800 followers, you say!

If you’ve been following me for long enough, you know what’s up. Thanks to you, I’ve reached a level I never thought I would hear on Newgrounds. As thanks, I want to cater directly to you. If you’re a follower, you can leave a request for a character for me to draw below—OC or otherwise. I’ll close the window for entry on March 25th. That way, I can get started on this piece ASAP and (ideally) have it out in the first week of April.

As I’ve said before and will say again, thank you. The kindness I’ve been shown here on NG cannot be understated. I wouldn’t be here in the way that I am if not for the kindness, encouragement, and guidance I’ve been blessed with. I hope that I can pay it back in kind and express my deepest gratitudes.

Here we are again, then. I don’t think it’s particularly bold to say that 2024 has been an extremely exhausting year, to put it gently. The near future doesn’t exactly look bright, but it’s important in times of adversity to stand tall, square your shoulders, and face them head-on. 2025 will be what we make it, and I hope we’re able to find strength in ourselves and in each other to carry on.

Lots has happened this year, both good and bad. I imagine that there are stories you all could tell that would make mine pale in comparison! Finally graduating college was perhaps one of my biggest accomplishments, and the search for employment has brought me many opportunities to learn humility and patience. I’ve been blessed with a life filled with light and love, for which I am unspeakably thankful. I cannot thank all of you enough for giving me what I have. Hopefully I can express it and pay it back in kind!

How about we go over some art from over the course of the year? These are my personal favorites, in no particular order—it’s important keep an eye on the past, it’ll help you see how far you’ve come as you step into the future. Be sure to let me know what your favorite art from me was this year, I’m interested to hear what you say!

#1 - Kissmas

Recency bias at its finest. I’ve drawn my OCs here and there, but have long since been lacking in terms of defining who they are here in Newgrounds. Finally drawing Zack and Valerie together helps legitimize who they are so much more. It’s gotten me excited to do more character work and visual storytelling in the days to come! Plus, Christmas is the perfect time for warm, lovey-dovey type art.

#2 - Graduation

Nothing super deep here. A bit self-serving, maybe, but it was my way of celebrating my graduation from college and making an artistic landmark for myself. I’ve been feeling less fear about the future than I was even a few weeks ago, and I’m more determined to make the best of it than anything. I hope that I find it, and that all of you do as well.

#3 - Straight Outta Gotham

This piece was the one I had the most fun making this year, by far. Finding the right balance between making it funny without making it silly—and taking it seriously without making it joyless—led to it becoming a bit of a labor of love. It’s also the last time you’ll ever see me draw Harley Quinn (with how much she’s been degraded from an actual character to an embarrassingly scuffed Deadpool ripoff), so it’s nice to have this be my swan song in that regard. Going out on a high note, I like to think.

#4 - Crystal Lake Creeps and Heartist Halloween 2024

By far some of my best works this year, both for Halloween—very on-brand for me. Seeing the time and effort I put into them get recognized was incredibly rewarding; I do my best to put a little extra care into ‘event’ pieces (like holidays), and these two feel like some of my best yet. Getting input from my friends on both also helps them feel even more special to me.

#5 - Either You’re Perfect…

This piece popped off, my most popular art of the year by a significant margin. I made this one in my off-time during classes, on a whim, so even now I’m thoroughly surprised by how much of an impact it made. I’m pretty happy with all the DBZ-related art I made this year, but this one in particular holds a special place of honor. Cell really do be ballin’.

#6 - Break the Bat and Fake the Bat

Knightfall was a pretty big part of my year, constantly popping up and sticking in the folds of my brain. The story and characters have grown on me significantly over time, especially in discussions with friends about it all. Both of these were tributes to the art from the books, as well as tributes to some of those previously-mentioned friends. In terms of cleanliness and rendering, I think they’re some of my best art yet.

God help us, I’ll need to actually make good on my threats to make a Bane video essay.

