Holiday Memories 2 Gathering

At long LONg last the second and final leg of my hand drawn and hand colored Holiday Memories picture has been completed. Completing a good portion of my friends from Deviantart and in real life. BeforeI get started I just would like to say that I apologize to some old friends and new comers recently that you were not including in the picture. I ran out of room and these things can be hard to pull off; group pictures are things I really REALLY need to work on. There's also the probability that some wouldn't even see it because they left DA. And there are those I watch who don't even acknowledge my existence.

But really; if anyone isn't included in here it's because I don't hate you; really. There are many people here I have grown accustomed to. And there are so many new faces I am just making as friends. Well those who have been so nice to me and have just met me or haven't been included, I am sorry. But there's always the Christmasin 2006. Remember, this isn't anything personal; I just need more work on making gropu pictures and getting better acquainted with some new faces and even a few old ones.

That said, here's the breakdown. The first holiday picture was an exchange of gifts and good cheer. Some of my dearest friends are in the first picture. So those who left out of this one; half of them were in the first one to begin with. This picture wraps up the holiday seasons with the age old message of hope; "Peace on Earth." As relevant today as ever before. But the world will never run out of problems or wars; sorry that's just the way things go sometimes. But even in dark days there's always room for peace and happiness, and moments of terror are only fleeting sentiments. For every long hardship comes a long calm. We will all get our due eventually and even if for a brief moment enjoy an era of tranquility. So here's looking for some renewed hope in the future; maybe not this year or the next; but eventually it comes.

And for many years before and in the present and to the future I have shared special moments and artistic relationships with some very close friends. Like those in the previous Holiday picture, these friends shown here are as dear to me as any friend I have had. We are all gathered here together to enjoy our time of happiness; may it last as long as possible.

I myself shinragod am in my raccoon form in the center right underneath the banner saying 'Peace on Earth.' Looking up at it by myself is meaningless if I do not have good friends by my side to share this moment of tranquil bliss.

And many of these friends will always be dear to me and close to me no matter how far away they may be.

Shetany , more commonly known to me as Stormy Bowman. Depicted as a tan coyote flanked on the right of me, she is holding her little dog Jenny, Sweet little moungrel. ^.^ Stormy and I have been very close ever since the day we met. Her living in Texas and I living in California never broke our relationship apart. Although it takes time for me to write to her, I still care deeply for her and am always fascinated at what she tells me of her life in Texas. Our bonds have grown deep and we really want to meet each other in real life one day. I know the chances are good. I look very forward to meeting her one day. She's like a spiritual companion to me and always seems to be there with me even if I live many miles away. But miles never tear apart relationships.

Another deep relationship I have afixed with is my online partner and now older brother Kokiteno . He is his red fox fursona self decked in red sweater on my left staring up with me in the sky. What a sweet guy. He and I have a brotherly bond that has gone on for some time. Caring, compassionate and very talented, I really wish I lived with him at times as the older brother I never had. He's very special and always holdsthat special place in my heart. I admire his kindliness and artistic talent. Truly one in a million you are big bro.

The online sibling relationships never stop. Over the years there has a girl who's been mroe than jsut friends with me, but she views me like a serogate brother at times. The talented and gentle LionessB . I used her Irish Lombax char Keltin dressed in green and the orange haired Jenny decked in brown on the left of Stormy. A true mountain of talent, her artwork has kept on improving year after year. I still remember when I first met her at Crashcorner2. Her artwork fairly new she eventually invovled into one of the greatest and most imaginative artists here at DeviantArt. Her steady brush strokes and attention to detail is nothing short of awe inspiring. I always appreciate the help and constructive criticism she gives me. I aspire to shade and color like her to create monumental works of art. It's always been an honor to be friends with a loving and talented artist like LionessB; a very special and close person to me ever since I met her at CC2.

