2017 Christmas Presents - Reece Cat

Ink and marker on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

And here we finally have it, the last cat in the "You as a Cat!" series of ACEOs I made last December as Christmas presents for my closest friends and family.  This one features yet another good friend from high school (and grade school), Reece!  Honestly, now that I've posted and talked about all the pieces I drew in this series...this cat might be my favorite of the lot.  The wide eyes and gaping mouth make such a fun, excited, even surprised expression (it's the most animated face of all the cats I drew) and I'm extremely pleased with how all the colors work together, they remind me of a rainy spring day in Seattle.  Nostalgic.
  

I think there's a very good chance that the reason I love this final drawing so much is that it is the culmination of all the planning, experimentation, and practice that went into making the previous 13 cats.  I chose this extreme pose based on Reece's personality, but would I have been able to pull it off as well if this had not been the last ACEO I completed?  Maybe not, but since I KNEW it was the last piece on my list, that could have given me a boost, too!  After all, this was the fifth drawing I did on the last day I worked on this project.  The drawing had the potential to suffer due to my exhaustion, but instead it came out one of the best entries in the series!

It took me all the way to February to share all these Christmas presents.  I definitely intend to do more art presents this year (in fact, I have already done a birthday present in January!) so I hope you'll look forward to them throughout 2018 (^^)

2017 Christmas Presents - Jeremy Cat

Ink and marker on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

We're down to the second-to-last "You as a Cat!" ACEO Christmas present that I created in December 2017.  This one is based on another close high school buddy, Jeremy.  I had a pretty hard time finding a relatively recent, well-lit, and complete reference image of Jeremy, but I finally settled for a somewhat older photo that showed his hair blowing epically in the wind.  I tried to replicate that effect with the cat's fur :3

Available printed on cool art merch here!
 

Making art as Christmas presents is always a tougher challenge than I expect it to be (no matter how many years I do it!). Sometimes throughout the year, I feel lonely and friendless, but when I put together my recipient list, I realize I actually have quite a few good, close, cherished friends and family!  Five, ten, or fifteen close relations doesn't seem so big a number until you sit down to make five, ten, or fifteen individual art pieces before Christmas hits!  This year, I may start my present-making at the beginning of November to give myself a good head-start and plenty of breathing room...

2017 Christmas Presents - Katrina Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

This is definitely the most different and difficult breed of cat that I attempted to depict in this series of ACEOs. The fur is so short that I had to draw every curve and wrinkle that is normally hidden by longer, thicker fur on other cats. I chose a curly-coated, red Devon Rex to represent my friend Katrina because the breed's appearance is a good translation of her human one: thin build with curly, strawberry blonde hair. I really love the coiled whiskers on this cat! So cute I wish I could pet them for real!

Available for purchase in my deviantART shop!

If you're keeping up with my posts in real time, you'll know this is the twelfth cat I drew altogether, and the third on my busiest and last day of working on the project. I think I was getting tired by this point and I remember taking a break after this cat, before starting again to complete the final ones on my list. When you look at them, ACEOs don't seem like they should take very long to make because they're so small, but it's still a good 2-4 hours of constant work per item to get a result like this!

2017 Christmas Presents - Krystal Cat

Ink and marker on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

This is one of my top favorite ACEO cats I did for this series.  It was the eleventh "You as a Cat!" present I drew and the second I drew on my busiest (and final) day of the project.  It's based on one of my best friends, Krystal.  She has lovely long black hair and Asian features so an Oriental Longhair was the perfect match.  The reference image I found was so epic and gorgeous, I can only hope its beauty came through in my version of the cat X3

Available for purchase on mugs, cards, and other merchandise!

It's interesting to me how I found on certain cats in this series that I wanted to use colored pencils to give that final detailed touch but on other cats, I didn't find it necessary and relied only on the marker and white ink to do the job.  It didn't coincide with any fur color or length or anything.  The overall effect just sometimes needed that bit of extra and it was impossible to tell until I got to the very end of each piece.

