2024. Truly one of the years of all time.
Quite a lot happened over the past 365-or-so days, quiet a lot more than I had envisioned on January 1st!
Before I talk about this year, a WIP version of the poster for 2025's big project of mine is contained in this week's Patreon post. This will be the only looking forward I do in this post; for now, it's recap time!
On the creative side of things, I kicked off the year with Chapter 1 of Potatoman: Realm of Ryksaw, the remaining five chapters of which came out bi-monthly through to November. Of the five Potatoman instalments thus far, this one surely went all in on the world building aspect. Among the happenings in the regular-sized comics were more countries to explore/take the piss out of in my long-running 10TNTDI subseries, with Norway, Portugal, Mexico and South Korea joining the club, along with a few revisits.
(I was doing up my brother's new place in the middle pic, hence the mask, goggles and messy hair!)
Beyond the comics, I got commissioned for some colouring work, contributed to a few of the usual NG holidays, took part in OCtober (more on that in a bit), made a segment for the Sketch Collab and did my first ever art trade!
Speaking of NG holidays, one such occasion stood out among the rest...
Two meetups for Pico Day were held either side of the Atlantic Ocean. As someone on one of those sides, I made the fateful decision to not pass it up. Never before had I been so excited to get up at 4AM to go out, get on a plane, explore a new city and fraternise with fellow creatives. Gatherings (and big solo trips, even) like this don't come naturally to me, but I don't regret a single part of the 18th of May (except for the fact that the portal had been turned off). Friends were made, sketches were drawn and stickers exchanged, a fun day all in all. May there be more like it (preferably on the other side of the Irish Sea; London's long overdue for a NG meetup!).
(I'm the one with the bunny ears)
With an election in the UK this year, it's no surprise that I had a few of my own takes on the whole thing (not to mention being awake for 21 hours for the Dublin meet prepared me for pulling the traditional election night all-nighter).
Misinformation is bad. Rioting and attempted pogroms caused by misinformation are significantly worse. There are other people more qualified than I am to talk about last summer's riots in Britain, but there's just one related tangent I'd like to go on. Sometime in early August, an anti-racism demonstration was held in my home town. Among the hundred-ish attendees was this old lady, Tanya. She recounted to me a story of her dad being captured (by actual Nazis) in Italy while fighting in WWII, where he escaped and met his future wife. Anti-fascism transcends generations, donchya know?
The actions of a certain social media site owner proclaiming the inevitability of civil war in my home country (and who is now quite fittingly being abandoned by the Nazi chuds he egged on) led to me departing Twitter after eleven years of usage. I joined Bluesky at the start of the year, but in October, I was added to one of the site's newfangled starter packs. Within a week, I had more followers on BS than I had ever mustered on the bird site, over 770 as of typing this post. On that note, I'll take this opportunity to thank my now 850+ followers here on NG (active or otherwise). You rock!
And there are quite a few of you I'd like to offer (in no particular order) a wider thanks to...
@TomFulp for Newgrounds. I still remember that one time (2016?) you used my artwork as the site skin for that year's Madness Day. I did not expect that at all, but I'm nevertheless honoured that you did!
@Snackers for hosting the meetup! Big social gatherings were something I used to dread, but you and the rest made me feel at home. I might've stayed at Token a bit longer had I known it was gonna shut down!
@GuardiasVA for the stickers, and being the first to notice my presence at said meetup (and cheers for the bunny ears!)
@Thell1 for your part in convincing me to go to Dublin! It's too bad we didn't meet, but at least you managed to nab one of my stickers!
@HenryEYES for being the one and only HenryEYES.
@matt-likes-swords for all the cats! (and business cards)
@Aalasteir @OmenaKettu @Buster98 @LegolaSS @MapleEllie @Speedo and all the others I met/received stickers and sketches from in Dublin!
@Tango for adding me to the (very first) NG starter pack on Bluesky!
@EpithetSoup for commissioning me to colour your artwork. I look forward to more potential collaborations!
@MKMaffo for the cutest lil' Dave I commissioned off you! I hope you (and your teeth) are doing well.
@midgetsausage for the Sketch Collab! It wasn't good, it was great! Good Luck with Cooper Bullet and all your other creative endeavours.
@Oddlem for hosting OCtober24. May you and your bird/harpy girls keep on truckin' (or frickin', rather)
@ElectroNat for participating in the above event and of course for the aforementioned art trade! It's cool to see the progress a relatively new artist has made.
@Chdonga for linking one of the most bizarre songs I've listened to in the NG Discord. I love me some morbid lyrics set to a catchy beat!
@SevenSize for all the glitter that still turns up from last year's Christmas card!
@Kunishiro for the Solidarity Collab!
@tydaze for the Pride Month Collab!
@Albe for letting me know what Spanish for 'STD' is.
And last but far from least @Troisnyx for being one of the all round kindest, friendliest, most thoughtful and most inspiring musicians (and people overall) on this site. Your creativity and friendship (and games of Use Your Words) have been greatly appreciated over the years, and whatever life's thrown your way, you've persevered. We're blessed to have you.
Anyone else I missed out who feels they warrant a place on the list, let me know.
That might be all, methinks. I didn't expect this post to be quite so long, but I'm happy to have typed it. We're at the end now, so what better way to finish than with a nice Dublin Airport sunset...
Happy New Year to all, and stay safe.
-Chaz