My friends from CC2 (crashCorner 2) from the past never fail to find me. And I am always pleased to find them. Shaz is one girl I am more than pleased to see again after many years. From some time ago I knew her as the great Crashcorner fan fic writer and char creator of Danni Dingo. Now I recognize her expansion of imagination and innovation is going beyond her limits. to respresent her is her much deservedly recognized blue furry and muscular char one person to the left of Kokiteno is Tyler. Smiling with that nice spikey blue hair of his high in the sky. Shaz is another girl who means dearly o me. Always there encouraging me and commenting on my works. She has lost none of her sparkle and dazzle as she makes more artwork to intrigue all of us. ^^ Has beena close and great personal friend of mine ever since I had the fortune to meet tal kand create with her from the days of Crashcorner to the present days at Deviantart. Keep on drawing Shaz. ^__^ Your talents never cease to amaze me.

There are always people I meet on a whim. But they turn out to be great and encouraging people. One of my favorite people I met some time ago not on CC2 was Neoyi represented by her astonishing charming versions of Jak (the white pointy eared dude in the blue cape) and Coco (the blone bandicoot dressed in white) to the left of Kokiteno. Neoyi is remarkable. I have never seen anyone with a unique and captivating art style like hers before. She has tried her hand successfully at al lfields I wish to accomplish; group pictures, detailed images of art and even comics! And all these areas of artwork are done in her own breath taking fashion that mixes both wit and charm in one beautiful package. I admire how she puts all her effort and her heart and soul into these fantastic images. And she is a very loyal and true friend. She always is there offering me kind comments and advice when I post up artwork. It's always a pleasure recieving kind words from her. ^_^ I look very forward to seeing more of her pictures in the future and talking to her. She's both talented and kind; the kind of friend I always like hanging with.

Not all my greatest mates are strictly online. I've know Tenshiryuu AKA Candice for quite a few years now. And she's the best friend I have. It is fortunate I live in Irvine and she is a short drive away to anaheim where I look forward to spending moments are her house. She has so many new and interesting things to show me: that ranges from anime to video games to just about anything that strikes our fancy. I love talking to her because we speak our own fan based language I am afraid to share with other people. She is also a very great artist and a great cosplayer. Every year we go to the anime convention dressed as our favorite characters and buying all the greatest stuff we wanted at great deals. To respresent Candice Idrew her winged dragon fursona sitting on the ground at the base of Neoyi's Jak and Coco's fet. She is holding a strawberry BTW: representing the name of the main char from our favorite anime 'Bleach'; Ichigo. Though she LOVES Renji the most; which is cool; Renji is AWESOME!! I feel very lucky to find a person who's passioante about games anime and other things like I am. I love being Candice's friend and can't wait to spend more time talking or looking for new things to excite us with her.

There is another mate of mine laying on the snow just below my raccoon self. I seldom have spoken with her in a while but I really want to and will soon. ChiChixiaoyu is played the part byt her cute and seductive raccoon fursona Mika; with pretty purple fur dark black hair and a cute red white trimmed fur outfit to respresent the season. It's always a joy talking with her when I can because she's quite an active Sly fan. And a very good friend. All the most interesting works and character she's presented to me. I even had the time to draw some of them with my own. Like her deadly Mika's sis Jeanne; teamed with my cat char Mein Ling. ChiChi really knows how to give personality and excitement ot her chars. I really wish I could talk wit hher again because she's very nice and creative. It's always great fun to speak with her and hear her ideas. She's just so neat .^__^

Another person I've not talked to for a while is LadyKL respresented by her fave sonic char Knuckles. Only Knuckles ain't nakey this time. He's sitting on the right of Mika with a green sweater and scarf on. LadyKl is another great person I like to talk to. Not only a great Knuckles fan but a big eminem fan too. O.o always seemed to had something interesting and new to tell me. Well there's always time to catch up. I'm sure to look for her the next time I get online cause I enjoy our conversations. She's still a good friend of mine and her artwork keeps getting better. Keep on rocking girl .^^

