These pieces are listed in no particular order of quality. Rather, the pieces that made it onto this list, did so because I believe them to be the most indicative of my progress as an artist this year.

ONE- Roza on Leave: Number one features my own OC Roza Delacroix. Before I made this piece, I was endlessly experimenting with different forms of rendering. The stuff I was making looked fine, and surely anyone who saw it would've said so as well, but none of it ever satisfied me. It had no bite, no visual distinction from anything else (IMHO), so I finally told myself, "Dude, you're going to have to buckle down and settle on SOMETHING." I wanted to make my art to where, if someone saw it, they would know, without a doubt, that Bombs Ahoy made this piece. So, with that in mind, I decided to center my rendering around the use of the default spray tool in Clip Studio Paint. I turned the anti-aliasing all the way off so my spray particles were extra jagged. What this gave me was a very grainy result whenever I finished a piece. For the longest time, I was trying to emulate the soft rendering style many other artists have nowadays, but I discovered this year that the same kind of art you enjoy CONSUMING is not the same kind of art you may enjoy PRODUCING. From this piece onwards, my art has only gotten grainier, and it makes me very happy whenever someone compliments the texture of my work.

TWO- Batman Saying Odd Things: With my new form of rendering finalized, I wanted to see what I could do with it in a variety of fashions, from full-color to stark black and white. Batman, in a way I'm not sure how, came to mind as a good subject for this test, and during the rendering process the idea of Batman saying a variety of odd statements came to mind. I was pleasantly surprised to see this piece get frontpaged and all the good humored comments in regards to Batman's bizarre claims.

THREE- Meranda Esquire (by Ennuikal): Fanart of an...unconventional nun. The style of this piece has been a kind of sub-development in relation to my rendering style overall. For many of my pieces, I go full throttle and give it the full colored, fully rendered treatment. However, as you might be able to guess, this can be pretty time consuming, and sometimes I just have a funny idea in my head that I just want to get out. So, I developed a "sketchy" style that lets me make stuff quickly whilst still having it look cool and appealing. I found deliberately leaving gaps in the coloring of the drawing, can somewhat add to the overall texture. Also, very proud of the action of the gun, with the top sliding back as the trigger is pulled, with a casing being ejected from the top in the process.

FOUR- Valerie Vasquez (by HeartisttheArtist): A cybernetically enhanced MMA fighter! This piece was part of an event I did called "Bomb's Swimsuit Summer" or something like that. It was something I wanted to do in tandem with the NG Summer Festival, but I only ended up being able to do three pieces (I wanted to get at least five done). Looking back on it, maybe I should've just done my sketchy style to save time. This piece makes it onto the list for the primary reason of it featuring the first well-rendered pack of abs I'd done up until then, as well as being very happy with the shiny rendering of her gold bikini.

FIVE- Julie Fawthe: A fun little piece I made for the Fourth of July, the U.S.A.'s independence day. I call this form of art Uber-Americana, an over-the-top brand of humorous American imagery. This piece belongs on the list for the sheer amount of detail I worked into Julie's character design. Flag colored skin, a 10-gallon cowboy hat emblazoned with the pyramid from the one dollar bill, a t-shirt that features a map of the mainland states with a faded Jesus printed on top, camouflaged short-shorts and stockings, a belt buckle engraved with the image of a burger, an M1911 pistol tucked into her belt, a classic cowboy repeater in her left hand, brown and white hair like the feathers of a bald eagle, and a bottle of delicious corn syrup in her right hand. Oh, and a gold tooth for a little bit of flair. I encourage everyone to make a mascot of your country like this, because it is just a lot of fun just to see how much you can fit in there.

SIX- No Demons Allowed: This piece is when I really felt my aforementioned "sketchy" style really started to come into being, like I really started to feel that I knew just what I was doing. I love her intense expression and the dust rising with the blowing wind!

SEVEN- Bunker Selfie XD!!!: A pic of my three primary OC's together in a bunker! This piece was an especially difficult challenge, because I had never really made a drawing where the characters were this closely packed together. I had to make sure that I fit all three of them in frame to where their expressions and demeanor could be communicated, as well as making sure there was enough room for the world bubbles. Their dirty faces and attire played well into my rendering style!

EIGHT- Kiki (Ongezellig): Some fanart of a background character from the indie Dutch cartoon Ongezellig. I worked to give Kiki a super intense, but beautiful kind of stare. Very happy with how the pose and her hair turned out. This piece also features one of my favorite things: A strong shadow cast by the nose. It's something that I feel just adds so much dimension to the human face, and I like to include as often as I can.

NINE- Bleach as Dark Riku (Kingdom Hearts): Another artist's OC cosplaying as Dark Riku from Kingdom Hearts! I think my rendering works the best in dark environments with super intense shadows and lighting. Something about those elements really just makes the grain POP. I've also come to enjoy adding those little bits of shimmering light you see on her keyblade and belt buckles. I just think it looks cool XD.

