Hoping everyone has an acceptable new year. This one and all the rest. Can't think of one positive in my future. Getting closer to where I need to be art wise was my goal for 2025, and I improved too little, basically not at all. Sick of life. I feel both motivated and hopeless.

Star Breaker pic took 6hrs+, but if you shorten the 2.5hrs I spent on ONLY the sketch then it's a bit more like my normal time. Never got the head looking right, was burnt out before I started the lineart. Straight on faces still giving me issues. Just unable to figure it out.

Star Breaker's Swimsuit (Minus those weird sleeves it normally has) #100oj #100orangejuice

2025 Art summary. I was stunned to find I had enough decent things to fill each spot with. Arm issues started in November, and that pic in particular sums up my vibes this year. I didn't do as many full drawings and I still don't feel any positivity for next year. idk.

Never expected this to get an anime. Along with Gaea-Tima we finally have some actual Kaiju stuff starting up which is nice to see (Kaiju no8 doesn't count).

Janine (OC) I always skimp out on drawing sheathed weapons with her and Chiyo since they're kind of a pain to scale well. Definitely making more trouble for future me with the tomahawk sash, but it's pretty accurate to how I envisioned it going in. Overall decent. Took too long.

Played Into the Breach for a while. Slow paced game so no worries for my arm. First played it in 2019 but didn't gel with it. I'm not sure what the Advanced Edition update added, but I seem to be enjoying it a lot more now.

Steam replay thing. Played more games this year than I probably should have. Started getting a real feeling pretty early on that my art's never going to get where I need it to be and began playing games more. Vibes are worse now, so idk how I'll be when my arm's better.

Hanna (OC) Felt good enough to draw today. Arm was fine(ish) afterwards, too. Took 4hrs~, 2+ on just the sketch. I don't like it. Same stuff as always, you know the script at this point. Posting it now since I don't want to look at it again tomorrow.

New arrival + Rodan. Been almost 2yrs since Vol 7. Ordered it when it released a month+ back but our postal service has been on strike. Arm update: Every day has some problem. Either it's my wrist, knuckles, fingers, or entire forearm. Not much improvement. Still on art hiatus.

Jenna (I accidentally deleted the original post of this. Don't know when) #GoldenSun #黄金の太陽

Been watching Ultraman. Started with Q + the original, but wanted to see how the newer stuff is and caught up with Omega. I love that suits and miniatures are still mostly used over CG. Back to the og as I wait for new eps. Also drew today. Arm was ok, knuckle joints not as much.

Noelle over the year (OC) She's the one I have the easiest time with. I don't know what time of year I did each of these since she hasn't changed much, I know how I want her to look and it works out most the time. Drawing the clothes better is really all I can do.

Tosia over the year (OC) Definitely the most difficult to do out of my chars, and it's because I can't quite get down how I want her to look. Had a tough time picking ones to put here since they're all kind of whatever. I have vague image, but not clear enough to do consistently.

Did some tests with my psychiatrist a while ago and got the results now. I'm good with visual things, but I'm awful when I have to use a pencil. I was so slow at it that it said I was almost at disability level. My art speed issues being a built in flaw is the worst outcome.

Watched Ultra Q from 1966. Prequel to Ultraman. Most episodes are like old Toho Kaiju movies put into 25 min packages. A few pretty bad ones, but most of them are fun. Last episode was different. There wasn't even a kaiju, it was just sad. Was still relevant to things today.

Janine over the year (OC) She's in an odd place where I know exactly how I want her to look but can't make it happen most the time. Had more luck when I started drawing her head more guy-ish, but it still feels like luck whether it works out or not. The 3 decent ones are all recent.

Chiyo over the year Forgot this was the first year I drew her until I saw the first pic. Overall same trends as the others, but she suffered less from my decreasing mental state. Still some bad ones, maybe a few of my worst, but far more were decent.

Vivica over the year (OC) Same trend as the Hanna ones, head shape and hair improved, poses did not. I think the glasses help a lot, though I don't want her having them on all the time. I've always done oddly well with her bottom half, but I still need refs to actually think of poses.

Thought playing games with a controller could be ok because my arm is in a static position the whole time, but I was incorrect. 30 minutes and my arm started to hurt, so I guess I still can't do anything. 3 weeks in and I feel no better, and actually worse when the pain starts.

Reading Godzilla Galaxy Odyssey. Kaiju art is good, but the character art is very high school romcom looking, kind of jarring. Dislike the writing style, too. I re-read Gaea-Tima and Kaiju Girl Caramelise recently so I have direct comparisons, and this isn't competing with those.

Hanna (OC) Looking at my stuff over the year. The way I do heads and hair have improved a lot, but faces still give me troubles. There was a spot of time where I did bodies very well, but I wanted to rely on refs less and I'm just bad at that. I can never think of poses on my own.

Not the first snow of the year, but the first time it's stuck for more than a few hours. Been about 2 weeks with my wrist brace and I can't really tell if it's an improvement or not yet. Often it's ok, but it doesn't take much to start hurting again. In some ways it's worse.

Took this on my walk to the store. Been using my wrist brace for a few days now. My arm doesn't hurt as much, but it definitely doesn't feel good at all. I don't know when I should try drawing again, it doesn't seem like it's improving.

Got my wrist brace. Can use my mouse fine with it, might be able to draw with it too. Arm's hurting more today than it has in a while. I've been slacking with art for so long but now I need to take more breaks... Been doing 4-5h sessions when it needs to be way more. Conflicted.