To the left of Tyler is Crunch and Tani Tiger dressed in winter wear who stand representing their deep bond created by another talented Crash Bandicoot artist Tani-Tiger Yet another impressive display of multi talent, Tani has taken the concept of Crunch Bandicoot and turned him into a mega star. Proof that fans are the true back bone and escalation of some great characters who need rembrance. Although I never am as formal with her as I'd like to be I still admire her and like to view her work. She's a very dedicated artist. But she's certainly not devoid of humor. alot of her pictures are full of wit and loads of funny and bizzarre humor. She's really got a great sense of humor .XD Man can she whip out drawings. I admire her speed and still has the ability to pay attention to detail. Truly amazing. Wel lwhat can Iexpect from an amazing artist like her. ^^ Hee hee; bandicoots and tazmanian tigers forever!! Keep up the awesome work Tani. ^^

go further to your right now to mee some other good friends of mine. Sitting down in the snow on the far far right is OzyOxy's char Haze. Ooooh demented dark furred lombax; I like. ^^ He doesn't seem demented here. He looks like he's rather enjoying the bright shining star in the sky. A huge lombax fan; and beleive I always love em, it's really great to see some of her work. She and I have been involved in an art trade or two and I'd very much like to work with her again. I appreciate the gratitude given to me for drawing Haze. Heck the dude's awesome; great job Ozy in creating him. ^^ Ozy's another talented and imaginative girl who really uses her mind to create bizzare and wonderfully designed characters. Boy do I admire people who can work just like that. ^^ I feel I share many talents with some great artists who are inspired to push beyond the limits of what they can do, and Ozy's one of em .^^

A newcomer to DA but one I've known online before she came her is the queen of Neyla fan girls, the talented Miss Neyla. whom I commonly know more as Verona. Her famous Neyla/Demitri pairing is standing right on the right edge of the page. Poor ol Demitri's a bit cut out but Neyla is a bit more prominent. Is there any Sly fan out there who can ducplicate the game's style better than her, I think not. It impresses me how well she can draw the characters and even her own or other people's chars in the unique cel shaded style of the Sly Cooper universe. She's also a highly dedicated Sly fan, her life seems to revolve around it. Particularly elevating the once thought to be evi and deceased Neyla into something much more than people would have hoped. It's also a great joy to talk with her; though it saddens me my comp won't allow me to Open Canvas wit hher. I would love to draw with her. I just admire her talent and dedication to making excellent works based off Neyla Demitir and other Sly chars. I am more familair with the more "exotic: pieces she's famous for. But anything she draws comes out spectacular and great. And if it's Neyla it's extra special cause she really can transform her in ways I didn't even think possible. Truly a diamond in the rough Neyla is .^^ I'm very lucky to have met and become friend with her. ^^ Such a good artist with a great mind.

To the left of the Neyla/Demitri pair is another more famous couple; Sly Cooper and Carmelita Fox. ^__^ They respresent IceQueenKitty a huge Sly cooper fan artist. And even more so she has created some very interesting works revolving around Carmelita Fox. Her icon even has her collar. O.o And she's even made a stattuette of her. So many ways to express favoritism over a great char is mind boggling and a true way of showing her talents. I always admire her ability to show Carmelita nd Sly in different forms or times. Another great and interesting Sly Cooper artist; I hope she keeps on drawing and creating more Sly fanwork to show; especially the lovely Carmelita fox. Oh how I love Carmelita so .^__^

PHEW!!! Well there's still more friends ahead. But the ground is now crowded now. I thought about what to do in order to fit the theme and still fit some more of my friends into the picture. So then it hit me. Angels!! Chibi angels!! Give the characters little angel wings and make em' fly. NYAH!! ^___^ I gotta keep this in mind the next time I run outta room for the future holiday pics to come.

I am getting cramped so I am gonna tell about these next people soon. And once again I am sorry for those who didn't make it. Particularlly good friends of mine like and so forth. I'm so sorry guys. But I think I found a solution here in angel form that'll help for next time.