TEN- Big Boobs Christmas Elf: Um....Boobs...Thank you for reading.

Twitter

Keep an eye out for tomorrow. Hmmmm, or maybe even later on today??

It was some time late August with my last milestone of 500 and only a couple months later, I'm here at 600! All I can say is the usual "Thank you" to all my recent followers and the generous frontpages I received in the time between 500 and 600.

I guess the major news I should share, is that I put in a 3 month notice for the job I've had for the past 8 years of my life. I've saved up a good amount of money and plan to use the time that I had to previously rent out to my job to working full time on my art. I am scheduled to leave my job on January 31st. In short, the job I have now is no longer fulfilling, it takes too much time to train newbies, the hours are draining, and all I can think about while I'm at work is getting back to my desk at home and drawing. Right now, I don't even care if I fail in the future. I'm just looking forward now to having all my time be MY TIME.

So, thanks again, and I'll see you at 700.

I'm doing a special event for the month of October called NSFWeen👻. Every post this month will be smut. I'm taking recommendations as to who I should draw.

Can be male or female and the characters must be "Halloween" themed meaning they must be some kind of vampire, zombie, witch, etc.

I will select characters based on my own personal preference. Posts will be varied in quality. Some may be black and white sketches, others may be full color illustrations. Regardless, I thank anyone who takes the time to leave a recommendation and I hope you have a Happy Halloween.

Some examples of my stuff:

I originally deleted my Twitter account, because I felt like I was swimming through a huge ocean where everyone was just more talented and successful than me. I became a "Newgrounds exclusive" as a sort of sabbatical away from all the "noise" that envelopes mainstream social media. Newgrounds was a quiet place, that temple on the hill where I could just focus and not have to worry about what was trending or whatever.

I know what you're gonna say, "You shouldn't pay attention to numbers." And you know what? You're right! But I'm someone who's trying to make a career, or at least a respectable side gig out of their art, and seeing other artists around me just knock it out of the goddamn park was seriously affecting me.

Finally after getting front paged a few times, joining a discord server where a few other respectable artists complimented my work (as well as establishing some personal familiarity with them), garnering a good following here on NG, as well as, finally discovering a "style" I can be satisfied with, I feel confident enough to believe that there is a group of people out there who want to see the shit I make.

And don't worry. Newgrounds will ALWAYS be number 1, baby.

Twitter:https://twitter.com/BombsAh0y

Hey, guys, Roza has something she wants to say:

...

It was around the time Naruto started airing on Toonami that I began drawing. My dad was out of town one night, and I had his computer all to myself. Bored, with nothing else to do, I stared at the YouTube search bar in front of me, thinking of something I could look up, and thinking back on it now, the idea was somewhat spontaneous. It came out of nowhere. I typed in “how to draw naruto,” and numerous videos of artists drawing the orange clad ninja were brought before me. 

I was unabashedly a “Naru-tard” in those days. I would end up drawing my own posters of several Naruto characters and later hang them on my bedroom walls. I made my own Naruto comics, I bought Naruto video games, and one year for Christmas, my aunt took me to Toys R’ Us and afforded me the privilege of walking home with a big plastic Zabuza sword. I would eventually move on from my Naru-tardation, and now, I look back on those years with a great deal of charm, and ,of course, a tinge of cringe. 

And now, more than a decade later, I’m here, still drawing, still working on getting better and developing my artistic process into something I can be happy with. It’s only been very recently that I can say I’ve been “satisfied” with how my stuff looks in digital format. For most of the time I’ve been submitting my art to this site, I’ve been experimenting with numerous brush settings and tools to get the desired “feel,” which has culminated into the grainy/granular look I have now. I believe it looks good, and also distinct, while still not being too time consuming to pull off. 

Even though I've uploaded 240 pieces (if I’ve counted correctly) of completed art as of the posting of this journal, I feel as though now is the time I can finally begin to really put my best foot forward. After today, I want to start putting more focus on my OC’s and really begin to flesh them out. I want my content to be more focused on a particular subject matter, mainly military equipment and attire. A year from now, I’d like to have started publishing my own webcomic. I also plan on starting to take commissions in the near future, so you can look forward to that. Once my initial webcomic is finished, perhaps I’ll have proven myself to enough people that I will be comfortable enough to open up a Patreon (or whatever kind of similar platform they might have by then) and have people financially support me in my endeavors. 

So, thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this, and, most importantly, thank you Newgrounds for giving me a place to do what I do!

Was gonna stream one more time today but am feeling a little gassed. Gonna call it a day. Here's the last thing I was working on:

Hmm, I wonder what they're saying....