2017 Christmas Presents - Scotsman Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

The tenth "You as a Cat!" Christmas present I completed was for my good friend and bearer of many nicknames (kinda like Gandalf) whom I call Scotsman.  I gotta say this is one of my top favorite entries in this art series.  It just came out so nice, the happy expression and lively eyes, the long fluffy fur, they look great on their own but also really remind me of my friend!  It's always fun when Scotsman is around (^^)

Available printed on cool stuff like mugs and mousepads!

Aside from being the tenth ACEO I completed for this series, this is also the first of five that I completed all in the same day.  It was finally crunch time--December 22nd--and I had to either get them all done or skip some of the people on my list.  I'm happy to report that I didn't skip anyone and I managed to complete every ACEO that I initially planned on before Christmas!  It's a good thing I had so much practice making all the others that came before XD

2017 Christmas Presents - Nat Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

The next Christmas ACEO I have to share is the second friend-cat of the lot.  It features my handsome high school friend, Nat!  I literally searched "handsome cat" to find a good reference photo for this X3  I didn't mention that to anyone so I was especially pleased when Nat's comment about it was "IM THE MOST HANDSOME CAT!!!"  It couldn't have been more perfect!

Available printed on greeting cards, mugs, and more!
 

This is the third cat I drew for this series which had brown eyes and black fur.  I'm pleased that all three cats have their own unique vibe and don't come across as too similar (at least I hope that's so!).  By this point, after making nine ACEOs with the same theme, the process and details started to get both fluid (good because it took less time to make each one) and fuzzy (bad because I kept worrying I would forget something important).  My confidence was both high and low at the same time!  (And I still had several more to go...)

Christmas Kenshi

Ink and marker on marker paper, with Photoshop, approximately 7x8", completed December 2017

In the midst of creating over a dozen ACEO cats for Christmas gifts in December 2017, I also wanted to get back into designing my own Christmas cards. I had been far too busy in 2016, which meant I skipped Christmas cards entirely that year (I didn't make my own cards in 2015 either, though at least I sent some premade ones). I didn't want that to become the norm--I love making and sending my own cards every year--so despite the heavy workload I already set myself, I took a break in the middle and spent a couple days drawing this. It's a picture of my dog, Kenshi, who passed on in February 2017. He was with me almost my entire adult life, save for the first year I moved out on my own (he stayed behind at my dad's house until I could find a place that allowed pets), so I decided to celebrate his memory with a peaceful depiction of him taking a nap 💙 I didn't want to be too sappy or bring down the mood around Christmastime, so that's why this is just a simple portrait. I wanted no one to know it had sad connotations unless they already knew Kenshi. Christmas is about joy and I want my memories of Kenshi to be the same.

Inked lines.

I was actually really surprised at myself when I began drawing this.  I used a photo of Kenshi napping on the couch as a reference and it was unusually easy for me to draw.  I had the pencil sketch and ink lines done in one single hour.  Maybe it's because I was so warmed up from drawing half a dozen kitties in the past couple weeks.  Whatever the reason, it felt good to get everything "right" without difficulty.

At the art meeting.

Final physical media.

On the second day, I started by coloring the piece with markers.  I used stencils to get a fun background without taking too much time (remember, this was meant to be made into Christmas cards and it was already mid-December, so I had to get it done quick!).  I had an art meeting with my sister that day, so I took the piece with me to get her opinion on it and she agreed with my thought that the background stood out too much and took attention away from Kenshi.  She helped me realize that I could use Photoshop to adjust that without risking the original drawing.

Adjustments and additions in Photoshop.

I toned down the background colors just enough to keep Kenshi the main focus of the piece and also used Photoshop to add some white highlights here and there.  As always, the white really made the image come to life.

Happy Kenshidays!

Finally, I used Photoshop to add text and crop the drawing to fit within the dimensions of a card.  I decided to write "Happy Kenshidays" to pull the whole thing together, thematically :3 I printed 30 cards on my professional inkjet printer and had them all filled out and mailed within the week.  Hopefully everyone who received one had their day brightened~!

You can purchase this piece here in a variety of formats, including greeting cards!

