From May 24-26 I'll be at Anime North, table location D13. If you're attending, please drop by! I'll be with my table partner



I'll have some new prints too (a couple from my gallery and other ones I'm still working on). I'm doing the usual last week hussle so I only have some wips for now OTL
I still want to draw more cause people recommended a lot of good series' to me in the last journal, but I might run out of time;; If I do, I'll just make more for AX!



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I'm trying to think of what to draw for conventions this year and was hoping I could get some recommendations. I'd make a poll but there's too many possibilities to list >v<;
If you can think of anything that might look good in my style, please let me know (it can be new or old)! Unfortunately I didn't find the latest season of animes that great;;

Thank you in advance ^p^

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Shockingly I will be at Anime North this year because my table partner managed to get one on my own I was a total failure and did not even get on the waiting list from the lottery lmao.
I'm so excited to meet up with everyone once again ٩(•౪•٩)
I think I will save a lot of money this year because I'm not going to be reprinting any of my old prints, need to get rid of them so I can make new and better ones v 3 v Right now I have way too much merchandise, there's not any hardly enough room for all of it orz Guess I'll just focus on 8.5x11" prints this year because I can at least stick them in a single binder.

Not sure if there's anyone else reading this who got a table but if you DO have one and are not sharing, I implore you to buddy-up because there's so many amazing artists who were unable to get a table of their own. You don't HAVE to but it's a kind gesture that someone might repay in future years + you get to meet some wonderful people! (psst, doesn't have a table)

If you are thinking of sharing, please check out this journal for people needing a table partner:

Anime North 2013: ARTISTS IN NEED OF A TABLE!Many artists didn't make it into this year's Comic Market and are looking for a kind artist to share their table. If you have a table at AN, please consider sharing with one of these artists! ♥
Please note that artists have until April 12, 2013 to give Comic Market staff the name of a secondary artist they wish to add!
Striked out names mean they don't need a table.
1. :iconzerah-oblibious:
2. :iconClarrisa:
3. :iconJuliaTCZ:
4. :iconjikokunorei-sama:
5. :iconreafu-fu:
6. :iconphoenixlc:
7. :iconkai-shii:
8. :iconkarin-adele:
9. =Sangcoon
10. :iconelizalento:
11. :iconcocochoco:
12. Abyssopelagicdepths @ Tumblr
13. nrucorp
14. :icontales-and-glory:
15. :iconranimationage:
16. :iconperishing-twinkie:
17. :iconchatonbombe:
18. *Kaze-Hime
19

Thanks!

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I'm going to be selling some artwork at a York University event tomorrow (fundraising event for CIRA).
I know 99.9% of my followers have no idea where that is but I just thought I'd mention it in case there are any locals nearby!
This is going to be too funny... it's not an anime event so my goal is to make $20 /thatmightbetooambitious

Going to be with ~Aka-Shiro and *Kaze-Hime

In other news, I've been sketching quite a bit recently so I think I will be more active on DA soon and can back to commissions! Thanks for everyone's patience ^p^;

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Guess it's close enough now, some of you are already in 2013!
Happy New Year everyone

My new year's resolutions are:
Be more social and go out more
Break bad habits
Improve drawing/CGing skills (esp. work on backgrounds)
Help out my parent's more around the house
Make more money (lol)

I think that's it e v e;;
Does anyone else have resolutions??

I will probably come out of hiatus mode soon. For anyone who's interested, a close family member of mine is dealing with some health issues. We still do not know exactly what the diagnosis is because there is lots of testing required before anything can be done, which is really frustrating. Been running around to a lot of doctor's appointments. I think the start of this year will be rough but I feel like I have become better at dealing with the situation.
Sorry if I worried people, at the start of the process it was just too impossible to even pretend to act happy or normal, I just needed time to collect my thoughts ^p^;;

Anyways, don't want to bring anyone down! I'm doing much better now and am not depressed or anything.