#7 - Ronin Rain and Overshadow Poster

These two share a spot by virtue of having the same mission: getting how Ronin/Zack looks and feels in my mind’s eye out of my head and tangible as an image. Ronin Rain is an image that I’ve been picturing for a long time now, and even now keeps coming back—there’s a pretty solid chance that I’ll be remastering it (since Ronin’s armor has been refined), but I wonder about the necessity of making that an entirely new upload. We’ll have to see how it goes, and in the meantime I’ll bask again in the relief of finally having these two completed.

Deepest of gratitudes to some special creators in particular:

@BeastKing05

@Kyo85

@Qwuazzi

@BombsAhoy

@Theguywhodrawsalot

@Palindronev2

@Ecko-AI

@citalopram-overdose

@Digitax25

@KnightLineArt

@UncleHIVE

@MetalDoom

@NorBeBlue

@Sutikku-Zu

@MercKaiju

Thank you all for what you have done and continue to do. You provide an endless source of inspiration to me, and I cannot express my thanks enough for it.

May this coming year bring safety, satisfaction, and success to us all. Keep on keeping on, and know you’ve got me in your corner.

See you, space cowboys.

700 followers, you say!

I’m back here again to express my deepest, most sincere gratitudes to you. Reaching 700 followers this year is unbelievable to me, and is thanks to folks like you. The support I continue to receive is invaluable, and I hope that I can both express just how much it means to me, and show my thanks for it. There’s no place like Newgrounds, and there’s no place I would rather be.

Similar to previous milestones like this, I want to make a special celebration piece to show my gratitude. If you’re a follower, leave a request for one character below—OC or otherwise, your call. Submit this character request by July 10th so I can fit them in!

I’m not sure whether I should make another Q&A video—is that something you guys would be interested in seeing? Be sure to let me know and leave a question if you do, I’ll make one if there’s enough demand.

Hope that all has been good for you, folks! Be talking to you again soon!

The news has broken that beloved creator Akira Toriyama recently passed away at the age of 68. To call this heartbreaking would be a gross understatement, but I fail to find the words that can begin to describe how much of a loss this is for the world at large. Toriyama and his work are a monumental pillar of pop culture—Dragon Ball Z is recognized and beloved the world over, with fans across generations and the globe. It was something that I had very little awareness of when I was a kid, but grew to appreciate more and more as I got older. The love that friends and artists I look up to and admire have for it can’t be understated. What I once thought was just a simple anime turned out to be one of the most reliably enjoyable and inspirational series ever made. Akira Toriyama’s ability to craft compelling worlds, stories, and characters that balance an endearingly silly and light-hearted sense of fun with genuinely intense drama and action has inspired countless artists over the years, and will undoubtedly continue to for as long as there are people to recognize it.

Things are going to be different now that he’s gone. The world is never going to be the same. We’ve lost too many great artists in recent years, and each one has left a hole in the hearts of all who knew them and their creations. My heart and my prayers go out to his family, his friends, and his fellow fans.

Toriyama may have passed on from our world into the next, but he’s left us with a legacy that will last forever.

It’ll be a long time before I’ll be able to say goodbye, but I will always say thank you.

Well, folks, we've made it! We're here at the finish line, so I think it's good to look back and see how far we've come before we step into the new year. We've all loved, lost, gained, and hopefully grown stronger over the course of 2023. I've turned 23, gotten to know more friends, gotten to know old friends better, started watching and actually enjoying some anime shows, and listened to Radiohead's Ok Computer an unhealthy amount of times.

This was a year where I didn't have nearly as much time to work on personal art as I would've hoped, and that's probably going to continue to for a while into 2024. I learned more than ever how much I value my time and effort, which came from a course that wasted both. Without getting into it too much, it culminated with me transferring out of it for next semester(as it's normally a two-semester long course) and taking the professor out in the hallway to tell him to his face that he was a complete failure of an instructor and his class was an embarrassment to take. I didn't feel as anxious about it, walking away, nor did I feel like some reddit "and then everybody clapped" badass. I shouldn't have had to do it in the first place, but when it got to that point I stood my ground and spoke my mind. I hope that this professor was able to understand what I said and take the lesson, but I don't have to worry about that. It's not something I have to concern myself with anymore, and that's the most satisfying part of it all.

