First and foremost, I'll just post my art summary here for easy viewing!

Now on with the recap!!

I don't do these blog posts too often so I apologize if things sound disjointed but WOW. this year went by quick!! It's always good to reflect on the year that just passed to see and appreciate all the work that went into it.

Let me start with the highlights:

• This time last year I moved states! I graduated college and finally moved outta my mom's place and in with my gf and it's been fun!
• I went to the Pico Day 2024 Meetup here in East Rutherford and it was a BLAST!!!! I have to say thank you @BrandyBuizel @coby and @tamag0 for being absolute troopers running that thing, I know it must've been stressful but it was well worth it because it was A GODDAMN HELL OF A TIME!! I went with my best buddy @broly and finally got to meet @jack and @cortat-g in person and we got to watch some dope ass cartoons there. Had some yummy 1 in the morning ihop after the event with @owen @droid and @mrshmoods (the best time to get ihop honestly)
• There I also was able to see Tom Fulp again, got some stickers from the amazing artist @mindchamber (who had this dope ass 3d printed helmet of his robot persona it was so sick!!), exchanged trading cards with @srpelo and probably the standout memory from that night was hanging with @spazkid who was such a cool dude! Thanks for eating with us and rambling about Sonic with me brother.
• I went into New York with Broly, Jack, Droid, Cortat, and got to meet with the lovely @linethickness and @K1D we all got pizza, visited the Nintendo and Lego stores and just had a very nice stroll through the big apple!
• The Pico Day meetup was also a big sticker trade so I had some designs drawn and printed and I gifted some lovely Flag Boy stickers to some lovely people and I got some awesome stickers in return! It was a THRIVING economy based on small stickable art. There was also a pushup context there that i tried AND i got quite far with 30 so 😎😎😎😎😎😎
• I saw the freakin SONIC SYMPHONY in New York!!!!!!!! God thank you Broly for getting me a ticket and being able to witness sonic music live it was an absolute out of body experience. I lost my voice screaming Knight of the WInd it's not even funny
• Then when summer came, I stayed in an airbnb in Philadelphia with some friends! I bunked with Jack, Broly, Cortat, and finally met my best buddy @pkettles alongside @mkmaffo @hibachi @anislug and @liquidheaded and lord it was the time of my life. We would stay up till the buttcrack of dawn just chit chatting, playing games, singing karaoke, and just enjoying physically being around people who I've only known through a computer screen. Thanks for showing me Nirvanna the Band the Show and Fargo. god fargo rocks....
• We went to TooManyGames there and saw RedVox live! (which I'll be totally frank, I didn't know Vinny from Vinesauce had a band BUT I'm a fan now!!), played arcade games, saw a cosplay wrestling match, I spent WAY TOO MONEY on toys, games, and merch but we can ignore that, AND THE NEWGROUNDS MEETUP WAS THERE TOO.
• We visited the Newgrounds office and just had a fun chill time, talking and having a drink with some of the people there like Spazkid, Tom Fulp, @phantomarcade and @ivanalmighty who is the absolute CHILLEST dude imaginable and exchanged lots of wonderful sketches from @forgefrog @figburn @slimygoo @bacun @evilsk8r ! I put one of my stickers on the water cooler there and it was surreal placing a piece of my own art in the place that birthed a lot of the art and animation I grew up watching.

I think however my absolute highlight for this year would be...

WINNING 1ST PLACE IN ART FOR PICO DAY 2024!!!!!!!

I don't think I formally gave my thoughts on this but my god, this was one of the best moments for me personally this year. I posted my drawing after coming home late from the NJ meetup and forgot about it for like a week. Then, while I'm at work, I get a message from Cortat saying...

Also wanted to throw in this piece of encouragement from @imkevin love u dude😭

I genuinely am at a loss for words about this except to say thank you @tomfulp and whoever else judged all the artists and thank you for believing it was me who should get first place. I can't express how much that meant to me.

To finish off the year, looking back, while not a lot much happened this year, what did happen was a true thrill ride to experience. There's probably a million other blog posts that sound like this but seriously this site has introduced me to so fucking many incredibly talented artists, animators, programmers, graphic artists, event coordinators, musicians and people who just wish to create something beautiful from their little marble of dreams that rattles around in their heads!! So keep creating!! Keep getting those ideas that you have in your head OUT in one way or another and share it with these people on this wonderful website!

I'll wrap this now but thank you again to all of the friends that I met here. I didn't have anywhere to put it but thank you to @tappywara @mocobandit @mrpakoman just for being my friends. I plan on continuing to practice and better my craft and keep making the cool ideas that I have in my head! I'm working on Hold the Line right now and some other little comics that I've been wanting to do.

I love you all. I cannot thank you enough for stickin with me and supporting me. This website continues to prove itself to be the absolute best out there for creatives. Enjoy the end of the year in whatever way makes you happy. Let the people in your life know you're thankful for em.

Here's to 2025

Stay fresh! 🍻