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Well, it behooves me to do another one of these 'Year in Review' posts for 2025, given how much I liked the look of 2024's. And hoo boy, there was some tough competition in certain months...
- January often feels like a slow-start month for me, call it seasonal depression (or election depression, given the results)- but Serena's Southern-Belle makeover felt the most deserving. The Florges- & Diancie-inspired ball gown is one I'm still pleased with, and the shading job turned out pretty pleasant.
- February had a LOT of competition, between the Eggford Valentine's Day drawings & the Egg Assault-style Frostbite boss battle, but I'd have to pick the 'Diplomatic Dance' comm for EMLC3690 as my favorite for the opportunity it gave me to draw Azure in a more elegant, masculine suit. The tailcoat, pauldron & cape are things I still keep in a design even now, as the recent re-done character sheet for Azure should prove.
- March was a toss-up between Luna's elegant Princessifcation into 'Lunarella Von Spitz' or Beatrix's Victorian makeover, but ultimately I think the former taught me more things about lighting, comic panels, & other techniques for pacing a visual sequence- neither one are projects I regret, for the record! But the Nachthimmel Inheritance just slightly edges it out.
- April had a fair number of good projects with the Estro-Emerald, new Team Flare designs & Shadow Girl's 'Black Sun' suit, but I think the 'Shedding of the Winter Coat' artpiece with my older OCs Victoria & Ciel was the most enjoyable for that month. I don't often find the time to draw comics for myself, but the visual gag of a fox kemono 'shedding' her fur coat from the winter for a lighter spring dress was too fun to pass up on- helped that Utah was getting snow right up into April, somehow. XD
- May was a month of mostly mobian content from what I remember; Slip and Fall getting 'Scrambled' or Commander Irons's OC sheets were a near hit for the month, but ultimately I think Luna Gets a Sunnier Disposition was a better showcase of my rendering skills at the time. The different textures for Luna's velvet dress, "Honeybun's" latexy bunny suit, her metal arms, & other surfaces all came together really nicely.
- June was another slow month bc I think I was coming back from a week's worth of vacation around that time, or maybe that was just earlier in the month... overall though, I would say the Clash of Spellcasters between a client's Tanas the Dragon and my Mrs. Gossamer the Spider was the most impressive, mainly for the magical effects utilized. Ain't often I get to draw stuff as intricate as Gossamer's web-weaving magic glows, but it's yet another facet of my art to grow & hone.
- July was a time of beeg changes; it's where the Patreon started, it's around the time I really started to lock in on trying new things with rendering too. Lady Luna Schwarzschoen was a really close contender for my favorite work, but the "Heroes' Gathering" with Manta Ray & Omu had a bit more diversity in texturing that I'm really pleased with- and one which I'm still tryna replicate to this day. -u-;
- August had a lot of work I'm personally fond of, from the Retro Tigress Quinn to the 'Reassigning Rogue Agents' comic that arguably could'a taken the gold this month- but I think the patron-voted "Yako's Yuki-Onna" comic is what I want to pick for a favorite. Both it and the Reassigning comic convinced me to try more advanced levels of colored lighting for non-midday scenarios, and resulted in some fantastic work in my opinion.
- September's choice is a little more personal, but I'm giving it to the Direwolf character sheet I made for ChaosCroc's 'Victory Vixen' universe- partly because Connell's an OC I've really been passionate about throughout late 2025, partly because the template for his character sheet was one of my more recent forays into graphic design that I wanna keep doing in the future. Just a very pleasant work all around imo.
- October was a little rough for me, due to some scheduling issues between comms & other art releases- that month's patron-voted Oni and the Tsunokakushi story was at the core of those troubles, with how I'd been struggling to do another full-body sequence and capture the depth of detail I see Japanese kimono having... it's one of the works from this year I felt had the most 'compromise' with me cutting out one of its originally 4 planned steps, but I'm still proud of the end result in spite of the troubles I had with it. Felt like one of my works most outside of the 'wheelhouse' of what I've developed a reputation for, but that's part of why I like it so much.
- November, as a result of how October went down, was a time when I really wanted to focus on doing a limited number of comms to not overwhelm myself, annnd as a result I'm sorta skirting my rules by making the whole of the Returners RIOT: Round 2 sale the highlight for that month. More than any of the sprite sheets individually, I'm proud of what I put together as a 'collective' with all of the different OCs and transformation results people asked for.
- December, finally, was a little short in scope due to stretching the public release for RR into its earlier weeks- but what projects I did make this month, I'm really pleased with; the Shadow Girl: Year One cover art chief among them. It's been one of my longest-going projects of 2025 (along with another comic-art piece that I'll be finishing in 2026), but the results felt well worth the time invested; definitely a portfolio piece for me in how far it shows my work improving.
...and finally, the Highlight of the Year... this too was a really tricky category, & it could just as easily have gone to the Frostbite Boss Battle or to the Shadow Girl cover/Azure character sheet. But of anything I've worked on this year, I think the Yuletide Lounge YCH was the most impressive for me, and one that I'm still blown away by whenever I look back on it. For a project of such scope, it didn't feel too overwhelming or behind in schedule, and I gotta give a thank-you one more time for everyone who supported it and all my work throughout this year.
But I wanna know, what projects in 2025 do you think were most impressive? Most memorable? Let me know in the comments! I put a lot of hard work this year into making more artpieces that expanded my skills & broadened my horizons, and while 2026 may not be quite as lucrative, I've no intent to stop drawing anytime soon. Here's to another great year for the Kingdom of Aozora!
- January often feels like a slow-start month for me, call it seasonal depression (or election depression, given the results)- but Serena's Southern-Belle makeover felt the most deserving. The Florges- & Diancie-inspired ball gown is one I'm still pleased with, and the shading job turned out pretty pleasant.
