I guess to start off I can share a bit of where I come from with my art and where it will be going: my art style is something that I’ve been continually tinkering with since the start, inspired by the types of art I had seen when I first got internet access in 2009: low-pixel-density, glossy works by hobbyists characterized by their truly digital aesthetics; the oil paint texturing of the colors that I use is both a nod to my love of impressionist and expressionist art and to give the works a digitally compressed feel while still being clean.

My main influence in terms of the aesthetic itself is the work of a Japanese garage kit modelist named Ryoichi Itou, specifically his art from almost two decades ago at this point, of which I homaged in the fanart I did of his original character Aria. For the emotion I invoke I draw from the portraits of Oskar Kokoschka, how he painted clearly stylized depictions of himself and others that still felt more human than the more traditional paintings at his time, my avatar image was directly influenced by his 1913 self-portrait, for instance, my favorite work of his.

Where I’m hoping to take my art from here involves a lot of experimentation I’ve only recently developed the skill to practice: I’m wanting to draw grungy, exaggerated works reminiscent of a White Zombie album mixed with Ren & Stimpy, the practicing of both being the more stylized sketches in my portfolio, with the half-body sketch piece being my first full attempt. I still want to keep my current style around for more general art as I recognize its utility in its broader appeal, but the more I progress as an artist the more I want to move towards wilder and wilder work.

I have a couple of pet projects I’m working on in the background that are going to be aided by this experimentation, those being a psychological horror webcomic I’m trying to develop based on my experiences with schizophrenia and a full redraw of the mural art for My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade equally depicting such themes (WIP attached below), both to be made to help spread awareness for the condition not just for myself but for others that also suffer it. I genuinely don’t know if either project will be successful in the end but they’re nonetheless projects I feel deserve to be made, and it makes me happy to pluck away at them behind my other work.

I’m really looking forward to continuing to improve my craft, I’ve already progressed so much in only two-and-a-half years and I can imagine even by the end of this year my work will be almost completely unrecognizable from what it is now, and that progress is what drives me to make my art in the first place. I’m just glad for people to be able to watch me as I do so and hear their support for such, it means everything to me that they do.