Saw a doctor about my arm. They say I should wear a wrist brace as often as I can for a while. No permanent issues, but I need to take days off art more often or it could get worse. Been better the past few days since I haven't been drawing so I know that's the main culprit.

Gonna have to take another art break, longer this time. Arm's feeling worse, I don't really know how to deal with it. Guess I have to do nothing for a while. Frustrating, but if I end up unable to draw then I'm just kinda done in general so I don't have much choice.

Hanna sketch (OC) Might be the last thing I draw for a bit. Arm's feeling rough, need to take time off.

Chiyo sketch (OC) Tried twice to draw her, the first one didn't work out at all. This is still kind of messy. Not sure how much I should be drawing right now because of my arm. I hate taking too much time off, but I'm definitely slower than usual since I'm trying to be careful.

Hanna sketch (OC) Can't figure out straight-on heads at all. Sometimes they're good and other times not, even when I use the same methods. Faces are always pure luck for me, but it's much worse from the front. My arm still feels weird. It's less pain and more a noticeable discomfort.

Have to take the day off because of arm pain. Been a thing for a little while now and not sure why. It's not carpal tunnel since it's my entire arm. Annoying since the last things I did turned out alright and I wanted to keep it going.

Practice Follow up of the previous thing I did. Forgot there's a way to hide sensitive content, maybe should have done that for the first one, too. Kind of surprised at how well these went. This one was saved because of the effects, looked pretty rough for a while.

Practice Haven't done this kind of page practice in a while. 2h~. Like always I intended to more background stuff but never actually do it. Been thinking a lot about just stopping art lately, but I have no reason to be if I'm not doing it. Just can't get anything going.

Concept sketch I want to do the face and hair differently, but after taking so long to do the sketch I get to a point where I don't care to fix anything and just leave it. 4.5h to do what's effectively a cleaned up sketch. Just posting cause it's done. Gonna take tomorrow off...

Suguri and Mio sketch Haven't done OJ stuff in a while.

Halloween Hanna V2 (OC) Previous outfit was too flat, and while this isn't much better there's a bit more going on. Definitely not doing outfits for any of my other girls since this took 5h+ and I'm still not happy with it.

Practice (OC) Been a while since I colored anything so there we go.

Practice (OC) Mostly practicing clothes, idk if it went well or not. 5h isn't good considering both the simplicity and that I was trying to be as fast as possible. Bottom one took 1h, but it's also the one I cared about the least. Guess I'll throw myself at it again tomorrow.

Noelle (OC) 2.5h~ Sketch went very quickly, but the lineart bit was REALLY slow and I stopped caring after that. Gonna work on doing clothes better, which I tried a bit on the bend of the sleeve here. NEED to start doing BG stuff again too, but by the time I get there I'm too annoyed.

Halloween Hanna (OC) Endless issue of not knowing how to deal with clothing. Simple stuff like this takes 4h+ so I'm hesitant to try anything more. Wanted to do these for some of my other girls, also planned to do it colored and more dynamic, but I'm really forcing it even with this.

Managed to draw today but felt terrible doing it. Been getting nauseous while drawing lately. I'm not sick, it's just stress. Can't take a break, as the guilt makes me feel worse. Irl stuff might make me have less time to draw too. I have many thoughts right now, all of them bad.

Practice (OC) Straight-on faces still giving me troubles. Always ends up looking like a different style from everything else, even if it's fine overall. I don't get it. Might take today off drawing, mostly for mental health reasons. Depends on how guilty I feel about it later on.

Hanna (OC) Probably the most normal feeling drawing I've done in a long time. Bit slow, but not enough to feel bad, looks alright, but not good enough to feel positive about. It simply is.

Sketch Didn't want to feel miserable going into tomorrow so I tried another sketch and it went fine. I'm sure when I add stuff to it it'll show issues, but for now it looks fine. Don't usually show this part of a sketch (Though it's cleaned more than usual) so there ya' go.

""sketch"" Azur Lane char One of those times where not one thing went well. Infuriating. Can't even tell you what it was supposed to look like because it would basically be a different drawing. Feel too nauseous to try again. Gonna toss the idea entirely. Wasted day I guess.

Practice (OC) The most simple one gave me the most issues. Flat straight on shots are always a problem. Couldn't say why, but it's consistent. 1.5hr~ each for the other 2, which isn't the worst even if they're more simple looking than I'd like.

Chiyo (OC) 2hr on the dot. Slow. Nothing to add to that. Same stuff as always. Gonna do more, but posting this now to say that I really noticed on this one how quickly my mood drops while drawing. Felt good before starting (Rare event), and less than an hour in I was back to normal.

Noelle (OC) Haven't been timing myself lately. I never do when I'm trying out new stuff, but I should start doing it again. Thin lines is the way to go, the amount of extra space is wild. I drew the last 3 things pretty small, can't really tell. Gotta think of what to do, though.

Janine (OC) Playing around with thinner lines more. Gives a lot more room to work with, though I'm not sure what to fill it with as clothes/fashion are something I'm not good with. I figured it would make things look a bit more serious, but it's more than I expected. All good so far.

Hanna (OC) Relatives are visiting so this is all I could do. I tend to do thick lineart, but it's a problem when I have to draw in a smaller space so I'm gonna try thinner ones for a bit. Might help make things look more serious, too (Not shown here). Still having trouble with height.