- February had a LOT of competition, between the Eggford Valentine's Day drawings & the Egg Assault-style Frostbite boss battle, but I'd have to pick the 'Diplomatic Dance' comm for EMLC3690 as my favorite for the opportunity it gave me to draw Azure in a more elegant, masculine suit. The tailcoat, pauldron & cape are things I still keep in a design even now, as the recent re-done character sheet for Azure should prove.
- March was a toss-up between Luna's elegant Princessifcation into 'Lunarella Von Spitz' or Beatrix's Victorian makeover, but ultimately I think the former taught me more things about lighting, comic panels, & other techniques for pacing a visual sequence- neither one are projects I regret, for the record! But the Nachthimmel Inheritance just slightly edges it out.
- April had a fair number of good projects with the Estro-Emerald, new Team Flare designs & Shadow Girl's 'Black Sun' suit, but I think the 'Shedding of the Winter Coat' artpiece with my older OCs Victoria & Ciel was the most enjoyable for that month. I don't often find the time to draw comics for myself, but the visual gag of a fox kemono 'shedding' her fur coat from the winter for a lighter spring dress was too fun to pass up on- helped that Utah was getting snow right up into April, somehow. XD
- May was a month of mostly mobian content from what I remember; Slip and Fall getting 'Scrambled' or Commander Irons's OC sheets were a near hit for the month, but ultimately I think Luna Gets a Sunnier Disposition was a better showcase of my rendering skills at the time. The different textures for Luna's velvet dress, "Honeybun's" latexy bunny suit, her metal arms, & other surfaces all came together really nicely.
- June was another slow month bc I think I was coming back from a week's worth of vacation around that time, or maybe that was just earlier in the month... overall though, I would say the Clash of Spellcasters between a client's Tanas the Dragon and my Mrs. Gossamer the Spider was the most impressive, mainly for the magical effects utilized. Ain't often I get to draw stuff as intricate as Gossamer's web-weaving magic glows, but it's yet another facet of my art to grow & hone.
- July was a time of beeg changes; it's where the Patreon started, it's around the time I really started to lock in on trying new things with rendering too. Lady Luna Schwarzschoen was a really close contender for my favorite work, but the "Heroes' Gathering" with Manta Ray & Omu had a bit more diversity in texturing that I'm really pleased with- and one which I'm still tryna replicate to this day. -u-;
- August had a lot of work I'm personally fond of, from the Retro Tigress Quinn to the 'Reassigning Rogue Agents' comic that arguably could'a taken the gold this month- but I think the patron-voted "Yako's Yuki-Onna" comic is what I want to pick for a favorite. Both it and the Reassigning comic convinced me to try more advanced levels of colored lighting for non-midday scenarios, and resulted in some fantastic work in my opinion.
- September's choice is a little more personal, but I'm giving it to the Direwolf character sheet I made for ChaosCroc's 'Victory Vixen' universe- partly because Connell's an OC I've really been passionate about throughout late 2025, partly because the template for his character sheet was one of my more recent forays into graphic design that I wanna keep doing in the future. Just a very pleasant work all around imo.
- October was a little rough for me, due to some scheduling issues between comms & other art releases- that month's patron-voted Oni and the Tsunokakushi story was at the core of those troubles, with how I'd been struggling to do another full-body sequence and capture the depth of detail I see Japanese kimono having... it's one of the works from this year I felt had the most 'compromise' with me cutting out one of its originally 4 planned steps, but I'm still proud of the end result in spite of the troubles I had with it. Felt like one of my works most outside of the 'wheelhouse' of what I've developed a reputation for, but that's part of why I like it so much.
- November, as a result of how October went down, was a time when I really wanted to focus on doing a limited number of comms to not overwhelm myself, annnd as a result I'm sorta skirting my rules by making the whole of the Returners RIOT: Round 2 sale the highlight for that month. More than any of the sprite sheets individually, I'm proud of what I put together as a 'collective' with all of the different OCs and transformation results people asked for.
- December, finally, was a little short in scope due to stretching the public release for RR into its earlier weeks- but what projects I did make this month, I'm really pleased with; the Shadow Girl: Year One cover art chief among them. It's been one of my longest-going projects of 2025 (along with another comic-art piece that I'll be finishing in 2026), but the results felt well worth the time invested; definitely a portfolio piece for me in how far it shows my work improving.
...and finally, the Highlight of the Year... this too was a really tricky category, & it could just as easily have gone to the Frostbite Boss Battle or to the Shadow Girl cover/Azure character sheet. But of anything I've worked on this year, I think the Yuletide Lounge YCH was the most impressive for me, and one that I'm still blown away by whenever I look back on it. For a project of such scope, it didn't feel too overwhelming or behind in schedule, and I gotta give a thank-you one more time for everyone who supported it and all my work throughout this year.
But I wanna know, what projects in 2025 do you think were most impressive? Most memorable? Let me know in the comments! I put a lot of hard work this year into making more artpieces that expanded my skills & broadened my horizons, and while 2026 may not be quite as lucrative, I've no intent to stop drawing anytime soon. Here's to another great year for the Kingdom of Aozora!
Check out my Patreon in the links below! For as little as $2/month you can get access to my Discord where I share WIP sketches and engage w/ a community of likeminded enjoyers of mobians, anthros, and all things elegant.
https://www.deviantart.com/azure-lionheart | https://bsky.app/profile/azurelionheart.bsky.social| https://www.patreon.com/c/AzureLionheart
Category Artwork (Digital) / Anime
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 4000 x 2000px
File Size 5.66 MB
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