Happy New Year, everybody. Antoni here. As 2021 is coming to a close, I thought it would be nice to feature the pieces of work I have been doing throughout this year. There were occasions where I was very busy with university obligations as well as writing, and some months, most notably April and September, saw me submitting only one piece of artwork on to DeviantArt. Nevertheless, I still had a fun time balancing drawing the things I enjoy the most and partaking in art contests. In terms of art contests, there were some I was successful in and others where I fell short. Despite the intermittent successes, I enjoyed the ride, I had fun, and I did not regret anything at all. With that said, let the stroll down the 2021 memory lane begin.
I would also like to dedicate my 2021 Art Summary to Kyo-Wright, leannavalenti0711, DibstaRP, HyperSnapWorks, AndreyTheGreenGuy800, x-Player-Man-ACN-001x, Isaacthemerpupdrawer, TinaBOfficial, KatiAmel, illcitvirus115, PuffedShizuko, Becmaster, 0141245786, Si-Nister, UltraJohn567, Hedenus, Bonez1925, PoweredButtercup10, BatesPhychoVile, pommiie, GreatMasterFrank, Gelefant, Sukesha-Ray, markthepencilguy, emadibufan, Khialat, Sophiegegewophie, BlossomPPG, pureria, vanityfair, Juacamo, Heszperia, scotty9359, irozhea, GeistdesFeuers, MultiRagnell, Gokuist, riaru0005, hesxmyxinu, Renezinha, Captain--Ruffy, Bluyul, DarkKnigel, kawaii-chibi-kotou, Japandaa, SukiMisaki, husky50, itsbeehere, aranza2618, Demsuper, SilviaLedVal, kaorgaa, Nana-boo, JazzXrawr, itstcloltroll, bastion40, DanileeNatsumi, Philizius, and denaolive who have celebrated their birthdays ranging from a few weeks ago all the way up to today. So, I hope you all had very prosperous birthdays, blessed holidays, and I wish you a lot of love and strength in your lives as artists and as people.
January: Japan's Superfit Power Couples
I kicked off 2021 with my fan art of who I believed represented beauty, strength, and sheer gorgeousness when it comes to Adult Swim anime OTPs: Inuyasha x Ayame, Ginta x Shunran, and Kiba x Cheza. This is what happens when you have three dashingly handsome gentlemen like Inuyasha, Ginta, and Kiba pair up with three stunningly gorgeous ladies like Ayame, Shunran, and Cheza. You receive three of the most gorgeous power couples to have graced Adult Swim's small screen. Therefore, I have been a proud Inuyasha x Ayame, Ginta x Shunran, and Kiba x Cheza partisan ever since I was a youngling, and I am proud to continue being a partisan of my three of my most beloved Adult Swim anime OTPs of all time.
February: These Robes Are Made for Flaunting
My participation in BrickercupMasterX3's OTP contest might have started off with Kohaku x Rin, but my eternal love for Chase Young x Kimiko Tohomiko can never be quelled because I have been the most loyal supporter of this Xiaolin Showdown pairing ever since I was a young teenager. I used to love this couple because they seemed attractive together. However, speaking now as an adult, Chamiko holds so much weight because of how new, exciting, vibrant, and flexible this couple is. I have always seen a bright future for them when it comes to familial prospects and intimacy, and the flames surrounding them can attest to that. They would even create a family with children who can prove themselves to be just as formidable as their parents have always been. I have paired Chase and Kimiko when I was a teenager, and I will never let them leave my sight any time soon.
March: Birds, Bees, and Butterflies
This marks my third and final entry for BrickercupMasterX3's OTP contest. What better to wrap this up than with one of my most favourite Teen Titans couples of all time Beastboy x Terra or BBTerra. I may have held Robin x Raven or RobRae with such high esteem ever since I was a pre-adolescent, but BBTerra comes in at a close second because of how effectively genuine their chemistry was and will always be. BBTerra is unconditional love incarnate, as they will always be at each others' sides through the times of joy, sorrow, healing, surprises, doubts, and thrills. Their progeny would radiate with the same joy, euphoria, and good vibes as their parents backed up by a huge sense of perseverance and courage. At the end of this contest, I was fortunate enough to have won a sketch from BrickercupMasterX3. I have yet to receive it, but at least I had fun partaking in this contest.
