monthly recap (december 2025)
happy new year and good fucking riddance!
2025 was my shittiest year yet, but i've finally gained the foundations for real confidence instead of just cope.
i truly felt like i didn't exist—and didn't want to—before. thus it has required much medical intervention and therapy but i can now accept being perceived and remembered by others.
i can't thank the idolmaster sideM enough for releasing a story so fucking boring that it made me quit caring about social media forever. it's been wonderful to realize that art actually is my passion regardless of how many internet points i can get in a 24 hour timespan and that i am also very passionate about writing, marketing, manufacturing/materials, environmental affairs, and fashion. i feel like i can use my skills to express what i care about now.
very grateful for my friends and all the others who have been so patient with me through this difficult period. let's have a pawsome 2026!
adventures
took mr. fuzzby aboard the ted ashby for a work party. we went to a karaoke joint so i was finally able to sing plug in baby with someone else present LOL.
mr. fuzzby: lookit all these boats!
up to waipu on a family trip. went on a real fun walk with lots of big rocks to cross over. i want to visit the caves next time.
2025 art summary
barely drew this year so no full post. my goal for 2025 was to focus on art trades so i did one and did not have time for any others. mid-year depression meant i didn't draw anything aside from zine obligations until botober 2025 got me back in the right mood.
overall i still improved a good bit from last year so i'm happy with it. hope to create much more original work in 2026!
reminisces zine
two pages for reminisces, the great ace attorney pre-canon zine. klint piece is for EatYourSparkOut's fic death becomes him.
art log
want to avoid buying disposable pens in the future so i'm finally practicing with the deleter gpen i bought a couple years back. devil based on drawing from the book of wonders and mermaid based on drawing by louis renard's illustrated book of marine creatures.
two more of my beloved teddy bears, tatty teddy and mr. eaton pickering.
shikishi gift for a coworker and commission for a friend.
manero brushes monthly challenge, theme: naughty santa.
LEGO dolphin with the library's set. i want to try making one freebuild per month.
outfit log
✧ indicates thrifted or second-hand item.
- shirt: miyako (added bear patches) ✧; shorts: uniqlo ✧; socks: common garden ✧; shoes: puma
- shirt: ascolor; pants: hotwind
- shirt: tommy hilfiger ✧; tie: sail amsterdam ✧; pants: moana clothing ✧; shoes: yd. ✧
- shirt: uniqlo; shorts: hallensteins
- shirt: radiac wulcosa ✧; jacket: dickies; pants: dickies
media log
- spotify wrapped: muse (top 0.2%), bad bunny, sabrina carpenter, sum 41, radiohead. yeah, sums it up!
- arthur conan doyle - the man with the twisted lip, the blue carbuncle, the speckled band, the engineer's thumb, the noble bachelor, the beryl coronet, silver blaze, the copper breeches: the copper breeches was my favorite of the bunch, really fun and wacky.
- jessica lack - protest art: reads like a study guide but interesting nonetheless. it highlights the importance of art in protest—something that i think is not recognizable these days because art for art's sake simply doesn't have the same influence or relevance it once did in the age of social media. there aren't any iconic pictures or art that everyone knows from the 21st century, except for the work of banksy. but at its core protest art is often meant to incite change within a local community and to understand it you need to engage with it in real life. read the book and you can start to get why artists so typically tend towards leftism and how thinking about art too hard will make you a communist.
- naohiro matsumura - shikake: the japanese art of shaping behavior through design: it's essentially about the design of systems to encourage change in human behavior, which reminds me of my own attempts to rewire my behavior through making the reward inherent to the task. however, i found that many of the book's examples of shikake were novel—would only work on someone once—and so i'd like to look more into ways to influence human behavior. 2nd half's a drag.
- billiam - when MTV stopped playing music & when MTV lost its identity
- impact pro wrestling - nightmare before christmas: generation iron vs SAS was fucking incredible.
- inio asano - downfall: tbh i spent the entire manga thinking it was written by shuzo oshimi and didn't realize it was a spinoff of oyasumi punpun until i completed it so i feel like i need to read that whole series first before i can have any thoughts.
- katsuhisa minami - the fable V1-2: the amount of 'ex-hitman/yazuka tries to adapt to regular life' stories out there has always thrown me off from the niche, but i really enjoyed this one. it's comedic but still serious and at its core it feels like it's about an autistic guy learning to appreciate life. i only picked it up because the art style looked so retro i thought it had to be from the 90s, but it only started a decade ago!
- clamp - tokyo babylon V1: stylistically a very cool comic with long chapters that allow for lengthy, continuous storylines. i like how it's as much about tokyo as it is about the characters themselves; i've always been fond of manga that focus on portraying real settings in fiction and moreso as i've become attached to the city i live in, and having now visited tokyo twice myself the second chapter captured how overwhelming the city can feel. it's a melancholic and reflective manga without feeling dreary, you know? that's what i like the best. however i do not give a fuck about the relationship comedy and it takes away from the story when every couple of pages is followed up by a punchline that's just an adult man year old hitting on a teenager. i don't think i'll keep reading for now but i might if i ever get around to X japan.
- gen urobuchi - thunderbolt fantasy C1-10: i forgot that i tried to watch the show years ago. the manga was boring as fuck, but the show really has such an interesting visual style that i wanna give it another shot.
- hank green - the second (or perhaps 3rd) most important technology
- fred ritchin - the synthetic eye: photography in the age of AI: strongly recommend this to any visual artist, not just photographers—in fact especially if you aren't a photographer. the synthetic eye spells out just how essential photography is in media and as an art form, how quintessentially analog it is, its role in wars past and news media present. it's about the effect of AI on photography but also smartphone cameras, social media, and the consumer-capitalist-individual society.
- naomi lemon - extreme dream: this highkey had no story but the art was truly beautiful.
- love love hill - human plantation: & cry to the moon: it's fun to see the different artists' take on the unique themes. i liked voice by powerswithin in particular.
- moon channel - why is k-on! so popular with twitter nazis?
- dj earworm - united state of pop 2025 (talk to me): i am actually the 1% who likes most of the recent united state of pops but this does nothing for me. 2025 pop music was kinda nothingburger after the highs of 2024.
- guy williams - new zealand tomorrow: SOOO PEAK. guy williams continues to show how everyone has an interesting story to tell. the series tackles the decline of journalism and nitrate leaching while providing solid entertainment for eight episodes straight—sharing information in a memorable way that you can only do through comedy. the ending was perfect for the theme. i avoid buying fresh cow milk these days since the pregnancy cycle scares me and this has only encouraged me more to drink milk alternatives. everyone in new zealand should watch it!
- kendrick lamar - GNX
- takaya natsuki - fruits basket C1-9: i've always skipped over this due to the art style but it's pretty good so far. it deals with serious topics without feeling dark or edgy. i love the main character's relationships with her weirdo best friends.