I apologize for not having been as regular on the updates. I will do my best to resolve this.

In charismatic Christiandom, preachers and teachers will sometimes remind the congregation that instead of asking God for more power infusions from the Holy Spirit, they ought to take an account of how many gifts and how much power has already been given (and to then properly apply those) rather than to take what’s already been received for granted. In my art education, I have made the same mistake, of underestimating how much I have already received from my teachers, and instead of trusting God’s faith in me and using what I’ve been given, I had placed my faith in the art education system. This isn’t to say that art education is bad, but I had made an idol out of the system, believing that if I could just complete x amount of courses or programs, I would be able to get a job from it.

Taking my tiny portfolio of 3 whole pieces to Illuxcon was a good test of faith and skill, rewarded with good feedback and encouragement from many artists much better than I. The above images display a fan piece I began back in August in anticipation for the release of Mists of Pandaria, but was delayed in finishing due to school (TAD). Jeremy Wilson impressed on me the importance of having stuff to show around for feedback at Illuxcon, so I ditched all my classes to grind it out (maybe not the best decision from the educational standpoint, but I needed to do it). The top image shows what I thought was the finished product when I brought it to Illuxcon, and the bottom image is the finished version after applying a lot of the feedback I received at Illuxcon.

Illuxcon itself was a wonderful event, and I do not even have the words right now to describe all the cool and awesome things that went on, and the cool and awesome people that I got to meet and befriend. Anyways, I’m going to get back to my drawing so as to apply everything that I’ve learned from the portfolio critiques. Thanks for stopping by.