GAISE.

I just reached 7000 watchers! It's only been half a year or so since I reached 6000 and when I stopped to think about it I could hardly believe how big a number that was, and now I'm up to 7k ! The amount seems to be growing faster and faster, too! Thanks so much to everyone who's been following me since the beginning, but of course to those who've just started to watch me as well ! You guys have played a major role in my development as an artist, believe it or not. <3

As for how/what I'm doing, I'm just finishing up my last commission (the comic piece) and preparing to do freelance work for S2Games. Which is awesome. For the first time since I started drawing, I finally feel like I've  accomplished something. This always sounds odd to the people in my environment but I'm hardly ever happy with what I do. Whenever I finish something, sometimes I like it and I'll feel glad it's done for a few hours or a day, and then I start to feel disappointed in myself. The more I look at it, the more I feel like I could do better. Should have done better. Especially so if I then browse through my favorites and see the works of all those artists who are still miles ahead of me and will probably always be miles ahead of me. BUT, I do feel like this opportunity is a big step in the right direction for me and I can't wait to start this challenge :>!

On a different note, I've been getting increasingly more notes about how or where I started, if I can explain how I draw, whether I learned everything I know in school, but if I'm honest, most of them come down to "Hey, you draw nice, what's your secret?" or "Can you show me the shortcut you've used to draw like you do?".

They annoy me a little bit, first off because I'm not that good, I am literally put to SHAME by the excellence out there (and the notes remind me of just how far a road -I- still have ahead of me, lol), and secondly because there is no shortcut. There are no secret ways, no magical tutorials, not even magical teachers or schools that will make you a great artist in a short period of time. I believe I've already made a similar journal before, about artists nowadays getting "lazy" because new media is making everything too easily accessible, I feel like I should make an FAQ about this or something. I have never had to ask another artist to tell me how they do things. I would ask them for critique if I felt they weren't too busy (or make a thread on critique areas of various forums), but you don't go and ask someone "hey, how do you color?" or, better yet, "hey, how to draw?". I don't mean to sound rude, but in the same time you went and looked me up and wrote a note asking me how I do things, you could have found at least a 100 good tutorials about it. That's how I learned. The internet has made it so easy, be resourceful!

Having said that, I don't mind people asking for critique at all. In fact, I can appreciate that because it means you're actually working and actively looking for help with what you do. You're not waiting for someone to tell you exactly how to do things, you're just doing it and that's what getting better at art is pretty much all about. That's not to say that I'm always 100% motivated, hell I go whole days without drawing a single line sometimes. But if you really want to get good, there is no other way to do it other than just sitting yourself down and getting sh*t DONE.

There, I think that covers most of it. Bit of a long read, sorry 'bout that. As for both old and new watchers: If you feel like recently I've been getting a bit more blunt or even rude with my replies, I do apologize. I don't have as much time nor patience for messages as I used to (sometimes for the reasons stated above). I don't know when I'll have a new piece to show yet, or if I'll still open for commissions. As it looks now my summer is quite full already, but I'll keep you posted!

Thanks again for following me and my work, and for reading all of this if you have ;>! Love you guys!

- Lhune