I know, devart, I've abandoned you, left you at the side of the road like a used teen lured in with promises of love and experience. But lo, I'm back, with little more than a few pitiful weeds as recompense for my sins.

Anyways, Spring quarter is taking me over its knee, with Japanese Art History and Short Story writing kinda beating me with the work-stick of work. After learning a lot about conceptual art at UCI, it's made me really think about my future in art. Honestly, I'm terrified about it. My aunt tells me to go into something that'll make money, but I'd really like to try out Studio work; just sitting in an empty room and let inspiration take me on its lead. I've been really inspired, esp. last quarter where in Art History we studied brush and ink painting, where there was a large amount of investigation of the medium. So, in this day and age where art has been brushed aside for mainstream entertainment, I'm hesitant on investing my time into this. I mean, this'll probably do nothing in my determination; I'll wake up tomorrow and work towards that Studio Art degree. But, I feel this pressure to do something new, to revolutionize something, to investigate something, but it feels like there's no time to, especially with school. But, in the end, there's really no guarantee that in 6 years, I'll be able to afford to live on my own.

But, enough with this em-athon, I have new arts that as soon as I stop being lazy I'll upload - I swear. But, how about those Artist Showcases I've promised...
------*LilJoe------

Let me tell you a bit about him first. Joe and I first met through the HowToDrawManga forums when some people (I can't remember now - it was about 5 years ago!!) decided to create a collaborative manga project. I volunteered and I worked as a assistant editor (yeah, wasn't a good idea to put a 13 year old under that area) and an occasional artist (full pencils, ink, and color). We came up with a story called the "Misfit Heroes" and we usually had one artist do a page a week. After a while, things kinda fell apart and the board died as well. About 3 years afterwards, I get an IM and lo and behold it's Lil' Joe!! It made me so happy to hear from him again and we've been in contact ever since.

Now, Showcase:

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This piece caught my eye for its detail in the outfit. That's something I really admire about Lil Joe's work; he goes for that goal of awesome detail-ness that, quite frankly, I'd probably give up on.
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What I also enjoy about Joe's work is that he's not afraid of full-figured anatomy. The way that these female forms don't really catch the eye in being unproportional is, I think, a testimony to the amount of hard work and observation that Joe has as an artist. I, honestly, wish I could be as proportionally talented and hard working as Joe is. GO COMRADE GO!!

-----~im-with-no-name------

Squirrelly and I started off a bit onesided. I don't know how I initially heard of her, but when I did, I really wanted to find out more about her and get to know her. As luck should have it, we were enrolled in the same AP Studio Art class the following year. It was really nice, we became great friends despite Mrs. Zask (-___-) and we've been art buddies ever since.

SHOKASU!!

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What initially drew me to squirrel-sensei is her impeccable anatomy and beautiful line weight. This is a great example of both. Her forms are so fleshy and beautiful; she really helped me as an artist in that respect, encouraging me to experiment with inking. It was under her guidance that I really began to get a feel for it. I'm forever in her debt for that.
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Squirrel's humor never fails to penetrate her work, especially in incredibly adorable ways. I really love the way the ballpoint pen is used in this composition, it's so sketchy yet charming. <3 luff
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I especially like Squirrel's new developed style. A mish-mash of super-deformed and eating disorders, it doesn't fail to be stylistically eye-catching and adorable. I love it oh so good. <3

fin

*thumbs up*

I'm still working on art

I swear...