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Due to some family issues I won't be very active on DA. I don't want to get into the details since a lot of things are still unknown but it has completely zapped my energy to do much of anything. I'm trying to stay optimistic but it's hard and altogether quite scary. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with.

I'm sorry but I can't say how long I will be inactive for. Hopefully I will find the motivation to draw again soon. Please bear with me.

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Be wary of people who make good propositions but lack any morsel of professional composure.

Dear Client-san, you lose any shred of credibility when you say "I have already replaced you" or "I hated your designs" or even "the reason I didn't answer the questions you had is because I was too busy" despite bombarding me with emails everyday, always replying to my emails within minutes (though conveniently glossing over the important questions I had), and after you just spent the last several hours/emails trying to bribe me with tens of thousands of dollars to continue. Lol.

I feel a mountain of relief knowing I freed myself from that ridiculous, unprofessional situation. Have fun falling on your face.



---
I realize 99% of you will have no idea what this is in reference to, but people accepting commissions, be careful of who you do business with when it comes to long-term projects. Most of the time it is amateur projects that have no real potential or will be of very little benefit to you (no matter how much they promise it will be "the greatest gift to mankind" or how much profit they will "most definitely make").

Please don't be afraid of commissioners, I rarely encounter 'bad' ones, but it's always to your benefit to be cautious and if something doesn't sit right with you... get yourself out of it asap before you invest any more time/effort.

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EDIT: nevermind, I found it!
UHH, maybe I'm blind but how do I update a new file for an image already submitted? LOL, _{DA CHANGED AND I CAN'T FIND THE 'CHANGE FILE' OPTION FML FML}

Felt like moving the last journal off my page (cause I got tired of uploading my commission list in my 'status' box and journal orz)

Hnggg, Idk why but for some reason whenever I submit art (today) it doesn't show up in inboxes XD;; So uhh, sorry for the temporary double post... guess I'll just try again in a few hours.

Some huge storm is headed my way (hurricane Sandy). Mostly I'm worried about the power going out cause I'll be bored /shot

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Posting another journal on this since I'm finally resuming commissions. Not sure how many more slots I'll take.

STATUS
1) =wannywanwan (cging) -PAID-

4) *cemeterychan (lined) -PAID-
5) =Reiyaa (sketch sent)
6) ~OMG-Raichu (lined) -PAID-
7) *Gamma-213
8) *Gamma-213
9) =ShadowTsuki
10) ~kanauru
11) =KidaHeiwajima



FUTURE COMMISSIONERS, PLEASE READ ALL OF THE BELOW

Paypal only
No refunds once started
Will try to finish your commission within a month from your payment (usually I finish sooner but please try to be patient)

Please provide the following in your note:
Email:
Type of Commission:
Number of Characters:
Reference:
Addition Description (if needed): e.g. personality info, a particular pose you want, etc.

WILL NOT DRAW
Hentai
Furry (cat ears/tails are fine)
Mecha
Masculine men/Older Characters

Process
Place your order
I'll send you a copy of the sketch and await your approval
When you are happy with the sketch, send payment via paypal (I WILL NOT proceed any further without payment)
CG finished and sent to your email (may also be uploaded on deviantart)

**IF YOU EVER DECIDE TO CANCEL YOUR COMMISSION (prior to start of sketch), LET ME KNOW.**

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I was talking with a friend recently and it made me think about things. Maybe this isn't the place for a post like this but DA is really the only online site I use so I have no other output.

I will start off by saying that DA is a really great site. I've had so many wonderful experiences on this site and met many people that I'm so thankful for knowing. The support I've received has been amazing, and when I joined, I never thought in a million years that I'd have the amount of followers I do or that people would like my art to the extent they do. It's remarkable and gives me a wonderful feeling.

Unfortunately, I've also noticed some alarming trends in recent years. I'm not sure if it's just me but I feel like the internet is becoming a place of increased 'meanness'. It's not necessarily that people are becoming meaner; it's more that the internet makes it easy for people to anonymously post hurtful things towards artists/people they dislike for whatever reason (it removes our inhibition). Normally we would keep such things to ourselves or share them with our closest friends (privately), but since the internet makes it so easy for us to remove ourselves, we can pour out our anger without having to worry about being judged ourselves.