2017 Christmas Presents - Sarah Cat

Ink and marker on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

For anyone who hasn't been following along, in 2017 I made a series of ACEOs as presents for Christmas. Each one features the giftee drawn as a cat. I started by drawing my family, seven cats total, and then I moved onto friends. So here we have the first friend cat I drew, which is based on one of my best friends whom I have known for over fifteen years, Sarah! When I was looking up reference images of her, she seemed to have long hair just as often as short, so I decided to pick a cat that reflected that. The cat reference I found depicted a longhair Manx--short tail, long fur. This is the second cat I drew with brown eyes, but since they have so much light shining into them, it doesn't look as unnatural as some of the other brown-eyed cats in this series...

Available printed on cool art merch here!

After finishing a few cats in this series, I started to get more and more concerned about their reception as gifts. I kept doubting whether people would appreciate them, or wondering if the recipients would be confused or, worse, disappointed. I knew it was that silly inner critic talking and I kept overcoming the negative thoughts and pushing forward every day, making more and more cats so that everyone on my gift list would get one by Christmas. This is one of the biggest projects I've ever done, in terms of number of individual pieces. I think that novelty pushed me out of my comfort zone which then triggered the doubt. I worked hard on this series and I'm happy with the results. I hope the people who each received one of these cats are happy, too :3

2017 Christmas Presents - Little Brother Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

With this "You as a Cat!" Christmas present, I finished all my drawings of family. This one depicts my younger brother, who is actually between my two sisters in age, but I drew this and Aryssa's present during the same art session, so my drawing them out of order isn't completely nonsensical XD I picked the reference photo for this cat based on its pose. It matched really well with the photo of my brother that I used as reference. With this cat begins the unnatural eyes; since I wanted to make the eyes match the human, I ended up drawing several cats with dark brown, almost black eyes. It kind of bugs me 'cause a dark-eyed cat just doesn't look right XD

Available for purchase on cool art merch here!

This piece ended up one of the darkest, color-wise, of the lot. Since I was pulling the background colors from those which I had used on the cat, I didn't have very bright options here. I don't think it's a problem that this is dark or anything, though. Just gives it a much different atmosphere than most of the other drawings in this series.

2017 Christmas Presents - Little Sister Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

The next You-as-a-Cat! present I made was for my younger sister, Aryssa. By this point, I was really starting to get the formula for creating these cats down.  I think this is one of the brightest, most vibrant pieces in this series (probably because my sister has light colored hair and blue eyes).  It just feels...refreshing X3

Available on cool art merchandise here~

As you can see, this was another piece where I just completely forgot to add the whiskers.  I did all the other highlighting details, but for some reason it just slipped my mind to add in one of the most iconic cat features XD  I'm glad I realized it later and fixed it before these got opened on Christmas!

2017 Christmas Presents - Baby Sister Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

For the fifth entry in this series of Christmas presents, I drew my youngest sister as a cat! For reference, I used a photo I had taken of her at Thanksgiving wherein she made almost this exact same face XD She made the face again when I took a photo of her holding up this ACEO and it proved to be an excellent match. Of all the cats I drew for this series, I think the eyes on this one are my favorite. The color and the shine just came out so nice, they look almost real.

Available printed on cool art merch here! 

By drawing all of my closest family and friends in succession, immediately one after another, I came to realize that I have a LOT of relations with hazel eyes!  I counted all the cat eye colors in this entire set and found I have five with hazel eyes, five with brown, and four with blue.  Pretty evenly matched!  Of course, that also means I don't know anyone with true green eyes...

2017 Christmas Presents - Hubby Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

The fourth "You as a Cat!" Christmas present I completed last December was for my husband, Sean!  I looked really hard for reference photos of a cat that wasn't just fluffy but was fluffy in such a way that it appeared to have a beard.   This is because, earlier in 2017, Sean grew out his beard really huge and even wanted it bigger, but he had to keep it in check to stay professional for work XD  I gave this ACEO cat the red color that makes up a lot of my husband's beard color.

Available on cool art merch like mugs and mousepads!

Starting with this ACEO, I began losing focus and forgetting to complete small details.  I took the photo of this and a few other cat drawings and wrapped them for gifting before realizing that I forgot to add the cats' main whiskers!  Luckily, the way I wrapped them was  simple so it wasn't too much trouble to get them back out and fix them.  I'm dang glad I had decided to take a photo of each ACEO as it was completed or I wouldn't have known which cats needed whiskers and I would have had to open ALL of them to figure it out!

