Original template (that I butchered horribly) is here Felt like reposting this from my FA because....I don't know. I just want to.

Looks like it's that time of year once again! It's time for the customary retrospective of how I improved as an artist over the past 12 months, for better or for worse...

January: I felt ambitious, maybe a little impervious this year. I did a few nice concepts in the Moleskine sketchbook I got for Christmas of 2011 and some varied finished ones, such as my "Mind your manners" comic and of course the piece I'm showing here.(beware, it's naughty naughty. ) A fair bit of colored pieces came from this month and February.

February: As I mentioned just now, I did more colored pieces for this month as well (I've always found my coloring to be a bit weak, so I've been trying to break that fear of varied hues). I completed a few strong pieces such as "Temple Raiding" and "Predators," It was an attempt at more atmosphere and background in my art, and even though those two pieces I mentioned were a step in the right direction, unfortunately my momentum wouldn't last...

March: A month of sporadic art. Many aborted sketches that never saw the light of day, and the only completed work is the one I'm showing here called "Pastelle" (which I forgot to upload until only a couple weeks ago). By the end of this month, my confidence as an artist and therefore my inspiration/muse was taken out back and shot.

April: See? I told you it was dead. I was looking through my sketchbooks and portfolios and I seriously could not find a single piece of art that was even halfway completed for this month. I can't remember what was going on, but it couldn't have been good. Months with art blocks always mean emotional instability and depression for me.

May: A month for me getting back on my feet. Did a detailed piece for use as an ID that came out pretty good and did a few pleasing sketches. Was not a month of progress though...

June: This month was a bit better for me art-wise, especially with graphite; this medium has always been one of my niches. I did some detailed character portraits and even got a couple commissions. Not a month of much progress either, but it did pave the way for subsequent months.

July: This was a much better month for me. I got a character reference done (best one yet) and a few good completed works. I learned a lot working on the piece "Ties that Bind" (like not to draw on copier paper, ever!) and it was a month that helped to restore proper confidence and motivation in my skills.

August: Great month. I didn't produce that terribly much, but what I did work on and finish had great polish and technique, at least at the time. I could have experimented more though, in hindsight. I need to be more adventurous!

September: Did I say adventurous? Well this month ended up being plenty adventurous. I did a couple great colored pieces this time, such as the fanart piece I called "Go ahead..." and some media experimentation in "Another round?" This was the month when I finally confirmed just how much I love coloring on toothy colored paper. This also reignited my drive for making more pieces in colored pencil.

October: I call this the Month of Ballpoint because it was in October when I found in earnest just how fun it is to make detailed, refined art in ballpoint. I gotta say, I'm pretty decent at the medium, but I've barely scratched the surface! This was also the month where I got into portraiture even more than normal.

November: Excellent month. Messed around even more with my ballpoints and tried out using markers with them this time around with pleasing results. Also did a piece rather unusual for me called "Fiddle-dee Filligree." This month's culmination of my abilities with colored pencil was in "Event Horizon," a very ambitious piece for me indeed.

December: A different kind of productive this month. I was busy with the holidays so I couldn't do terribly many personal pieces, but I ended up getting a fair bit of commissions, which was exciting for me. I've never been so happily busy before! Did a few small experimental pieces that I was incredibly pleased with. The best piece of this month by far was one of the commissions I did depicting my character Selvamille in "Tea & Cats" (you'll be able to see that piece soon), which is one of the best detailed graphite pictures I've done to date.

So, looking back at my goals for this year, I can safely say I have gotten better at color, lighting, variety and more expressive subjects. I did better at backgrounds and settings this year, but not good enough! All in all though, this year was great for me; I can safely say I have made leaps and bounds as an artist.

Things I will work on for this coming year:

~Action and drama in more of my images

~Trying out more comic panels and storyboarding

~Immersive backgrounds (ALWAYS)

~Trying out digital art in earnest

~Even more variety in subject matter

~Composition

For those that read that entire column of nattering, I can only hope it was at least fairly entertaining.