For example: let's say you're in an art class and really dislike one of your classmate's art style. Usually you would keep this to yourself. You wouldn't go up to that classmate and say "your art is a piece of crap. Go learn anatomy and how to draw faces differently." Socially, it's just not acceptable to speak to your peers that way. It would be perceived as 'bullying'. Plus, I'd like to think that most of us would feel bad for hurting someone's feelings so openly. But, with the internet it's different. You don't have to face these people in 'real life', you don't have to see the look in their eyes when you hurt their feelings, and you don't even have to give them  a seconds thought after you tell them what you really think about their art. You either don't think about what impact your words will have or you tell yourself that, since it's the internet, it won't hurt the person as much.  You can just post it and move on with your life. Even better, you can make an anonymous post and no one's the wiser.

I think websites like Tumblr's 'Artist Confessions' are the absolute worse, but similar 'confessions' can be found on DA or any number of other art sites (I know there are some nice artist confessions, e.g. "I really like so-and-so's art" but the majority are quite negative). Really, what's their purpose? Who is it supposed to help? It allows an anonymous poster to essentially attack an artist/person they dislike in the most informal manner. The post is not helping the artist. How can posts like these help anyone:

"I don't understand how ____ is so popular. Their art is not that great."
"How does this *links* get a Daily Deviation?"
"I'm so tired of ____'s same face syndrome"
"____'s anatomy is terrible. Why would anyone favourite his/her art"

First of all, these comments are not critique. They're not helping the artist improve. You can tell a person that they should work on their anatomy, but try to tell them what you think is wrong with it or make suggestions on what they can do to make it better. If you were trying to help the artist improve, you'd put some thought into your comment and write it in such a way that would make the receiver receptive to the comment. And, most importantly, you'd leave the comment for the artist themself, not advertise it on blogs that many people follow.

Secondly, the motive behind those comments is that you want to make that person feel bad. Not only do you want to make them feel bad, but you want people to agree with you so that you can have the validation of being correct. For some reason, it will make you feel better if you degrade that person's art, and have a bunch of people agree with you to boot. I'm inclined to say the poster is jealous of the artist they post about (even though I know some people would disagree) because if the only motivation is that you dislike the person's art, there'd be a lot more posts. If you think about, there are (probably) millions of people posting art on DA/tumblr, you're bound to dislike quite a few people's art, yet you don't post a confession about every single person whose art you dislike. The only time you're going to go out of your way to post about it is when you think there's some injustice going on.

Thirdly, a lot of times, such negative posts receive a lot of attention and many people join in the conversation to give their opinion. It's as though, since one person said it, everyone else can finally 'let go' and join in the attack. It makes these people feel good or excited at the prospect of 'destroying' someone. Feeding off each other, they forget that they're talking about an actual person. It's easy to disregard the consequences of your words because you'll never see this person anyway.  You'll never understand the impact you have on them. You say "it's just the internet" as though that makes it any easier for a person to hear how much people hate their art and their personality. Whether you say it with words or verbally, it will have the same impact. Just because you don't know this person, doesn't mean they won't get upset. And honestly, what do people hope to accomplish through 'artist confessions' and hate-blogs. For the artist to admit their art is bad? Overrated? For the artist to draw in a way they don't like or to quit drawing? For the artist to get depressed and feel like they're worthless? Why would you want someone to feel any of these things? Just because it's the internet, doesn't mean you should quit trying to empathize.

Lastly, some people will say "it's just the internet, the artist we're attacking shouldn't take it so personally."  Really? Don't you think the people posting these things are taking everything a bit too seriously? You don't like someone's art or why so many favourite it. So what. It's even easier to navigate away from the page and ignore their art. The fact of the matter is, you invest more energy posting about it than you do moving on from it. Going out of your way to post about it, is taking it 'personally'. You make it personal; otherwise you'd keep these thoughts in your head.