As is now tradition, I'd like to look back on art from this year I've made and have things to say about. It's not a list that's curated in a particular order, or meant to be a ranking that assigns some sort of value that compares and contrasts each piece with the others. More like a highlight reel going over what I enjoyed most, or am most satisfied with, in each one than anything else. Let's kick it off!

#1 - Spooky Scary Spawn

This is one I'd been in the mood to make for a long time. Like I mention in its description, I was looking to capture the mood and visual style of the Spawn animated series. That show was a very impactful artistic influence on me when I first watched it, and continues to be today. My course on perspective this semester also had a hand in this one, with a more considered composition and placement of shadows. I took a lot of care to place Spawn in an environment that would enhance the moody darkness of the character. It was also made as something of a tribute to @KnightLineArt, whose dynamic, comic-booky style always leaves me floored, especially when he draws Spawn.

#2 - Vodka and Magic

Atmosphere and mood were at the forefront of this one, too. Like the playlist that it accompanies, it was my attempt to really push a tone. As with the other two entries in this series, my intention is to give the viewer a clear sense of what my OCs and their stories are like. A juxtaposition of their past and present lives, hinting at what their future could bring. Max taking much longer ends up feeling ironic and yet fitting to me; with him being less action-heavy than the others, but just as moody the others(if not more!).

#3 - Pearl and the Infinite Sadness

I'll be the first to admit that this one was both very self-indulgent and set up to fail. While I do still think it's one of my best works yet—with how far I pushed myself on the soft shading and details—it's a piece that's too specific. I remember being disheartened when it was met with lukewarm, middling response, but I can't say I was really that surprised then or now. Posting it on Valentine's Day certainly didn't help its case. This is all to say that I went too niche and made it more for myself than anything, and that isn't a bad thing; nor is the fact that it didn't connect with a lot of people! I hold no ill will or regret about any of it, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I met with some very good friends from high school a few months after I dropped this piece, and one of them was instantly taken with it—recognizing it as both Steven Universe and the Smashing Pumpkins. It was both very funny and very validating to me, to have someone recognize and appreciate it on the same wavelength as I did when I first made it. I remember saying to her that I was very happy with it, but that it was a venn diagram of two different circles of loserdom. People seemed to have grown to like it over time, and I got to meet someone who 'gets' it face-to-face. It was an experience I'll hold in my heart forever!

#4 - Ultraverse Amalgam Poster

For someone who loves and draws comic book superheroes so much, I've been severely lacking in the posing department. I'm very guilty of tending to only draw poses that are static rather than dynamic, which both the genre and medium place heavy emphasis on. The 'Amalgam' designs I made are still something I'm very satisfied with and many people connected with, but this helped to really bring them to life. Hivemind barely changed from the first drawing, but people still latched onto him the most. Something as small and simple as a head tilt brought so much personality!

#5 - Calaverita Reborn and June the Jazz Singer

I'm having these two share a spot because they already share the same creative intent. They're both remakes of previous drawings of mine—I hesitate to call them 'remasters'; they're such a radical glowup from the pieces that they're based off of that they feel almost completely removed to me. The posing is much more natural and makes the characters feel so much more alive, without sacrificing the stylization. The coloring, lighting, and shading is also a really drastic contrast to the point that, to me, the old art almost feels like a different artist made it. The way I render muscles and smooth metal now is so different from how I used to. Plus, the art June is something that means a lot to me, being a tribute to my family and friends.