2017 Christmas Presents - Papa Cat

Ink and marker on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

With the third entry into my Christmas present series, I completed all of my gifts to parents!  This one was for my husband's father, whom I refer to as Papa-chan in writing (to match Mama-chan!).  I had to call in reinforcements when it came to determining eye color because his glasses in photos made it really difficult to determine!  Got a special glasses-less close-up photo and written description in the end, so hopefully I got it right XD This cat is another one of my favorites of the bunch.  The light grey tabby pattern just matches perfectly with Papa-chan's grizzled hair.

This drawing can be purchased on cool printed stuff here!

Of the cats in this series so far, this was the first one on which I didn't see a need to incorporate colored pencils.  Since the cat is just shades of grey anyway, I was able to get the color and texture I wanted just by layering ink, marker, and more ink.

2017 Christmas Presents - Daddy Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

The second Christmas present I completed last month was for my dad. He's always grumpy about something or other so I found a cat that looked the same XD I chose a cat with folded ears to represent my dad's bald head and the fur color is a reflection of his hair color, as well. I can't remember for sure, but I may have exaggerated the grump in the cat's face, lol. My dad took the perfect photo of him holding his ACEO in front of his face while pulling the biggest frown and it made my drawing look just like him!

This piece is available for purchase on cool merchandise here!
 

I'm really satisfied with this particular drawing, it's one of the best of the lot I think. The colors I used look great together, unified, and the anatomy turned out near perfect.  This drawing made me realize I didn't need to use such a wide variety of colors for the background, instead I started choosing from the colors that I had already used for the cat.

2017 Christmas Presents - Mama Cat

Ink, marker, and colored pencil on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017

This was another year wherein I decided to create art as gifts for Christmas. As with some previous years, I chose an overarching theme that every present would share: for 2017 it was "You as a Cat!" I had a relatively large gift list so I also went with little ACEOs for the format to ensure I could actually get everything done on time (^^; I'm proud to say I did! The first present I made was for my husband's mom, whom I dubbed "Mama-chan" long before Sean and I were married. I actually used a photo I took at Thanksgiving just weeks earlier for the human reference image. I chose a cat reference photo that seemed to have the same sort of expression. I made it a light-colored red cat to imitate Mama-chan's hair color. The idea with all of these cats was to make a more realistic cat version of each person, rather than a cartoony image where the cat has a human haircut and wears glasses and such. So, while this cat has a tabby pattern, hopefully it's obvious that Mama-chan does not XD

Available for purchase on cool stuff like mousepads and coasters!

Since I was in a rush to complete my full list of ACEO gifts, I didn't take any progress photos, but I did take one photo after each piece was finished which shows the art along with every marker and colored pencil that went into its creation :3 Shows really well how much detail and effort goes into even a tiny trading card-sized artwork at Studio Mikarts!

New Art - Tea Ducks

For Christmas this year, two of my friends and I agreed to do an arts/crafts gift exchange.  For my part, I decided to create a triptych painting that highlights the biggest thing that brought us together throughout 2014: The Rubber Ducky Tea Society.  Every few months this year, we three met up for tea and always brought and used our tea ducks (a cute loose leaf tea infuser shaped like a rubber ducky which floats in your cup as your tea steeps).  These tea parties were fun and laid-back and brought the three of us together like nothing else ever did before.  This blog will show you how I went about commemorating those feelings and memories in paint.

Tea Ducks (Full) by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt 

I decided to make my triptych on watercolor postcards.  I even considered mailing the painted postcards directly instead of wrapping them like a normal gift but the risk of damage in transit is virtually 100% through the USPS (especially during the holidays; one Christmas card I received this year looked like the envelope had been filleted.  I was surprised it even made it to me, since my address was almost illegible) so I quickly decided against that idea.
 

Step one: watercolor postcards, mechanical pencil, and erasers.

Step two: watercolor paint.  The cards are taped together on the back.

