Hi Everyone! what a year 2023 has been! Since I saw @tritnew do a recap, I thought about doing one myself.

On Me (and harassment of me)

I want to get this out of the way early as this is a BIG bandaid that needs to get torn off now;

At the later half of 2022 and beginning of 2023 I appeared to everyone to a very anxious person and very quick to delete/hide comments and flipflop on my newposts. I am sorry to anyone I confused during that time, especially members of staff/mods who were kinda curious about me ... I was a victim of online harassment because curiosity got the best of me and I discovered a rather-- sophisticated gold farming operation in an MMO, and I did what I did was the right thing and spoke up to my guild and the developer of that game. Unfortunately instead of being praised for what would MOST PEOPLE find amazing-- I was cast out, and in the intervening months of tit for tat at nuclear levels of arguments with all parties involved, my family received disturbing and harassing calls as it came to a peak.

This is/was being handled by law enforcement, and a person of interest was arrested in a different country-- but charged for... different reasons I am not permitted to discuss by that court for now. That will be a giggle for another day. Unfortunately this alienated a lot of my former friends as I became very paranoid. As a result, they want nothing to do with me, and looking back at it now---I really don't want anything to do with them either.

Today I am doing much better, big thanks to my employer, and to the people who were much more quieter then I am who continue to help. I stopped playing MMOs as a result and turned to more creative endeavors that I find more fulfilling then any video game. :) I have made new friends and am opening a new and better chapter in my life.

Music Stuff 2023

(HTID-- HARDCORE TIL I DIE)

I love electronic music-- and I used to be a small time DJ in the Mid-Atlantic! Sadly though I don't get out much anymore, so I like to make music that I really enjoyed growing up in and around the music scene-- and apparently so does the staff and users here! This year I was awarded 4 Front Page awards for the following music entries:

and recently one for lending vocals to this collab:

Its a hard call for me as to which is my favorite, but I enjoyed working on 'Take My Hand' as I made friends with @zoidng who provided the synth lead for the song. It does make one get up and jump for joy. \o.o/ Looking at listener count, it seems the choice of the users was 'Be Together'-- not sure if it was because of aspiring MCs or if it was popular with the GD folks, but whatever. I am glad it makes you happy and I hope the song follows you in your heart, and in your life. <3

My very best work has been compiled here, if you don't want to stumble over a lot of loops and other garbage I tend to post:

I did receive 1 front page award that was in support for @tomfulp 's secret nuclear testing society. Don't tell anyone or I'll have to nuke you. ;P

Art and Animation 2023

I began my journey earlier this year, but fell off the wagon... then got back on I began studying art under a self study program and in my last post I finally was able to get my hands on a Cintiq pen-display! Now that the stars have aligned it will be pretty soon I'll be putting out stuff more regularly like clockwork.

I don't particularly have a jewel piece in art for this year, but I did put several days of work into these two pieces I made for Pico Day, Pixel Day and Clock Day 2023:

I did do some goofy sticker stuff for the meetups:

and the long and hard road of art education continues:

For animation... I did participate in the Friendly Frog Collab and got an additional animation credit for my entry which appeared in the credit sequence:

I also pulled one of @Jenital 's... erm... Jenital? for an animatic for a cartoon I'd like to explore more in depth next year:

Games 2023?

I did not submit any games this year. Infact this is my weakest point in the quadfectra that this portal offers as way to showcase talent. I can state that I did a bit of learning with GoDot this year after hearing about the fallout with the Unity engine. I WANT to stuff to do in this space but I am preocupied mostly with art school, so maybe I'll dabble more in this when I get my draftsman's skills a bit more up to snuff.

Upcoming Projects

PicoDay 2024 and the Kamen Rider Collab are the big two I am aiming for this year. I love the Pico art style and want to get more regularly into drawing him, his friends, me, and my... new friends? in that way. Kamen is a whole different beast and I know this will be the biggest challenge. Hopefully the collab leaders will be able to extend more time for everyone-- and I encourage others to join as well.

There are other things I am up to as well. I am looking forward to a new version of Clip Studio Paint which will allow for audio scrubbing next year. That will be a game changer. :)

In Conclusion

2023 overall was as good as could be, and 2024 will be better, and this I am sure. I will get better at art. I will continue to to contribute money for contests and wizardly things when I can. I wish you and yours a happy holiday, and a happy new year, and thank you for welcoming me to NewGrounds. :)

Love you,

YendorNG