Happy New Year, everybody, Antoni here. 2024 has closed its doors and welcomed 2025. 2024 was a year of important yet hectic changes. I finished my Master's Thesis at the tail end of August after so much research and many emotional, mental, and psychological roller-coaster rides. I ended up graduating with my Master's in American Studies program with honors/distinction, i.e., with a German final grade of 1,8 in stark contrast to the 2,0 I received from my Bachelor's in English and Musicology. Hence, I have proven myself to be an all-around AB student during my tenure as a Master's in American Studies student. One thing is for sure that my future will continue to open doors to abundant possibilities. I thank my family, friends, colleagues, role models, and all of my fellow online content creators, actors, voice actors, singers, artists, writers, and music and media aficionados for constantly inspiring me to grow, thrive, and be better than what I used to be. With all of this preamble handled, let us tackle the topic at hand.
My drawing tenure during 2024 has seen me continue to get my creative juices in gear, especially where my most beloved one true pairing of all time, Inuyasha x Ayame or InuAya, is concerned. I have also been happy to branch out to drawing my other dear one true pairing, Raymond x Alex or Raylex, and my most beloved throuple, Hakkaku x Shunran x Ginta. I was still quite fascinated with the idea of Basuli and Tarzan loving Hercules body and soul, although that has shifted gears, given my fanfics for @Orange-Ratchet's Comfort Pairing Week last November. Nevertheless, I continue to enjoy drawing George of the Jungle, Basuli, Tarzan, and Maugli in their virile, feral, and muscular glory as a quartet of jungle muscle warrior brothers for life. Quality-wise, I did not get bored with the ideas swimming around in my brain to get these pieces of work released. Yes, I also dealt with other challenges such as finishing my Master's Thesis, graduating from the Master's in American Studies program with a strong Cum Laude, and continuing to grow my YouTube channel. Nevertheless, I still made it my artistic duty to squeeze in time to draw fan art for all of you wonderful people. Now, let us commence this road down to memory lane.
January: Having a Powerfully Pumped-Up Time
I commenced 2024 in my usual fashion of putting Inuyasha and Ayame on display as the mighty power couple that they were. I was still in that phase of making Inuyasha solely don a protective cup made out of demon lion's mane, while Ayame was in her red attire made out of Fire Rat fur. Sure, some might have found issue with it, given Inuyasha's attire. Nevertheless, I defended that it capitalized on Inuyasha's wild virility as a wrestler and bodybuilder specializing in Ancient Greek Wrestling and Ancient Pankration. As for Ayame, her attire was defined by her fighting spirit and limbering nimbleness as a combatant. Talk about starting things off with wild triumph and boundless excitement.
February: The Paradigm of Victorious Triumph
I enjoyed giving Inuyasha Greek Wrestling attire akin to Zangief from Street Fighter and Ayame Muay Thai attire akin to a female version of Joe Higashi from King of Fighters. It was justifiable because I gave them the title of "the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of the martial arts tournaments." I also insisted that Inuyasha possessed Zangief's musclebound strength and Guile's leonine fortitude, while Ayame possessed Joe Higashi's fearless charisma and Benimaru Nikaido's undeniable fabulousness. For that, this canine Yokai power couple were thoroughly sorted as the king and queen of international martial arts tournaments as well as their native Northern Yoro Tribe.
March: All Hail The Musclebound Champion King
Inuyasha dressed akin to Zangief struck again, with Ayame admiring his muscular majesty. In my Anime Martial Arts AU headcanon, I have always perceived Inuyasha to be a wrestler and bodybuilder who specializes in Ancient Greek Wrestling, Shoot Wrestling, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Freestyle Wrestling, Folkstyle Wrestling, Kapu Kuialua, and Ancient Pankration. Hence, I made one of his attires very much akin to Zangief from the Street Fighter franchise. Attire aside, I even argued that he was also a wrestler who capitalized on his magnificent muscles and super strength to propel his incomparable combat prowess, as the most muscular fighter in The Splendid Seven. He did just that, and Ayame admired him for his magnificent muscles as well as his triumphant presence as her gloriously musclebound king of a husband.
April: Prepared for Pumped-Up Pulverizing
I thank my instinct and lucky stars that I had all of my university courses done and dusted. It gave me ample time to not only write my Master's Thesis but also use the month of April to go full-swing with InuAya Month. In true InuAya Month fashion, I went all out drawing fan art after fan art of my most prized power couple of all time. I did not care that I was one of two people who partook in this. I still enjoyed the possibilities of exhibiting Inuyasha and Ayame in their muscular, powerful, and mighty glory. This is true with Inuyasha's magnificently mighty muscles as a wrestler and bodybuilder specializing in Ancient Greek Wrestling with a background in Shoot Wrestling and Ayame's furiously fierce formidability as a prizewinner specializing in Xtreme Gladiator Kickboxing with a background in Shoot Boxing.
May: A Mightily Alluring Power Couple
I even permitted InuAya Month to expand to May and for good reason. This was a piece of work I started back in the tail end of April. As I continued to write my Master's Thesis, I found spare time to color this up and submit it before May ended. I was constantly reveling in Inuyasha's and Ayame's magnificent might as a punishingly pulverizing power couple.