The holidays this year were insanely busy for me, so I didn't have time to do any sketching before starting this project.  My composition was purely instinctual.  I started with one duck and added another and another until the pages were filled.  As I worked, I made sure that some ducks overlapped into the next postcard, so it would be clear that all three pieces were meant to fit together.  Once the pages started to fill out, I also decided to ensure there were two ducks per card.  The tiny duck in the middle right of the full piece is the last one I drew.
 

Recently my watercolors have felt more satisfying when I paint more roughly (as opposed to precisely and smoothly) and then add ink for definition.  So my strokes on these cards are big and blotchy and very organic (especially in areas like the background where I used wet-on-wet techniques).  The paintings don't look anything like complete even when the painting part is technically done.  What brings it all together is the ink.
 

Watercolor totally done.  Now for inking!

After using several pens and a watercolor marker, the triptych is complete!

I have to thank ArtSnacks again for the awesome tools I used to finish up this project.  I used the Twin Tip pen set that came in my 2014 Studio Collection (the scroll tip is just the coolest!) to outline the ducks, the metallic brush pen they sent in the November 2014 box to emphasize the bubbles, and the watercolor marker that arrived in the September 2014 box to add interest to the background.  The only non-ArtSnacks pen I used on this piece is my trusty, go-to Sakura Gelly Roll gel pen in white.  After finishing these paintings, all that remained was to decide which card would go to whom.
 

Tea Ducks (Denise) by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt 

When these cards are all together, they seem equally great.  But when viewed individually, they don't necessarily look as good as one another.  I asked my beau to look at them and tell me which two looked the best alone.  His opinion matched mine: the top card was the weakest (mostly due to composition) so I kept that one for myself.  Of the three, I actually like the background on this one best.
 

Tea Ducks (Krystal) by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt

The middle card I had already hoped would turn out strong because I wanted to give it to the friend I've known the longest, Krystal.  She was the one who really brought our trio together; if not for her, I don't think we would all have become mutual friends.  The middle card is a symbol of her position as the connecting bridge between us.  Out of all the cards, I think this one is the cutest (it has both the largest and the smallest ducks!).
 

Tea Ducks (Katrina) by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt

The bottom card is actually my overall favorite of the bunch.  The background looks pretty good because I was finally figuring out what I wanted to do (some of this painting process was quite experimental) and the composition is definitely the strongest of all three.  Plus, it looks like the ducks are swimming!  I gave this one to the newer of my two friends, Katrina. 

I love doing art gifts for Christmas but, because I had so much to do this holiday season, I thought I wouldn't be able to do any at all this year.  I'm really glad The Rubber Ducky Tea Society decided to have an artsy gift exchange.  It allowed me to create some art for people I care about without adding a huge burden to my already heavy holiday to-do list.  More fun, less stress! 

Did any of you create or receive art/craft gifts this year?  What do you think of homemade presents like these?  Is there something you wish you'd receive from an artistic friend or something crafty you want to try out next time a gift-giving occasion comes up?

New Art - Beary Christmas

It's been a long-standing tradition of mine to design my own Christmas cards once the holidays roll around.  This year I already dedicated Halloween to Kiba and Thanksgiving to Kiki (one year-end holiday per cat!) so Christmas fell to Bear--appropriate considering how big, fluffy, and winter-ready he looks!  I decided to feature him in a simple (but pretty!) watercolor illustration so that I could finish the art in time to produce, fill out, and mail the cards to my friends and family by Christmas.  The following shows and describes my progress on this year's Christmas card from initial sketches to final product.  Please enjoy!

Beary Christmas by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt 

 
I started with a composition already in mind, a very simple idea of Bear and a winter night's sky.  I can't remember for sure, but I think Santa came into it when I described the idea to my beau.  He said Bear should be watching Santa and I agreed.  It didn't complicate the illustration too much and it added a Christmas element where there wasn't one before. 
 

I feel a bit clever because, when it came to the moon, I looked up which phase it would be in on Christmas Eve night this year.  The waxing sickle I depicted in the final illustration is accurate to Christmas Eve/Christmas Day 2014!  I even flipped it from my initial sketch so that it would match my (and Bear's) location here in the Northern Hemisphere.  I also arranged Santa and his reindeer so that they evoke the image of a bow and arrow.  I didn't mean to imply anything in particular with this imagery, but I found it more satisfying to draw them with that in mind than to randomly throw them on the page. 
 