#6 - OC Character Sheet: The Mistress

I enjoy and value this art not just for what I put into it, but for what my friends put into it. I already said it, but @Palindronev2 helped me take a spread of ideas I had and put them together in a way that I never would've thought to. @Kyo85 is the one who gave her the name Contessa Scarlatta, which is a name so good that I'm never going to not use it for this character. And massive shoutout to @metalsonic655 for this absolute show-stopper of fanart. The understanding of her character going hand-in-hand with the homage to the Hammer Dracula films. It's a hall-of-famer for me, and I can't thank him enough times for such a gift.

#7 - 9 by 9 and 3 x 3 - 9 (more) OCs

I know I said that this list isn't in a particular order, and it isn't... but these are still towards the top of my list for this year. Last, but certainly not least, the pair of 3 x 3 grids starring various artists' OCs. Of course, I didn't realize that a 3 x 3 grid adds up to 9 total when titling the first one, so I called it "9 by 9" like a complete buffoon. I expect a false advertising suit to darken my doorway any day now.

Jokes aside, I love my friends, I love their OCs, and I love to make fanart for people. I hope to give people gifts in the form of encouragement, to show that their creations are being seen and appreciated by others. Each character has such a cool design, all of which I like for so many different reasons, and they were a pleasure to draw both individually and collectively. This year in particular, I really felt a whole new appreciation and love for those who take the time to make art for others in this manner. Whether out of close friendship, to show appreciation, or even just to be nice, it's a really cool thing to do in my book.

If you've made it this far, thank you. Thank you for following me, thank you for listening and responding to me, thank you for accompanying me on my journey. There's a list of people in particular that I want to highlight and give special thanks to:

@BeastKing05

@Kyo85

@Qwuazzi

@Palindronev2

@citalopram-overdose

@Silverdays

@JoshSketch

@KnightLineArt

@Digitax25

@Ecko-AI

@MercKaiju

There are things in particular that I want to say to each of you, which you'll be hearing from me in this coming year. But I say this to all of you and to all who read this: thank you for being who you are, and may you continue to be so. You are the most incredible creators and friends that somebody like me could ask for, and so much more.

To 2024 and many, many more!

600 followers, you say?

Joking aside, I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. It wasn't long ago at all that I was celebrating reaching over 500 followers hear on Newgrounds! Each milestone reached has been thanks to the kindness and support of the best community an online creator could ask for.

To celebrate this occasion, I'd like to do something extra special. Like before, I'll draw characters requested by followers below. It can be an OC or otherwise, but everybody who comments gets one pick. Not only that, but I'll also make a a Q&A video responding to any and all questions you may have for me! Instead of having limited "slots" for submissions, I'm instead going to accept submissions made before July 4th.

So submit a character and a question below before July 4th if you like! It could take a bit for me to complete these projects, but I want to show my appreciation.

I hope you're all having a wonderful day, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Well, hello there, everyone! Heartist here.

I’m making this announcement much earlier than I thought I would, and I’m very happy to!

As of right now, I’ve got 555 followers here on Newgrounds!

I’d like to show my thanks for this by making something special for my followers—if you’re a follower, you can request a character for me to draw in this special art piece. This will be a first-come, first-served basis, and I’ll be sure to update this post as slots are filled. You can submit any character you like, OC or otherwise.

I hope that you’re all doing well, and I hope that you all know how thankful I am for all your support!

UPDATE:

Wow, that was quick. The first spot has been claimed—by Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman of the Ultimate universe!

Better move fast, slots are filling up! The second spot has been claimed by Belphegor from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni!

Three down, two to go! The third spot has been claimed by Firefly from the GI Joe franchise!

Second to last pick, this is going much faster than I thought it would. The fourth spot has been claimed by Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy 7!

With that, we’ve gotten all five places filled! The final spot has been claimed by Eda from the Owl House!

Thank you all for voting, and to those who didn’t get the chance to—don’t be disheartened! If this goes well, I’ll probably end up doing something like this again. See you all again soon!

Another year of circling the sun! As we stand on the cusp of the new year, I think it's good to look back and go over what went on.