Whether you're attacked verbally (in person) or on the internet (written), it's still going to hurt just as much. Words are words. At least in 'real life' you get to know who's attacking/bullying you. On the internet you just get cowards that want to remain anonymous or bashful people who are only comfortable voicing their opinion when they know they will never meet the person they're posting about.

I want to remind people that, just like it's important to think before you talk, it's also important to think before you type. If you wouldn't say it verbally in 'real life', why is it ok for you to type it on the internet? We should try harder to make people feel better about themselves. If you really can't stand the person, then find a friend to vent to privately. Let's make the internet a more friendly place.


I want to know what people think of this.

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Hitsu has incredible psychic powers so you better watch out!



Now... if only I could get the computer screen on the left side to work (I gots 2 computer screens like a boss)  ॢᴗ ॢ

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Thank you so much everyone for the birthday wishes and notes! It really makes the day so much nicer when people remember it lol XD

And thanks to those who drew me birthday gifts /not worthy q_q
(multiple OC's too, what good planning! XD)

:thumb325170764:


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Back from my trip so opening these up for good now. I have some left over merchandise from conventions so I'll be giving out some free prints with orders until I run out~

Next shipment will be made this Saturday.

-----



+ MAIN INFO: +

FULL COLOUR | Paperback + Perfect Sewn/Bound
Size: Letter size (8.5x11 inches)
Pages: 64 (excluding cover) on glossy paper
Price: $35 USD/CAD
Content:
- 30+ pages of original artwork
- 10 pages of fanart
- 4 pages with process shots (i.e. each stage of an image from sketch to finish)
- 3 tutorials (colouring clothes, lineart and making rain)
- 10 pages of guest art
- 98% of illustrations have not been posted online anywhere and were specifically drawn for this project

+ GUEST ARTISTS + (truly an exceptional group of artists, I've spent hours admiring their contributions… sometimes I just open up their images to stare omggg)



+ SHIPPING +

Canada ~ $6
United States ~ $7
International ~ $9
The shipping prices shown are for Standard Post only. If you want your book to be mailed via Registered Post the price will increase (usually registered mail is close to double the standard shipping price).

*If you want more than one copy of the book I will have to calculate the shipping cost.
NOTE: I am not responsible for items lost in the mail (unless registered). Though so far, I have not ever experienced an item being lost in the mail.

**If you are attending ANIME EXPO (California), JAPAN EXPO (Paris) or FAN EXPO (Toronto) please let me know if you'd like you pick up your copy of the book at the convention. This will eliminate the shipping cost.


+ PAYMENT METHODS +
Preferred payment methods are: Paypal, VISA and Mastercard
I can also accept money order but the money sent MUST be in Canadian dollars or USD. If you would like to use this method of payment, still fill in the form below and I will inform you of my mailing address.

+ HOW TO ORDER +

_{PLEASE DO NOT PLACE AN ORDER UNLESS YOU ARE SERIOUS. It messes up the order numbering if you place an order and then cancel it days/weeks later >v<}

1) Make sure you read all of the above information
2) Fill out the following form and then note it to me under the title "ORDER" (or something similar). If for some reason you cannot send me a note on DA, you can email the info to k_hitsukuya@hotmail.com
+ Name:
+ Email (invoice will be sent to this email):
+ Number of copies:
+ Mailing address:
**If attending ANIME NORTH, ANIME EXPO or FAN EXPO please let me know if you'd like to pick up the book at one of these conventions (state which one you will be at).
+ Registered or standard delivery:
+Payment method:
+ Signed copy: yes or no
3) When I receive your order, I will send an invoice to your email. Please do not panic if it takes 24-48 hours to receive a response.
4) When payment is cleared, I will send you another note letting you know everything has gone through.