A big thing that changed once I went to draw the final pencil lines is that Bear stopped being a chibi.  I originally envisioned him chibified the same way I drew Kiba and Kiki for their cards but it changed right at the very end of the research and planning stage.  I think it changed when I drew the reference sketch to map out what Bear looks like from behind while looking up.  That took so much effort (I had to get him to look up out the window without turning around to beg for pets, which was hard because I used my hand to take his attention to the window but then he would follow my hand back, hoping it would then pet him) that my mind got stuck imagining a more realistic Bear.  I didn't even realize that the change had taken place until I was done drawing him and about to start coloring. 
 

You may remember that I was really excited to receive a watercolor marker in one of my previous ArtSnacks boxes.  I was so pleased with it that I eventually bought two sets of six markers and my first time using them was on this piece.  I didn't color the entire work with them (and I only used four of the twelve colors I had) but they were an excellent way to lay down large areas of bold color and they blended perfectly with my favorite Sakura Koi watercolor paints (which I used to color the rest of the image).  These markers may become a staple to my watercolor process.  At the very least, they'll always remain on-hand in case I need them. 
 

Once I finished painting with water and brush (and sponge), I went over the piece once more time with the watercolor markers to redefine and detail certain areas, such as the silhouettes of Santa and his reindeer.  Which reminds me...I had a bit of trouble drawing the reindeer in silhouette.  I think I got confused about which leg I meant to have doing what, so some of the poor things look a bit odd.  There was no way to fix them without starting over from scratch so, even though I recognized the flaws, I left them as they were. 
 

After all the watercolor was laid down, it was time for my favorite part of my painting process: detailing!  I used a lot of ArtSnacks for this stage, including two warm grey Copic multiliners, the brown multiliner and Spica pens from my Copic sketch set (from the 2014 Studio Collection!), and the black paint marker I received in the December box (unboxing/review of the December box forthcoming!).  These things all worked fantastically well to start tying up the painting.  The only downside to any of these tools is that the Spica pen--which is a brilliantly sparkly ink--only really shines in the original painting.  There's no way to replicate the glittery effect in digital or printed copies. 
 

The final steps I took to complete this piece involved detailing with white ink and white gouache (the latter came from my 11th Edition Pigment + Palette box).  For the ink I used a Sakura Gelly Roll gel pen and Deleter White 1.  When I first used this Deleter White ink months ago, it was, disappointingly, too thick to use with a dip pen.  Happily, the dip pen worked this time because I added a bit of water.  It wasn't so much as to make the ink look thin or transparent but it was enough to allow it to flow perfectly off the nib.  I suppose it's quite lucky that the ink looked a little dried out or else I wouldn't have thought to add water!  As for the gouache, I simply wanted to tie the painting together with a wintry texture.  Not anything specific, but something between snow and stars, I suppose.
 

All done!

Although this piece only took me a single day's work from thumbnails to signature, I still think it looks quite lovely!  I meant it to be really simple, but the organic painting process gave it a great level of detail and wholeness anyway.  There are some areas I'd do differently if I had to remake it, but there's nothing about this piece that doesn't look like another successful Christmas card illustration~
 

Final step: painting printed on greeting cards and postcards.

It was a good thing that I decided to spend only a day creating my Christmas cards this year.  Digitizing the piece, putting it into card layouts (greeting cards and postcards), printing, shopping for more blank cards when I ran out, gathering addresses (I've come to expect friends to move sometime during the year without telling me), writing (I don't just scribble "Merry Christmas", I write a proper message!), stamping (including going out for a few international postcard stamps), and posting my 31 Christmas cards took almost two weeks!  All that effort seems to have been worth it since I've been getting very nice feedback from my friends and family.  Bringing happiness to people through my art is one of my overarching goals so it's extremely pleasing to hear that I've managed it with this piece~

I have one more blog post this week before Christmas, but I'm still going to use this space to wish all of my readers a very merry Beary Christmas (even if you don't celebrate; have a happy December the 25th❤) and a wonderful new year~!