Another year has passed us now and so soon it feels… Or maybe I’m just getting older and times getting faster now that I have a better awareness of it, idk lol.

I’ve definitely had my ups and downs this year and while I did have some pretty upsetting moments I feel I’ve also had so many lovely things happen to me as well! Getting to make new friends on my current art course has been really awesome and I love spending time with them and getting to talk about the things we’re passionate about. Plus I got to make even more connections with some lovely and inspiring artists on here too! I’m really genuinely grateful for all of the support my art received this year too, you’ve all really motivated me to keep on going with my art even when I wasn’t feeling good about my work. ^^

All that yap aside though, here’s this year’s art in review! :3 The template I’ve used here was created by RezDragon! And here’s the blank version too if you’d like to use it! (Please make sure to credit him though!)

Overall I’d say I’m pretty happy with the progress that my art has made this year, although I do wish I had dedicated myself to studying more frequently.

I feel the things I improved the most on were actually my colours. I distinctly remember looking at my art from around a year ago now and feeling that the colours just weren’t looking right, or that they looked kind of ugly and desaturated. So I strived to try and change that fact in late 2024. I feel this has definitely paid off this year as when I compare my art from November/December of this year to my last years art, or even pieces from earlier this year, I feel that the colours just feel so much more bright and vibrant! I also feel that my ability to build pleasing colour palettes and sense of what colours I feel are working/aren’t working has improved significantly too.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that I don’t really like some of the decisions I used to make in my pieces from earlier this year? Like the super thin lineart looks okay in certain pieces but in others it just feels like it doesn’t exaggerate the cartoony nature of my style as well. I experimented with a slightly different line thickness in my art later on in the year and discovered that I really enjoyed that look a lot more.

As for improvements, I’d say the things I want to work on the most are honestly are just my basic fundamentals, such as anatomy, volume, perspective and proportions. I feel I struggle with all of them significantly. I’d really like my art to feel more three dimensional too as it’s still pretty flat (and I’ll admit sometimes I just get lazy and don’t think about over lapping forms/drawing through them).

I also really want to try and learn digital painting/do more traditional art. I did do a digital painting back in April of this year but I haven’t done much since then. I feel like I need to be more looser with my artwork too in some respects if I want to try out digital painting. Every time I’ve tried to be more loose with my art I still end up polishing things too much. I think I’m just used to the way that I typically do things in my art that trying to steer away from it is trickier lol.

I also picked up sketch booking again sometime in August but dropped it around late October due to feeling burnt out. I’d love to pick it up again since I got some new art supplies for Christmas this year, and I really love to decorate my pages with stickers and washi tape! :3

I’d say my favourite piece from this year has to be my fanart of the character Sha from The Walten Files. I’m just so happy with how the colours turned out and I love how she looks too! I’m so happy that I drew fanart of a character that I love that I feel does them justice as it’s something I genuinely struggle with tbh.

Anyways though that’s all for now, I wish everyone reading this a happy new year and a good 2026!! ^w^/🌈💕💫🐾🍰