I went into 2013 with some apprehension. Superstition was enough, but I’ve been living from crisis to crisis since about 2006. It felt like 2013 could easily be out of the frying pan, and into the fire. Admittedly, there were some close calls. There was the time some well-connected friends of ours got word that riots and catastrophe were going to break out over the debt crisis. That was a $300 grocery and emergency supply run that could easily have been put to better use. On the other hand, we should have enough coffee to last until February.
Fact is, money was about the only thing that really sucked about 2013. Overall, I’ve made less this year than last year, and that’s also much less than in 2011. Valentina Vandetta above here was part of a marketing test to see if fetish Valentine cards would sell at events and through Cafe Press. The cards just didn’t take off though. I may make a second try with Etsy this year.
Relax, this won’t just be V-day art, or every single thing I’ve drawn in 2013. It is a recap of what I feel were the better pieces of the year and the progress I made in 2013.
By the middle of 2013, I began running out of archive material to upload, which made it even more important to keep drawing and keep working on new material.
2013 also meant stepping up my game, and that meant more color. The internet bypasses many issues with color illustration, and Photoshop also allows me to experiment more in color without endangering the inked originals. Color work also allows me to keep up my Photoshop skills.
Color also meant that I could add people of color. I take my cue on inking people of color from the Hernandez bros (of Love and Rockets during the 90’s). The fleshtones stayed white, no matter what the race. Working in color, I can now change fleshtones, and I’m loving the results!
2013 also meant following a resolution to get out to classes more often. My bondage skills are actually very poor. I started as a sub of course. Why would a sub know knots?
So I started attending Miss Cassie’s Rope Munch to pick up rope bondage techniques I could use in my artwork. It not only lead to some good pieces, but also to making more friends. This lead to appearing on Mistress Heather’s radio show.
I also got to experiment with new materials, like brush pens and white pens. Sadistic Skyline above used a lot of white pen and brush pen for the background. I loved doing this piece.
And we also started getting some love for the site. This piece was just pure fun to knock out. I’m still curious to try out anal hooks and some chastity devices. Maybe I can get some to review from Spartacus this year.
Some of the best work this year came from the Tom of Finland drawing workshop. While I still needed to use my imagination for bondage and the Dominas, These workshops kicked off Amy the Facesitting Femdom, Tammy’s New Friend, and Two on One Domination.
There’s still a lot of unfinished sketches from the workshops. You’ll be seeing more of these in the future, including the rubberman piece, Night at the Bar.
While many pieces were fun, others were hard. Throne Fun has to make the list as one of the top pieces this year, but it was a very difficult piece to complete. I’ll need more input before I can call this piece a success.
Finishing up, the piece I like best from 2013 is Two on One Domination. I got a great start at the Tom of Finland drawing workshop. It wasn’t easy adding on the Dommes, but I really love how they turned out. The color came out awesome, and really adds a lot to the piece. With Photoshop, I also got to add in real wood, and the screens in the back have a couple of previous pieces faded in for effect.
I’m looking forward to 2014 being a much better year and hope your 2014 is fun and profitable. Happy New Year!!!
Dungeon Net
Hogspy
