Well, July has now come and it's time for Artfight! With the reveal for the theme this year, I'm at a crossroads. On one hand, I could go for Team Fossils and figure out some kind of theme to go with that for those I attack, or I could go for Crystal and figure out the same. It's just, a really, REALLY hard choice for me because of my enjoyment of geology, both Fossils and Crystals are enough to make my brain move into high gear!

Look, I won't give you all a huge journal, you've probably all gotten over a dozen of them today alone. I'll keep it brief and to the point.

2024 was quite the year for a lot of us, plenty of things have happened and there have been many questions and concerns raised. People have passed on, others are struggling, but most of us are still here. So, as the new year comes around, as we all gear up to push forward and keep doing what we can to live and thrive, I just want to say that I'm wishing for the best for everybody. Problems won't go away, but we can all work together to push forward towards something brighter, for everyone. So, if you're struggling, if you feel alone, never forget that there are people you can talk to, people you can reach out to. And if you need help, please, let people help you, and help them help you by letting them know you need help.

This world tries to keep us apart, to keep us from interacting too much, but don't let it. It's not weakness to know when you need help, it's strength, and if you let people help you, everybody is better for it. Never forget that, no matter who you are.

Here's hoping for a solid 2025. I'll keep making art to post, as will many others, and I hope you all find something you can enjoy throughout the year.

Thank you,
Atom

Alright, so, here's the gist of what this journal's about. I want to get better with my art, and I'm uncertain as to what'll help me the most with it and I have limited ideas for art. In some regards, I'm decent, but I also know I have trouble with properly doing clothing, posing, and a few other things. In addition, I'm far too reliant on 3d models for my liking to make my stuff look decent, and I want to try and move away from them at least a little bit.

Of course, none of this will happen while I have limited ideas about what to draw. I've been drawing a lot of Cobra Brotherhood members, and I've been filling out a height chart with them all. I have 7 more members to draw out, and probably a few that I'll need to redraw, either to make them better or to give them full legs. Cough, Scinner, Vile, cough.

So, to remedy that, I've been thinking about things to do. I put up a thing a while back on Bluesky, and I got some ideas from it. Mostly growth-based stuff, heh. From there, I thought of a few things. One, I could run a growth drive of sorts for Margaret or Carlos, obviously a fair bit of macro for both, and either T&A or muscle respectively. Two, I could try doing some general art practice like I've seen others doing for their characters, angles of heads, expressions, etc. Three, drawing them into different situations, like say, a fight scene for Atom or Mark, or maybe some kind of experimentation with Chemi.

I'll fully admit that I don't really know what I'm going to end up doing, but thoughts from others would certainly be appreciated. Could even vote on it if people would like to, heh. But, yeah, that's about where I'm at for right now, and if you've read this far, thank you for doing so.

I'm participating in Artfight this year, so I'm hoping to be able to do a drawing every day of people who are on there. If you're participating this year, feel free to let me know and I'll be certain to try drawing you, Friendly Fire or opposing!

I'm on Team Bloom, so may the best team win!