Well, it's nice to know you're still alive. I haven't seen much come from you on FA in a while. I don't know what to say, I guess look into things that inspired you to draw in the beginning and try to reconnect with that? It might also be stress in life right now giving you issues. I know when I'm stressed I can't come up with anything good.

The inspiration is hard to find, and inspiration is the fuel of a true artist. Not money, as sadly many of today's artist have resolved to. True art comes from your beating heart, from the desire to create, to defy all of life's challenges. Your talent, your gods given gift to stand out from the norm, and illustrate in a language that needs no symbols and universally crosses all language barriers, to say in one elegant line, "This is me, this is my mark."

Depression is dark, it is forbidding. No words can ever mend the wound, offer comfort, or fill that big empty hole right through the middle of you. Years come and go, and the good things will pass along with the bad. Nothing will ever satisfy your desire for just a little extra attention, just a friendly ear to listen, to understand the emptiness inside, to know why you do things the way you do. This only time can mend, and though it takes many years, depression ends. When the gray clouds part, all that will remain is you, and your art.

My inspiration? Defiance:
I resolved years ago to separate my talent from my world. To wake in the morning, with only a scrap of paper, and a pencil is more than enough. I used my art to defy my depression, I drew when I had no audience, for myself, no amount of money could ever influence my art, and I take no commissions. To me, my talent is worth more than any dollar, it is as part of me as breathing, and I am content to illustrate for those that wish to stand by my side. I seek to impress no one, and no one can influence me.

Sometimes, when things get really rough, I think back to the words of a roman poet named Ovid, during the darkest years of his exile, and the final days of his life.

"Hello. Are you there? If so, indulge these verses of mine. They don't come from my garden, or from that old couch I used to sprawl on. Whoever you are and in whatever parlor or bedroom or study, I have been writing on decks, propped up against bulkheads. Look at me. I yearn for my country, my home, and for you. I have lost everything that I once had. But I still have my talent. Emperors have no jurisdiction over that. My fame will survive, even after I am gone. And as long as Rome dominates the world, I will be read."
~Ovid~

Even though I am coming in a bit late to this journal, that does help me a bit as well. I feel that I have some form of depression myself. I don't feel as motivated as I did 5 years ago.

And it is nice to still see you around, Acrila. Yes, I am THAT Max Dapto from SL