April: Regal Springtime Serenity
I was utterly thankful to have partaken in Aryaveandyou's and BeardedLuckDragon's Spring/Summer Contest, as this was my first attempt at doing something of this ilk. This contest was also the birth of three characters I never realised I was going to enjoy drawing let alone sharing my appreciation for them to other fellow DeviantArtists. They were Princess Alana of Freiasburg who is a fairy princess known for kindness, sweetness, and lovability and her two animal friends, Iris the Rainbow Unicorn and Engelbert the Penguin, who are just as loving, loyal, kind, and sweet as Princess Alana. The flowers will always bloom for this lovely fairy princess, her faithful rainbow unicorn, and her steadfast penguin friend. Through this effort, I found fortune in winning something from this contest.
May: The Bulging Jungle Warrior King Bicep Wall
Take three Filipino muscle tribal warriors and four jungle king brothers from Africa, with one from India, and you get a formidable septet of powerful jungle warriors who have rock-hard muscles of steel. Fernando, Bernardo Carpio, Init-Init, George of the Jungle, Basuli, Tarzan, and Maugli do make the closest of brothers, especially when they flex their bulging biceps to create a huge muscle fortress to defend themselves against any oppressor.
June: Hercules's Hunky Harem
Hercules is definitely fortunate to have four jungle brothers and two Powhatan warrior brothers be enamoured with him. What could be so much better than having Basuli x Hercules x Tarzan as my OT3, Namontack x Basuli and Kocoum x Tarzan as my OTPs, and Namontack x George of the Jungle and Kocoum x Maugli as my loved pairings? How about having all seven hunks partake in a huge moment of sensual loving with Hercules at the forefront? That right there is virile handsomeness incarnate, especially during Pride Month. Furthermore, this was part of batkink's Pride Month challenge which I thoroughly enjoyed.
July: The Steadfast Tin Crystal Soldier
When I partook in Detective88's Shipping Contest, I knew that the pairing of Steven Universe and Connie Maheswaran came at the forefront when the list of couples that needed to be drawn appeared. I may love Steven Universe, but I am not a fan of all the unnecessary vitriol the fandom tends to be focus on. At least I took comfort in this pairing and the idea I had for them, which is implementing Steven and Connie in the title roles of the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Ballerina from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". I was elated that the idea worked really well, although I did not win anything from this contest. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to have gotten down to draw Steven x Connie in the main romantic roles of Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". I know I would have loved to draw more couples on Detective88's shipping list, but time constraints and other passions were overtaking what I would have loved to do. At least this Steven x Connie drawing was a memento of the boundless fun I had in this contest.
August: Boogytime Jamboree
Aryaveandyou's and BeardedLuckDragon's next contest, Disco Cat 5000, was utterly enjoyable to partake in to the point where my OC list increased at such an incredible rate. Placing all of my ten OCs in Oxford, England was not only a memento of what I loved and remembered during my early teens as a middle schooler spending a few weeks there for two different study programs, but I thought it would be great to have different anthropomorphic animals inhabit one of England's hotspots for education, student life, and the hustle and bustle of living in Oxford. 3GG or Three Grand Graces consisting of Philippa Preston Peters the poodle, Victoria Verne Vaughn the bear, and Shirley Staunton Smith the sheep was an homage to all the girl bands I grew up with in my childhood to adolescence from 3LW to Atomic Kitten to Destiny's Child with some hints of Aretha Franklin, Blondie, Nina Simone, Patti LaBelle, Sarah Dash, The Supremes, and Nona Hendryx as well as several Englishwomen I have seen in the media I consume from Channel 4 to BBC to some modern British novels. Their cat friends Michael Hamilton Williamson, Oscar Pembleton, Nathan Wood, Matthew Hamilton Williamson, Carey Wood Williamson, Kenneth Wood, and Quinn Pembleton were obviously based on my seven most favourite Inuyasha characters Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Hakkaku, Inuyasha, Ayame, Ginta, and Shunran mostly in terms of personality while putting my own spin on my anthropomorphic cat OCs. Making them university students from 19 to 25 with different life statuses from single to married as well as making Victoria a Black British woman in bear form and Shirley a lesbian sheep meant that there was a sense of diversity that I embraced and implemented in this piece of work. As expected, I ended up winning something which made me overjoyed.
