ended in August. It was shorter by comparison to their normal semesters, which last for nearly four months. But for my first semester, it got me into the feel of what I would be doing for the next four years. The work was easy in some respects yet difficult in others. Nevertheless, it was doable, and I managed to push through before I even knew it. Not to mention, I was pushed by the lessons into utilizing my creativity in was I've never even thought of before, and they taught me the ins and outs of what graphic design bsaically was.

I learned about all sorts of things, such as the history of graphic design, styles of photography, arrangement of visual elements, color theory, establishment of aesthetic, typeface and logos, and other truly interesting things. I didn't always enjoy the lessons or the work I was given. I mean, it was school after all. But I didn't regret choosing this. I still don't. Graphic design seems like something I can see myself doing and, after a couple of years, even be really good at.

Not to mention, these classes really helped me find my own preferred tastes when it came to aesthetics and design-choices. When it comes to an art piece, I have found that I like when there is a sense of order with only a hint of sprinkled chaos when it comes to the elements of an image. I also like when there's an aesthetic of darkness with few elements of light. I've even found myself becoming attracted to the "feel" of the 1990's. I don't know how to explain it, but there's something about the mixture of classic and modern within this particular decade that I find appealing.

(9:58 PM just now as I write this, and the first firework I've heard this night just went off. This is sure to be one of many that will continue on into the early morning of the next day.)

After my first semester, I had a few weeks worth of break-time.

Then my next semester came, which was even longer. It started in September and didn't end until close to the end of December. So as far as the time of the writing of this journal entry is concerned, I've completed this semester pretty recently. Like, a little more than a week ago.

This semester was when things actually started to get harder for me. I was working longer hours, even pulling all-nighters, which took a serious toll on my sleeping schedule as well as my physical health. I would spent entire days feeling absolutely tired, but kept pushing myself to the limit. Obviously, this is something I'm going to have to fix when my next semester comes. But as for the work itself, the classes were really expecting me to step outside my comfort zone when it came to the projects I was tasked with. I was instructed to go outside and take photographs of various things that I found in order to fulfill a series of prompts, such as examples of distance, scale, color, pattern and whatnot. I was encouraged to use various Adobe programs to create a myriad of visual designs, such as logos, typefaces, color-choices, artistic depictions, patterns, fake newspapers... I worked on so many projects that I don't think I remember all of them. I had fifteen modules and four classes for each, and they usually recquired more than an entire week for me to complete them.

It was mentally taxing. By the end of it all, I was having a burn-out.

The worst part about the semester was when they'd force us to do group projects. My God were these projects the most eye-roll inducing. The most annoying thing was when me and the other team-mates wouldn't always agree on what we were to do, and sometimes I and one other person would be the one's doing the most amount of effort whereas all the other group-members would do absolutely nothing. It was annoying. Thankfully, I still managed to organize whatever degree of teamwork I could get the projects done.

When I finally completed the semester, and I got some fairly decent grades. With the exceptions of one D and later one zero (as I didn't turn an assignment in on time), I got mostly A's and B's.

Strangely though, I don't feel like I made some "big achievement" or whatever. I mean, I'm glad I was able to make it this far, and I'm especially greatful to have this privilege of being able to get into a college in the first place. But even still, I don't see it as being particularly any different than all the other years of school, both in-public and online-from-home that I've had to do. Just another thing for me to push through and get out of the way.

My parents are proud of me though, and I guess that's the part about this that makes me a little pleased with myself on the inside. Still, I've got a few more years left of doing this. So there's that to be looking forward to...*

(10:19 PM, literally more fireworks just started happening now. It's going to get even noisier. Yep, they're still happening. I literally live in a neighborhood right now, which means that everybody left, right, forward and backward of my house can hear all the racket.)

Oh, and by the way, in the midst of my second semester, my birthday happened in October, as it always does. As of now, I am twenty-one years old. It still feels unbelievable to say this to myself, even mentally. But I'm starting to accept it now. I've basically become a young adult in his early twenties, and I'm not getting any younger. I don't remember much about my birthday, other than that I was probably working and I may or may not have had cheesecake along with coffee.

Right, I didn't mention. I've taken upon the habit of drinking coffee now. I never did it before, but I'm doing it now. I must've started some time during my first semester, and I haven't really stopped. It has become probably my second favorite drink, my first being non-alchoholic ginger ale, which I drink every time I have lunch.

I'm rambling now.

So what's happening as I write this? Well, it's New Year's Eve. The clock is now (being 10:27 PM) less than two hours away from striking twelve. By the time this has been read by anybody, it may most likely already be the year 2023 AD where I live. I must say, the year of 2022 AD wasn't particularly memorable to me, at least not in a positive way. It was mostly just political drama in the United States. You know, conservatives screwing everything over, progressive people reacting with outrage, and then conservatives telling progressives that they're crazy and that they're reaction somehow makes them lack credibility.

You know... the usual. The same thing that's been going on since 2016 AD.

Honestly, I'm tired of it. It is what it is, but I'm still tired of it. I just want the political climate to finally calm down already so that we can all finally have reasonable discussions instead of perpetual arguments. And I hate to make mention of this, but I really wish that fascism and antisemitism wasn't becoming popular again, especially in the 2020's of all times. I never even thought that I'd live to experience something like this. I thought it was all over and done with in the last century. But I guess we were all wrong. This is what we're going to have to be dealing with.

It sucks. It really does.

I literally have a Jewish last name, and I am a direct descendant of holocost survivor who even had to endure the torment of a concentration camp. He was my great grandfather. If he was still alive to see all of this, I'm sure he'd be horrified, and he may have even been greatly disappointed too.

I wouldn't blame him. That's pretty much how I currently feel.

Moving on to some other thoughts of mine. For just once I'd like to live through a year where it didn't seem like there were more negative things to say about it than positive ones. Still, the years are always going to keep going by. Each and every one of them bringing their own unique things with them, and we're all caught up in this long journey of life together.

The only thing we can do is keep our heads up strong and just live. Simple as that. I really do wish I could end this journal with lightheartedness, or perhaps a ray of hope. But I can't. The future is an ambiguous thing, and nothing is truly promised.

(11:44 PM, it's literally raining outside now and I can hear it. I guess there won't be that many fireworks tonight.)

Anyway, there's not really much else I can say. Put simply, I've started college and I've gotten older. Now I'm going to utilize my free-time and be productive in the way's I craved to be whilst still doing my school-work. For those of you who happened upon this journal entry and decided to read until the end, thank you for taking the time to see what I felt the need to say.

Happy New Years, everyone.

Here's hoping that whatever comes our way, we'll will always perservere.

Time of writing conclusion: 11:49 PM (AEST)