**Since some people have asked, no it does not cost extra or anything to have it signed. I'm only asking because some people might not like any type of writing inside their book XD

+ PREVIEWS +


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AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Lots of good things are happening right now! First of all, I woke up yesterday to my inbox exploding and read a comment saying "Congrats on the DD", it was such a shock and it took a few second to compute what the comment meant XD I'm so happy and humbled, receiving such nice comments and hearing that people like my artwork really inspires/motivates me to keep trying my best <3 Without all the people on DA supporting me I surely would've given up drawing years ago. When I first started drawing I never imagined how much I'd improve or that people would even like my art ; 3 ; It's been quite a few years and I'm still growing/learning new things but I can honestly say that I'm happy with where I am!

Thank you everyone who has supported me and all the lovely comments on my artwork! <3
A special thanks to and for the Daily Deviation *__________*

The other good news is that... I just finished the last picture for my artbook!!!!! YAYYYYYYAHHHHHHHH!!! So excited! Just have to organize everything in a nice way, get the last guest art and finish up the tutorials! Can't wait to finally send it off to the printer and receive a hardcopy in my hands I think I'll be able to open preorders in 1-2 weeks! And uhh... Idk, somehow I drew too many pictures so the book is going to be more like 60 pages! LOL;

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Yay, all my table issues are solved! I'll have more info regarding table location closer to the actual dates of the conventions.

This year I'm going to Anime North (Toronto), Anime Expo (LA) and surprisingly, heading to Paris, France for Japan Expo with , and Canadian invasion of Paris!

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I'm just moving this info to an old journal;;



(Please don't go crazy if there's any typos)

1) Hiiro no Kakera - O-chan's forehead symbol (basically... only 3 people got this LOL)
2) One Piece - Skull logo
3) Ano Hana - Flowers
4) .Hack//Sign - Tsukasa's staff (quite a few people confused this staff for some other one... can't remember the name of the anime orz)
5) Zelda - Navi the Fairy
6) Mushishi - Plant creature (I don't think anyone got this)
7) Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko - UFO
8) Inazuma 11 - Soccer ball (people confused it with Bleach!? I thought the "11" was a dead giveaway XD)
9) Card Captors - Kero-chan
10) Mawaru Penguindum - Penguin
11) Ore no Imouto - Comet-kun (surpsingly, more people got this than I thought)
12) Lucky Star - Cat
13) Natsume Yuuginchou - Book of Friends
14) Junjou Romantica - Teddybear
15) Persona4 - Kuma
16) D.Gray-man - Lavi's hammer
17) Kamisama no Memochou - Alice's teddybear
18) No. 6 - Rat (Hamlet) (also mistaken for Yuki from Fruits Basket)
19) Sailor Moon - Usagi's tiara
20) Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai - Scarf
21) K-ON - Ritsu's hairclip
22) Panty & Stocking -  Honekoneko
23) My Neighbour Totoro - Totoro plushie
24) Soul Eater - Maka's skythe
25) Gosick - Victorique's pipe
26) Bleach - Byakuya's hair piece
27) Inu x Boku SS - Renshou
28)  Sekaiichi Hatsukoi - Bunny plushie
29) Lilpri - Sei (some people thought it was a mudkip LOL)
30) Shakugan no Shana - Marcosias (book)
31) Gundam Seed Destiny - Lacus's hair clip
32) Hamtaro
33) Bakemonogatari/Nisemonogatari - doughnut (commonly thought to be from the Simpsons :'D )
34) Boku wa Tomodachi - Sena's butterfly clip
35) Yugioh - Playing gard
36) Hetalia - Mochi America
37) Mameshiba
38) Naruto - Leaf symbol
39) Vocaloid - Miku's 01 tattoo (it took me a while to get why some people thought this was from Evangelion)
40) Ouran Host Club - Honey's bunny
41) Angry Bird
42) Kingdom Hearts - Star fruit
43) Mirai Nikki - Cell phone (not durarara!)
44) Ikoku no Meiro Croisee - Jean's small gloves (huge fail for most people)
45) Hikaru no Go - Go playing pieces
46) Spirited Away - Soot sprite (a mine from minesweeper?! XD)
47) Madoka Magica - Mami's soul gem (lots of people guessed an egg from Shugo Chara!)
48) Pokemon - Love ball
49) Idolm@ster - Frog pouch
50) Ano Natsu de Matteru - Rinon
51) Ao no Exocist - Demon cat
52) Touhou - Kogasa's umbrella
53) Super Mario - Mushroom
54) Zero no Tsukaima - Louise's brooch (it's not a dragonball T v T)
55) Guilty Crown - GC logo
56) Avatar - Arrow
57) Full Metal Alchemist - Alchemy sign
58) Oresama Teacher - Bunny mask
59) Black Rock Shooter - Jacket
60) Gintama - Elizabeth
61) Nichijou - Cube hair clip
62) Gurren Lagann - Drill necklace
63) Hello Kitty
64) Harry Potter - Lightning bolt scar

