I'm just sad I can't watch the ATLA movie in theaters. That sounds like an amazing experience.

Reading this in Caine's voice as he excitedly encourages the audience to remember to take their estrogen

Sometimes I wonder how you decide what's a Twitter post and what's a Bluesky post, and yeah, this one is def a Bluesky post.

Stared at this for like 30 minutes with this on loop in the background. I really like the use of color sketchlike shading and linework to bring out that ghostly appearance, it's great ^^

Photo of digital art on an iPad screen of Ashley Nichols's text to speech bot Hunibot wearing a drifloon hoodie

@ashleynichols.bsky.social Turning in some VERY late homework, watching stream VODs back, doing the "draw Hunibot as your favorite pokemon" homework from the favorite pokemon streams.

Amazing beautiful character design

Digital art of Isabelle from Animal Crossing wearing heavy winter clothes and standing in the show. She is wearing red earmuffs, a purple scarf, pink coat, purple snowpants, and grey boots and gloves

Ready for a random blizzard in the middle of March

I really like this one

Digital art of the Lamb from Cult of the Lamb performing a ritual, floating with bleeding eyes

I've been Culting my Lamb really hard since I picked it up last month on Winter sale. Something something Woolhaven out.

You can't fully see it in this, but she's got a shield called the meow meow shield that has a cat's face on it. You can see the cat ears sticking out on it though.

Digital art of personal D&D character, Bonnie Rivers. She is a grey tabaxi with a blue dress with stars on it, with a brown bag over her shoulder, grey pendant on her necklace, holding a longbow and a book, with a cat shaped shield on her back. She is wearing glasses. She is standing with her head tilted to her left, holding her bow to her side and her book to her torso.

Finished with our 4th and final D&D party member, Bonnie Rivers! She's a tabaxi ranger researching an anomaly in the stars and she's a ton of fun to play with and draw.

LOVE this design

Capcom I swear to god, please give us more than one Megaman game, and maybe one that's not classic, I'm so desperate.

In the future, when civilization as we know it is unrecognizable from what it is now, and AI is but a notion of the past, real art will still be there in the ashes. AI could never replace real art because art is one of the most innately human things about us.

Thank you! I hope that the lessons I've learned can help you and others

And lastly I just wanna remember to enjoy myself and have fun doing art, remembering the lessons in my last post like I I'd said.

I also want to get good at more complex things with drawing people, more dynamic posing, better grasp of anatomy, focus on gesture, etc. And I'd really like to dip my toes into a better understanding of color theory. Getting the tone correct in art is hard and I'd like to get better at that.

As well this next year I wanna get to a point to where I am just drawing more consistently, where I'm more happy doodling on my iPad, and where I'm just doodling more to be more consistent. I also wanna do stuff like Art Fight again to see how much I've improved since last year's AF.

With my last post being looking back at the lessons I'd learned being an artist for one year, I'd like to make another post looking at another year of being an artist. I reached my goal of being able to draw people and I want to get better at that, especially for D&D character art stuff.

Lastly, I just want to thank you for reading, and if you're a new artist, I wish you only the best in your journey. If no one reads this at all, I'm fine with that too. I'm happy to take this 1 year anniversary opportunity to reflect on my own growth as an artist. I look forward to another year.

Simple digital art of a rat dressed up like a ghost for Halloween, holding out a jack-o-lantern candy pail.

Lesson 17: Completely opposite of what I just said, but it is okay to make art just for yourself. While sharing art is a joy, you don't have to. You can just make things because you like making it and never have to show it to anyone if you don't want to. Never forget to have fun making art.

Digital art of Isabelle from Animal Crossing and the Doomslayer from Doom. They are sitting down in a simple Animal Crossing sitting pose, sitting towards each other, Isabelle is smiling.

For me, this is why I have this bsky account. While the idea of having a large follower count is great n all, I like to treat this account like an open journal, for sharing art other people may be able to get joy, or some other emotional reaction from. Here's one of my favorites :)

Digital art containing 5 drawings of a Sandile wearing white socks with pink tips. They are doing things from wearing the socks to having one on their nose to eating a sock.

Lesson 16 is a weird one, but try not to feel guilty about praise. While internalizing that you're doing art for the joy of art itself, don't let that take away from the joy of people enjoying what you've made. Sharing your art is just another part of why making art is so great.

Lesson 15? Idk: My artist friend wanted to add "keep trying, the worst thing you can do is to not try at all" and I agree with that. You won't get anywhere without trying, you won't improve without being afraid to fail, and you won't get closer to your goals by imagining being good at art. Just draw

-maybe you could think about money, but as a new artist, don't let it distract you. It takes the focus of art away from the joy of creation and puts the weight of financial stress onto your craft. It makes learning feel a lot more like a job and less like self improvement.

A lesson related to that though, try not to obsess over art on a social media level. YouTube art tutorials and guides, follower count, interaction numbers, worrying about the possibility of making money. It can be really stressful and distract from the fun of art. If you get a good follower count-

Idk if this is a lesson, but it's really nice to have friends supporting you. I have an artist friend who has been one of my biggest supporters. It just feels good to be around other artists who are doing art for the sake of and love for creation. It really helps you be in that artistic headspace.

Digital art of a headshot of Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach, facing forward, neutral face, wearing her soul reaper uniform.

Lesson 12: Try not to hold any "techniques" or "art lessons" sacred. Art is complicated. Not only is there not one single trick to get good at art fast, there's so many ways to do art "right" that holding any lessons as gospel can really narrow your vision.

Digital art of a D&D character, Lysithea Lycester, standing with a purple soulknife in their left hand, holding their right hand on their hip, and smiling.

Lesson 11: If you're working on a piece that's taking you a long time, try not to let it hold you up too much. If that piece makes you not want to draw, take a break, draw something else if you're still in the mood to draw. I know this leads to unfinished pieces, but at least you're drawing.