A New Year š
Goodbye 2022, Hello 2023
Happy New Year, everyone! š Thank you for all your support in 2022 and for allowing me to do what I love for a living. Iām wishing you all a happy and healthy 2023! Hereās a little work-in-progress shot of my first illustration of the year:
Hopefully Iāll be able to carve out some time to finish it before Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) which will be coming up later this month. I donāt personally buy into stuff like astrology or zodiac signs on any kind of serious level, but I do think itās fun to look at annual predictions (The Chinese calendar rotates in 60-year cycles based on 12 animals and 5 different elements) and it looks like 2023 is the year of the Water Rabbitāwhich Iām relieved to see being defined by characteristics like ārelaxationā, āquietnessā, and ācontemplationā. Those sound like qualities all of us could probably benefit from after the chaos of the past few years.
I was thinking about doing a retrospective on 2022, or at the very least an art summary, but if Iām being honest, I feel like Iāve been stuck in a time warp and my perception of the passage of time has been totally screwed since the start of Covid, so Iād rather just leave it in the past and not try to make sense of how much or how little I accomplished. I saw this take on the Blinking Man meme the other day and I dunno about you guys, but it feels like thereās no better summary of the last 3 years:
Instead, Iād like to focus on what Iām looking forward to in 2023, and share a few of my personal goals for myself. Iād love to hear what all of you are hoping for this year as well!
Firstly, Iām hoping to take on a bit less client work in order to make time for personal art beyond just sketches or simple sequential drawingsāIāve had so little bandwidth to create original works in recent years and Iād like to be more intentional about dedicating the necessary time to creating finished illustrations that are for me, not for work.
Secondly, and this isnāt something thatās necessarily unique to 2023, but more of an ongoing goal of mine that I keep failing at; Iām going to try to be less of a perfectionist when it comes to my art. I waste a lot of time just noodling away at drawings, trying to make each detail accurate, and I know objectively that itās usually to my own detriment. Not only is it really frustrating process-wise, but it actually often results in worse-looking final results. Anyone whoās drawn before knows that with every āclean upā pass over the initial sketch, it becomes harder and harder to retain the original energy/fluidity/dynamism and I am mega-guilty of this. I need to reprogram my brain a bit to be more accepting of looseness and selective rendering in my own work, instead of feeling like everything has to be perfectly accurate (and therefore, stiffer, less improvisational).
Lastly, I want to make more narrative work that prioritizes storytelling. Iāve obviously drawn comic interiors/sequentials many times now in my career, but itās always been in the service of someone elseās story. In 2023, Iād like to tell my own by doing every stage of the work myselfāfrom writing all the way to lettering. Well, maybe not lettering.. that really is a separate skillset that I donāt think I have a ton of talent for, haha. Weāll see.
Now, as far as stuff Iām looking forward to, Iāve got to mention the absolute bonkers lineup of upcoming video games on the horizonā2023 is going to be absolutely stacked with a ton of majorly anticipated titles, from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, to Yakuza: Ishin, to Street Fighter 6, to Hades 2 (!!!) but obviously, Iām most excited for Final Fantasy XVI. Covid-related delays might have made 2022 a bit of a quieter year but it looks like 2023 is going to be an absolute feast.
My favorite Final Fantasy game of all time is (of course) FFVII, but FFXII, FFIX, and FFVI are basically all tied for my second-fav, so I am thrilled to see a return to a more classic FF world and Iām beyond hyped for everything Iāve seen of the new battle system and the gameplay in general. Really looking forward to spending some time with this one.
Iām also looking forward to some of the shifts happening in regards to social mediaāI know itās kind of a nerve-racking time right now because things seem very uncertain, and Iāll expand on this in a separate post soon, but I think thereās more to be optimistic about than people might think. Change is always scary, but itās not always bad.
Finally, Iām (tentatively) excited to (maybe) begin traveling again. Iāve never been a huge fan of the act of traveling itself, but I sure do miss seeing old friends and getting to try new foods. I donāt know how things will go when it comes to the pandemicāitās certainly not over, we certainly shouldnāt be ignoring it or pretending it isnāt a problem anymoreābut I do feel like at this point, Iāve done all I can do to protect myself and others from it and Iāve pretty much avoided leaving my house for 3 years now, so perhaps itās time to (slowly) get back out there. I think all of us have lost an awful lot since early-2020 in terms of human connection, and Iām looking forward to at least trying to rebuild some of that in 2023.
Let me know what your goals are, what youāre anticipating, what you feel hopeful aboutāthings are admittedly bleak out there, and thereās a lot of stuff thatās probably going to get worse this year before it gets betterābut thatās why Iām more curious than ever where people are finding space for optimism. Fingers crossed we all accomplish at least some of what weāre striving for in the new year!
Nice, if you do decide to make a comic, I'll be the first in line!
Wishing you the best 2023! I had given up FF games since they lost that magical feel to me. Played FF7 remake, of course! Iāll have to check out this new one!