* I also accepted CLANNAD for the dange
** Some people put the melon bread from Shakugan no Shana, which I gave them (unless they also had the book from Shakugan, I only accepted ONE).  

I'm disappointed so few people knew of Ikoku no Meiro Croisee, I also accepted people who said the gloves belonged to Claude since... it's close enough XD

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So, ~Minyatto and I spent the past two days working out contest details and I'm happy to say that all the results have been determined!

Thank you to everyone who participated, I'm so happy that people enjoyed the contest and entered just for fun <3
I will be posting all the answers tomorrow (I'm not at my computer with the contest answer sheet/contest image with circles over all the objects).

I'll be contacting all the winners shortly via note with more details, as well as those who are runner ups in the raffle (I'm pretty sure not everyone who won the discount will actually use it so at least some of the runner ups can count on being bumped up) 8D

FIRST PLACE WINNER
(person with the most correct answers)



Congrats! You were almost near perfect!

RUNNER UPS IN 40+ RAFFLE
(note: if you win you do not have to use the discount, just let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to give it up so I can move down the list of runner ups).




RUNNER UPS IN 30+ RAFFLE
(note: if you win you do not have to use the discount, just let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to give it up so I can move down the list of runner ups).



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I didn't think my kiriban would get caught so quickly! Left the computer for less then an hour and I come back to see my kiriban had come and gone 8D
Thank you everyone for your support over the years, when I joined DA I never thought I'd get to 10,000 much less 300,000!

A few people actually caught it so here's their feature:











Also, if anyone's interested in seeing more wips from me you can follow me on twitter. I post updates/screencaps of my work much more often on there than DA.

Lastly, thought I should throw in some wips to make this journal more interesting 8D; Here's some pictures I'm working on for my artbook, I'm getting close to finishing! Should only be a couple weeks now *excited*



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THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL. I really just felt like having a journal dating to Feb. 29 since it only happens once every four years XD

Idk how to make this journal interesting orz
Gonna try to get a table at AN... wish me luck!

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_{MY JOURNAL TITLE IS SO GREAT EH. LOL.}

So anyways, this is kind of awkward/hard for me to ask but I figured I might as well try since even if no one is able to help me, at least I know I tried 8D;;

~Minyatto and I would like to attend Anime Expo (in LA, California) and Japan Expo (Paris, France) and were wondering if there's anyone also attending either of these conventions that would like to share a hotel room with us OR let us sleep in your house. We're not noisy or messy and will only be around for the duration of the convention(s). Sharing a hotel room or letting us stay at your house would really help cut cost and of course, I'd be happy to give you lots of free prints ; u ;

Please note me if you're interested. I'd like to get to know whoever is willing to help us out before the day of the convention

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~Minyatto is selling hats to try and raise money for travel expenses to Anime Expo this year, so if you like cute hats then please check out what she has to offer and consider supporting her 8D
Here's more info:




I think I will not be too active for the next month or so since it's crunch time and I have a massive amount of artwork to finish up O v O;;
In the mean time, you can see these wips _{most of which will never be posted online.}



I drew too much, my artbook is going to be more than 54 pages /sighhh

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