Thursday, July 24, 2025

Forever Yours

Forever Yours
My dear friend,

Years have passed, you changed my life, reshaped my destiny, but I doubt you'd recognize me.

I still think about you every day, more so lately. The walls are closing in and time is running out. I can feel it in my bones. No, I'm not injured, or sick, at least not that I know. I don't think I'm old enough to just drop dead, though anything is possible. I just can't shake this feeling of impending doom, not just for myself, but for us all. So I'd like to get a few things off my chest before it's too late. It wasn't possible before, but I will speak clearly now, and I hope you'll understand.

I never meant you any harm.

If I have regrets in this life, it's that I couldn't keep you closer, that I was not good enough for you to be around.

You taught me things, so many things... Some were simple, all were needed.

You are my greatest triumph. It was brief, but with you I felt as if I walked amongst the gods.

You granted the confidence I needed desparately before you came along. Perhaps too much... but I would rather be this way, than the way I was before.

Because of you, I am so much stronger now. I survived the things that came after. You made sure I was ready.

You proved that life can be worth so much more than living.

You were the light I needed to see.

The most important lesson you taught was to let go. It's not that there was much left to hold on to in the end. Memories, ashes, darkness, and persistent agony remained once you were gone. Despite the pain, you were the thing I least wanted to let go of. But there was no choice, and I had to let go. This made everything I was stuck on later so much easeir to deal with.

The last things you said to me, cut deeper every day. You needed an excuse, but it still hurt so much. You broke me down and I am not built to fight against you. It may be obvious to others why it happened, but I didn't understand. Your intent is clear now that the years have gone by. The pain is dull today, but in your absence it continues to grow. It won't get better, I will carry it for the rest of my days.

Things will never be the same and nothing can be done to change it.

Yet here we are. With time running out, I just want to say thank you, before it's too late. Thank you for the things you did for me, the light, and for the lessons you delivered. You were right, this is what was meant to be.

I hope you know, that despite it all... I am forever yours!
Forever Yours - WIP
Memories flooded in as I worked on this. Done in July 2025!

I don't do WIPs as much these days. I don't think people are interested, but I still like them.

If you think the passage above is written for you, you may be right...

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

War Beast Sketch

War Beast Sketch
This is a recent tiny ink sketch that was painted over in Photoshop. I've been on a kick with these scaled war beasts, the first one I drew was last year, and I've been thinking on how to incorporate them into the Eternal Seven story.
War Beast - Original Ink Sketch
The original sketch, was just messing around when I made it.

Monday, June 23, 2025

Lust and Gluttony

Lust and Gluttony - Pencil Draweing 2008
This is a pencil drawing from 2008, and what I consider one of my most iconic artowrks from an era that featured some really cool art. I'm not really sure I have that same creativity in me anymore as I had during the first decade of this century. It is a goal of mine to redo this artwork and give it the justice it deserves since I have improved quite a bit since then, despite losing all creativity!

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Felicia Romero - Figure Study 2008

Felicia Romero Figure Study 2008
This is a pencil drawing done in 2008. The reference is the amazing Felicia Romero who used to be an IFBB figure competitor back in the days. Check out her IG, she's still going strong!
Reference from FLEX Magazine
Here's a low res version of the original reference was from FLEX magazine. It's clear that I messed up the proportions but the drawing looked pretty good for my skill at the time. I don't know where this drawing is now, or how big the size was, but looking at some of the detailed highlights makes me think that this was actually larger than my normal half-page sketches.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Annie Is Alive - Portrait 2025

Annie Is Alive
It's been a very long time since I attempted a portrait, and this one was completely random. A post on Threads was suggested to me, with a drawing of this lady, and I immediately also had to draw her.

This is the source of the inspiration: https://www.threads.com/@annieisdead1
Annie Sketch
This is the original sketch, made in about 5 minutes with pencil.

The final drawing was reworked quickly in Photoshop with some overlays and shading. Under 30 mins total. While I like the result, when I put my drawing next to the original reference I can see the flaws. I wasn't trying to be perfect, should probably do more portraits again as I'm out of shape, hope I captured the essence.

Annie, if you see this, I hope you are NOT dead! You're amazing, cheers!

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Witch - Character Design from 2019

Witch - Character Design from 2019
This is a character from the Eternal Seven story. The original ink drawing was made in 2019. Painted over and fleshed out in 2025.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Mermaid - Painting from 2008

Mermaid 2008
This digital painting was made in 2008. Unfortunately the original high res artwork was lost to the ages. Had to regenerate from a low resolution web saved image and painted details back into it in May 2025 as I'm rebuilding my website... just in time for Mermay!