June: A Muscularly Divine Pride Month Present
Pride Month definitely came and went when I continued soldiering on with my Master's Thesis, while simultaneously attempting to produce a piece of fan art relating to the month that acknowledges the existence of the LGBT community. At this time, I was still fascinated with having both Basuli and Tarzan in a romantic and conjugal relationship with Hercules. I still fancied Basuli x Hercules x Tarzan as my OT3. However, the appeal of this pairing fizzled when I decided to let Basuli end up with Theseus and Tarzan end up with Hercules. Hence, I ended up being a more loyal partisan of Theseus x Basuli and Hercules x Tarzan, which was evidenced as the other pairings featured when I took part in Orange-Ratchet's Comfort Pairing Week. At least this was still a fun go at the concept of my two favorite jungle muscle brothers being romantically involved with their favorite Greek muscle hero.
July: A Stunningly Gorgeous Power Couple
I make it neither a surprise nor a secret that I have always been a loyal partisan of Raymond x Alex or Raylex from Totally Spies. Raymond's magnificent muscles and Alex's fabulous flexibility can make them a gorgeous power couple. Furthermore, it is absolutely grand to have Raymond's musclebound manliness serve as a compliment to Alex's stunning sleekness. At least this made me calm down a bit from the thesis writing craze, despite my mad expectations and desire to have this accomplished.
August: Inuyasha's and Ayame's Familial Pride and Joy
By the time I finished my Master's Thesis about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's televisual representation of Black American fatherhood, I had the perfect fan art concept to wrap up all of my efforts. Growing up with The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and My Wife and Kids, especially when they ran on Nick-at-Nite during the 2000s, I constantly argued that Inuyasha and Ayame could cultivate a family that would make the Huxtables, the Banks, and the Winslows green with unapologetic envy. Blessed with seven strong sons and seven determined daughters, they would be the couple who could raise their children to be the greatest versions of themselves as combatants, warriors, and individuals. No doubt Cliff and Clair Huxtable, Philip "Uncle Phil" and Vivian "Aunt Viv" Banks, and Carl and Harriette Winslow would award gold medals of honor and familial joy to Inuyasha and Ayame for raising fourteen powerful and strong children. Furthermore, Inuyasha's magnificent muscles have been ingrained in their sons, while Ayame's fierce formidability has been passed down to their daughters. Inuyasha and Ayame are a definite paradigm of preserving the canine Yokai warrior nuclear family with excellence and fortitude.
September: The Great Wall of Muscle and His Amazon Queen
I made a then and now of Inuyasha and Ayame comparing them to their more youthful appearance in the early 2000s to what they look like twenty years later. This was based on them being involved in the all-out tournament against Ulrich Wernerstein and his bodybuilder goons, which they won. Inuyasha and Ayame still looking formidable after over twenty years demonstrated that they still had formidable strength which made them renowned as a superb power couple.
October: Out for Brawny, Bloody Carnage
George of the Jungle, Basuli, Tarzan, and Maugli being the four fearsome yet lovable jungle muscle brothers guaranteed to elate me and get my creative juices flowing. Sure, their form of brotherly love also included beating the ever-loving crud out of each other with their epic beatdowns mixing various wrestling styles combined with boxing and grappling. However, they could always get their fangs, claws, and muscles unleashed when poachers and invaders attempt to destroy their home. Their enemies would never escape from their ferally virile grasp.
November: A Ferocious Jungle Muscle Brother Totem
From oldest to youngest, George, Basuli, Tarzan, and Maugli demonstrated that they were a quartet of musclebound jungle warrior bodybuilder kings never to be messed with. Should anybody be so foolish to cross paths with these four musclebound jungle brothers, they would be at the mercy of their piledrivers, sharpshooters, torture racks, German suplexes, bearhugs, neck cranks, chokeslams, and Boston crabs. At least George's, Basuli's, Tarzan's, and Maugli's bulging biceps were magnificent to marvel at.
December: A Thrillingly Terrific Throuple
I closed 2024 with a throuple that needed way more attention, the one and only Hakkaku x Shunran x Ginta or HakShunGin. My days of being a strictly Ginta x Shunran or GinShun partisan may have been long gone, done, and dusted, but including Hakkaku into the mix made sense. This was because I thought it would be great for both Hakkaku and Ginta to be happy to have Shunran as their dear wife, and Shunran be happy to have Hakkaku and Ginta love her unconditionally. Furthermore, Hakkaku's formidability in Shooto with a background in Muay Boran, Ginta's fortitude in Shootfighting with a background in Lethwei, and Shunran's fabulousness in Sanda with a background in Dutch Kickboxing make them exceptionally dynamic.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, my 2024 art summary. It has been an enjoyable year, and I hope to thrive a lot more throughout the rest of 2025. Thank you so much for viewing my 2024 art summary and have a great 2025.
Hercules from Hercules belongs to Disney and Greek mythology.
George from George of the Jungle belongs to Jay Ward.
Basuli and Tarzan from Tarzan belong to Disney and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Maugli from The Adventures of Mowgli belongs to Rudyard Kipling, Roman Davydov, Leonid Belokurov, and Soyuzmultfilm.
Inuyasha, Ayame, Hakkaku, Ginta, and Shunran from Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Sunrise.
Raymond and Alex from Totally Spies belong to Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, David Michel, and Marathon Media.
