When 2024 began this was definitely NOT what I was planning to write down for my first journal entry for this year. Alas, life has a way of throwing curveballs your way, and so...here we are. I'm sure you have all heard the news by now. Of the passing of Akira Toriyama the creator of the iconic manga "Dragon Ball" which would go on to inspire future generations, including our own. Considering how much his work has influenced me throughout my life I wanted to do something to pay tribute to him since the chances of me actually taking the time to do an art piece in his honor is unfortunately highly unlikely. So I figured that at the very least I could write a journal entry dedicated to him. That being said I wanted to wait until I had posted my first art piece for this year before writing this journal down before this month came to an end since this is the month of Akira's unfortunate passing. Ever since I first joined FA we have tragically lost many great artists, Stan Lee, one of the founders of "Marvel Comics", Kentaro Miura, the creator of the dark fantasy series "Berserk", and even Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" just to name a few. Even though all of these great artists sadly passed away I had always chosen not to mention their deaths, or do anything in their honor, as I have always chosen to simply stay focused on my own artistic endeavors, and nothing more. However, with all of that being said you could say that Akira Toriyama's passing was the final straw that broke the camel's back, and so here I am writing all of this down. I honestly don't have much to say other than, thank you...all of you great artists who are no longer with us...thank you all for the gifts you have given us before finally leaving this world behind. I can only hope that after my own passing that the art pieces I leave behind inspire a future artist somewhere out there to create something truly wonderful just like these guys did. That being said I suppose the best way to honor their legacies is to simply keep on making our own art for others to enjoy just as they did, and that is exactly what I intend to do. So I hope you will all continue to look forward to more art from me going forward, and until my next journal entry is uploaded I will simply leave you all with this...keep on drawing, or writing, or whatever it is that makes you happy, for that is how these people lived their lives, so too should we live ours. Take care everyone, and thank you as well!