ive been seeing a lot of artists i follow do this recently, so i thought i’d give it a shot as well

this was honestly one of the worst years of my life, but it did have some positive highlights that i want to share with you all!!!!

joining newgrounds

i joined this site on march 25th of this year, since the old art site i was using (buzzly) went down in flames bc one of its owners was outed as a pedophile. as a minor, i don’t want to associate with those kinds of people, and there was no way i was going to go back to deviantart (which was a good call).

at first i tried artstation, but then i realized it wasn’t for me bc i just found it overwhelming, and it was targeted towards adults looking for jobs and not teenagers wanting to share their self-indulgent fanart lmao. once again, that was also a good call.

in february 2021, i got into friday night funkin’ through me and my younger brother messing around on funky friday and getting curious about the source material. because of that, i was already somewhat familiar with newgrounds, but i had only heard about it being toxic, so i never researched further. until i saw somebody on a different site (toyhouse) recommend it to people and describe it in an overwhelmingly positive light, so i decided to take a look.

i lurked on this site for roughly a week before making the decision to leave buzzly for it, and it was honestly the best decision i could’ve made. it isn’t a toxic hellhole full of neckbeards like i had believed it to be. this site has strengthened my love for art and i couldn’t have found a better place to be :)

improving my art

the art portal and art forum inspired me to start putting effort into improving my art and studying art in general. because of that, i’ve made so much progress that i wouldn’t have been able to make without newgrounds. for example, here’s my 2022 art summary that i’ve already shown in my previous news post:

ive improved more on my art than i have in any other year!!! thank you to everyone who’s helped me, followed me, and/or given me constructive criticism on my art. i love and appreciate every single one of you <3

i would thank individual people, but i want to save that for my 1-year anniversary on this site in march. so instead, i’m going to thank everyone as a whole, who’s supported me in any form this year, no matter how big or small. you guys motivate me to continue drawing ❤️

i’ll probably edit this later and add more. but for now, this is all i’ve got. i hope 2023 will be much better than this year!!!! merry christmas, happy holidays, and happy new year <3