September: Casta Diva
Because I was so busy with a final paper I had to do for my Sociology elective course and a term paper I had to do for my English major course, which I thankfully passed both of them, this was the only piece of work that I produced that was at the tail end of September. When I heard about 100millionPOINTS's contest in which we had to draw her in various scenarios, with the winners being featured and one of them being chosen as her new icon, I was excited to be there. Being the opera fan that I am, I integrated Vincenzo Bellini's Norma to be portrayed by Brenda and used Norma's famous first-act cavatina, "Casta Diva", to emphasise Brenda as Norma's magnanimity and piety to the moon goddess. When you have sopranos like Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Leyla Gencer, and Cristina Deutekom singing this iconic aria while accompanying this picture, you would definitely heighten your listening experience to the fullest. I ended up being mentioned in a special points spree by 100millionPOINTS which I will be forever grateful for.
October: Il dolce suono mi colpi di sua voce
That-RepliQueen-Kyo's Fantastic Frights Art Contest was a lot of fun to partake, especially when I looked into her list of OCs who I thought was going to be ideal as Lucia Ashton from Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. When I stumbled upon Mina, I knew from then and there that she was going to embody Lucia in her signature bloodstained white gown singing her iconic mad scene. Incorporating my favourite coloratura sopranos, such as Mercedes Capsir, Lina Pagliughi, Evgeniya Miroshnichenko, and Bela Rudenko, also made the listening experience all the more worthwhile. I may not have won anything in this contest, but the experience was extraordinarily invigorating, and I managed to continue flying with everything I have.
November: Halloween Sleepover
Before ItsRaspring somehow blocked me and I could not be authorised to visit her page anymore, I partook in her Halloween contest where I submitted various entries revolving around Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Inuyasha, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran. I know it took me a lot of time to attempt to create something Halloween-related back in October because university started at that month, but, when Inuvember came along, I saw it fit to incorporate this month with the Halloween contest that ItsRaspring had in store until November 22. What better way to use Inuvember to have 9-year-old Sesshoumaru, 8-year-old Shuran, 7-year-old Hakkaku, 7 going on 8-year-old Inuyasha, 5-year-old Ayame, 6 going on 7-year-old Ginta, and 3-year-old Shunran celebrate Halloween by having a sleepover. The result of this contest was that I won second place, but I might not end up receiving my prize. At least it was great to participate in her contest, and I enjoyed fleshing out how I saw Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Inuyasha, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran spending Halloween when they were children.
December: This Little Light of Mine
Thanks to the rewatching I have managed to do of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I stumbled upon this spiritual when Carlton, Ashley, and the chorus sang this in the Season 6 episode "Hare Today..." which became a moment I constantly went back to as well as it becoming a major ear worm. Having Kohaku, Rin, Souta, and Kanna sing the main lines with Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Ayame, Shuran, Hakkaku, Ginta, and Shunran singing the chorus was a blast to do. This was also my only Christmas-related work that I have done this year because I have been very busy continuously engaging with my YouTube content. If you know what every December entails, it would usually mean that I would have to keep growing my content, especially on YouTube. Regardless, it was really enjoyable having Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Ayame, Shuran, Hakkaku, Ginta, Shunran, Kohaku, Rin, Souta, and Kanna sing this spiritual as a Christmas tradition.
I want to thank BrickercupMasterX3, Aryaveandyou, BeardedLuckDragon, batkink, Detective88, 100MillionPOINTS, That-RepliQueen-Kyo, and ItsRaspring for the exciting opportunities I attained through their contests and how much they motivated me to keep on creating the things I love to do. I also want to thank my friends, my family, and all of my role models in the arts, entertainment, writing, music, theatre, film, voice acting, and animation for motivating me to keep on growing as a person. Let us do our best to make 2022 a good year, despite of whatever troubles may occur.
I hope you all enjoyed my 2021 art summary, and I will see you in the next submission. Take care, stay safe, and have a Happy New Year, everybody.
All of the aforementioned series and characters belong to their respective owners.