• I've completed the first semester of my junior year at college. It was far less strenuous than any previous, as well as being more fulfilling creatively and academically. Going into my next one, I plan to keep this feeling going.
• I've reached almost 550 followers here on Newgrounds, something I honestly didn't see coming. It was only last year that I was celebrating having 400! Like I've always said, I can't thank all of you who follow me enough. Newgrounds has become something very near and dear to me, a cornerstone of my creativity. I only hope that I can continue to impress you all!
• I attended the anime convention Youmacon, even if it was brief and found that it wasn't for me. I had a wonderful time with those I roomed with managed to learn from the experience.
• This was the year that I built a lot of bridges, and strengthened the ones I had already built. Meeting new friends both online and offline, and growing relationships with them, has been a huge part of this year. I've gotten to meet so many wonderful people and creators! Their creativity and their heart is inspiring, and has kept me going in my own moments of insecurity and self-doubt.
• I finally started listening to Radiohead, so both @citalopram-overdose and my high school physics teacher can rest easy.

And now, if you'll allow me, i'd like to go over ten of my favorite artworks from this year. It isn't a list ranking each piece in any objective manner, or numbered in any particular order. They're pieces I enjoyed making, feel particularly attached to, noticed a large response to, or just like for one reason or another.

If there's art of mine you don't see on this list, be sure to tell me in the comments and why you like it!

#1 - Doodle Dump: Daredevil

2022 was a very red year for my art. I usually find myself sticking to cool colors, but this year saw a lot of warmer colors introduced.

I've gotta be honest, I was caught off guard by how much people responded to this one. I really thought it was just kinda neat, more of an experiment than anyone else. I almost felt like I posted it here on Newgrounds on a whim. But it must've made a good impression, since it managed to get frontpaged. I suppose Daredevil really fought for that one!

#2 - Heartist Halloween

This one was very satisfying to finish, since it's sort of a remaster of a piece I ended up being unhappy with. While there are parts of this one I still feel tempted to go back and fix, I got closer to capturing what I was going for the first time around. The atmosphere is a bit more unified and the characters feel more in-place. Getting better, that's the goal!

#3 - Heartist November 2022

Terrible title, but I think the art itself is some of my favorite stuff from this year. They were all too small to get their own dedicated solo posts, but too good and/or fun to make that it didn't feel right to not share them. It's a mix of art for myself and for friends(@Palindronev2, @Qwuazzi, and @MercKaiju in particular), all of which I think turned out really good. Plus, I posted it on my birthday, so it's just that little extra bit special to me personally. It might be the most self-indulgent entry on this list.

#4 - Pearly Quinn

@citalopram-overdose and I have had a now long-running inside joke about Harley Quinn and Pearl, which you can read more about in the description of this piece and the other art it links to. I think this was the one that took the idea of drawing Pearl dressed as Harley less like a shitpost. It's still very fun and very silly, but I'm actually pretty proud of how it turns out. I didn't rely so heavily on making it funny and allowed it to be genuinely kind of cool, not to toot my own horn. Pearl's just a character I always enjoy drawing.

#5 - OC Character Sheet: Rogues of Ronin

Ultimately, I just think these designs are really cool. Shift is definitely the weakest and most unremarkable of the three, and while that's sort of what I was going for, it's safe to say that I overdid it. Vulcan is still a solid design to me, and Lightning Rider is in a league of his own. @Palindronev2 was the mastermind behind so much of him, not just on a visual front, but on the development of him as a character. I also got a lot of help from the professor teaching my Characters and Environments course—who was also the head character designer for Futurama and Disenchantment. He was a wonderful teacher and a wonderful man, I have him and Pal to thank for helping me create a truly badass design. Going into 2023, I plan on making more comics and storytelling-focused art in general to improve my skills and take myself to a new level artistically. Lightning Rider needs to be drawn way more!

#6 - Mary Jane

(Heads up, this is a censored version, the piece posted here through the link has her fully nude. Just a heads-up that it's NSFW!)

