Yeah, the title sucks - I couldn't think of anything else

Anyway thanks to the birthdays in watcher's inboxes feature this anniversary didn't exactly sneak up and surprise me, but Normally I keep an eye on my age counter around this time of the year anyway since it really does feel like an extra birthday seeing how my account has become such a significant part of me, and one of the few things I committed to that I didn't get bored of or lose the point in after a few years, there are people who can't even say that honestly about their relationships

Having been here for this long it's harder to remember life without deviantART...I got more sleep, that's for sure. But I got almost no paid artistic work. But I'm not taking a trip down memory lane sharing my amateur art and internet blunders this time since I sorta did that in my previous journal and it's too soon for another long-winded history lesson

The days of me submitting once every week are gone though, decent submissions takes me too long to make these days to post so regularly, and commissions are finally giving me an excuse too. Kinda odd how I still have lots of ideas on what I want to draw but when I finally get some free time to do it I can't. It's like I'm worried about not breaking any new grounds when I should just be doing it for fun. It might change though since I might go on another self-induced learning bender since I want to be more efficient. Spending 30+ hours on a single work isn't going to get me anywhere, especially since I was told by the manager of a 3D animation academy I considered applying for recently that what I'm doing already is good enough to land me a job as an illustrator or concept artist - was nice hearing that from a professional and in real life too. But understandably they did say I had to do something about my painfully slow creation time.

And I likely will, I yesterday tried painting a landscape in the expected way a concept artist usually does even though it felt totally weird compared to my normal workflow but did yield a more instant result, meaning I could see where it was going composition and mood-wise sooner. I liked it and want to turn it into a fully-fledged piece anyway, or at least a submit-worthy one. Could be ages before I get a chance to continue it though. Still doesn't solve my lack of confidence when it comes to illustrating urban scenes and characters which have to be much more structurally precise. I know how to draw of course, I just can never seem to fully understand those important subjects, even with reference I can try as I want to improve but I think I will always be wired towards natural landscapes and simply enjoy them more.

So yeah, my life hasn't really had anything worthwhile happen to it still, but knowing some of the stuff I've been told recently at least makes me feel a lot less hopeless, I probably just need more time still