This was a birthday gift for @citalopram-overdose, and as I was working on it, I was shocked at how 'alive' MJ began to feel. I drew her and her husband, Peter Parker, quite a bit this year. Peter's design took longer to put together, and came after this one. Once I completed this piece I knew I had my own design for MJ.

#7 - Heartist Doodle Dump: September Spider Doodles & Heartist Doodle Dump: June 2022

Both of these being here, let alone having both of them in one spot, should be a giveaway that any semblance of rules to this list are arbitrary. They're both here because each has one part I really liked in particular—the appearance of Venom and my OC Zack dressed as Devil May Cry's Vergil. Both of them are drawings that turned out great, in my opinion. June is also where my aforementioned design for Peter Parker debuted, alongside MJ.

#8 - Forever.

We lost a lot of greats this year. I wonder if part of becoming an adult is realizing that the ones you looked up to are growing older, too. It hadn't really sunk in that the death of Kevin Conroy had impacted me as much as it had until my mother and father both sent condolences on "my loss." Like a delayed reaction, it didn't sink in until somebody from the outside pointed it out. God knows it's not easy knowing that he's no longer with us, but we never forget the legacy he left.

#9 & #10 - Blood and Drums & Metal and Water

These two go together since they're quasi-companion pieces—both entries in a sort of series that I need to return to next year. That coincides with how I plan to focus on storytelling more heavily, sharing OC lore less vaguely and less... "overly long text description on Newgrounds" y'know? It's about time I show rather than tell, and put my ideas out there. I've been doing some sort of practice runs, so while I've still got a ways to go, I think I've got a taste for it now! Making comics, however brief or small, feels like the logical next step in my quest for self-improvement.

Happy new year, everyone. I wish you all safety, success, and happiness in 2023. I'd also like to tag some incredible creators here:

@Palindronev2

@citalopram-overdose

@KnightLineArt

@Silverdays

@MackleNG

@MercKaiju

@Sutikku-Zu

@BeastKing05

@FeralRoku

@Mirkytea

@Konansaurus

@BeastKing05

@Ecko-AI

@CaptainJingo

@Digitax25

@jopuari

@VampryGX

@JoshSketch

@MethadosArt

@Qwuazzi

They're inspiring creators and great friends. You should give them some love and attention here on Newgrounds, and wherever else they may post!

All in all, I think 2022 was a pretty good year for me. I hope that it was for you too, and I hope that 2023 is better. Thanks for reading, as always.

See you soon!

Hey there, everyone! Heartist here. It's been a little while, I figure we're about due for a catch-up!

First, and most importantly, I've finally opened commissions!

Here are my rates, be sure to DM if you're interested! It's first come, first served, but if it goes well enough it might not be terribly long before I open them again.

Secondly, I want to give you all a sneak peek at what I've been working on.

A short comic featuring my OCs, and due to introduce new ones as well! I'm very excited to finally upload it, which hopefully won't take too much longer!

Truth be told, I was making great progress on this page, only for the file to completely vanish, meaning I had to effectively start from scratch. It was pretty frustrating and disheartening, but I got back to it and did it all over again!

I hope that you're all as excited as I am. Hope you're doing well, big love! May you and yours all be safe, healthy, happy and successful.

How's it going, everyone?

As you might have gathered from the title, I just recently hit 451 followers here on Newgrounds.

It's time to celebrate.

To be honest, I was hoping to hit 400 followers by April of this year. My expectations have been completely blown out of the water! I am truly honored to have so many followers, it means more to me than I can adequately express in words on the internet.

That being said, I'm certainly going to show my appreciation.

I'd like to draw something to personally thank you all, not just a drawing that's special to me specifically like I have before.

I want to hear and see what you would like me to make for a celebration piece. Maybe you could submit OCs you'd like me to draw? A character, mine or otherwise? You can send suggestions to me on twitter as well, maybe I should set up a poll there.

Be sure to let me know, I want to hear from you all! 451 isn't too far from 500, and every step of my journey here on Newgrounds has been truly incredible. I really can't thank you all enough.

Talk to you all again soon!