Starting from left to right; I see a scraggy psycho version of Crash Bandicoot peeking fro mthe left hand corner. O.o I think the big guy's jsut curious. He represents CherryVincent the artist who knows to make creepy and bizzarre into lovely and awesome!! It still is cool how he makes such intense pieces of work look cool. Not only her cool version of Crash but also other beasts of his own making like Naga the corn snake anthro. Corn snake anthro!! That is just proof of how awesome he really can be. ^^I is happy to be one of his idiots. ^__^

To the right of Crash is a pop art attempt at an angel. It was done non vector style so it doesn't look as good. But the pop art style is jsut my way of attributing to the style of one of the great current pop artists also a good friend in real life goblinQueen . What an inspiartion she can be at creating such unique pop art. I can tell she's very heavily influenced by retro fifties style pin ups and stylist works. The way her girls look in the calenders inspired me to try and open up a variety of styles to try out. I can tell she'll be very successful in life and continue to surprise us with both wonderfully detailed pop works to normal but beautiful pieces of art for all of us to see .^^ She loves a variety of things and a variety of styles. I only wish I was as experimenta land daring as her to venture into new art territories. ^^ She's a real gem of an artist!

A group of cat girl anthros huddles near the left side of the banner. ^^ A tiny bobcat angel respresents the cute Sarnie character of Cherie who's more of a great fan fic writer than artist. I have become a good online buddy with her and it's alwayd great discussing new and interesting things with her. And boy can she be funny .^__^ Online chats are always more fun when Cherie's around .^^ It's a real pleasure to have gotten to know ya girl. To Sarnie's right is a tiny chibi winged version of the anime 'Bleach''s Yourichi; the super cool shinobi esque former shinigami who is a favorite of another friend of mine in real life; Jason another friend of Candice's who draws, has the same likes and is also an avid cosplayer. It's so awesome to get to know a great lot of people who have similar interests. Also a top Guilty Gear player; always beats my ass. XD Such an awesome guy. Above Yourichi is a red haired cat girl to represent the anime stylgins of another interestingartist and person I've met in real life, the-CHIBI . Very active and giving out nice comments, she creates some cool stuff herself. We need more enthusiastic anime artists so it's nice to see the-chibi working hard to create more anime stylings for us .^.^

Now to the right side of the banner. Flying low over Keltin's head is Kila, the pink-yellow haired fox girl created by one of my first online friends and artists I have know, Jim Russo we've done many art trades and had alot of great talks in the past. He's earned quite a name for himself. Well there' more to him than just his awesome artwork. He's an awesome guy who I've enjoyed having as a friend. He's an avid video game player and artist, and has created some of the coolest and cutest anthros out there. VERY cute anthros BTW. ^__^ Nice to still be with ya Jim.

Holding the banner on the right is estella represented by some blonde anime angel dude. Well she's good at drawing these spikey haired boys in a very awesome style. Her artwork is top notch with excellent shading and lighting and a keen eye to detail. And I always enjoy the wonderful and helpful comments she gives to me. She's even there to lend a hand when I am feeling down like she's an actual friend of mine. A great artist and great friend, thanks so much for being with me through thick and thin Estella. Your kind words and inspirational works always make me look on the brighter tside of things. ^>^

To the bottom right of estella is a warrior type girl in angel form drawn by animeniax . I know her in life as Chi. She's very good to be around with; I still beleive she works at Fullerto nwhere I go to college. also a very inspiring and creative artist. she's very active and friendly, so it's extra nice to have her around when she's at Candice's or with Jason and her other friends. I like talkign to her in real life; always has something interesting to say and has a good personality along with some great talent .^^ so nice to see you and talk to when I can Chi. ^^

Though seldom seen, I have also had a deep bond and sibling type relationship with tsunami90 . She is also very nice and very creative. Some interesting works were created from her as a result. I chose her strawberry haired bandicoot self in angel form in the top right to represent her cause that's how I remember her most. I love the way she drew me in the past; I DO wonder what I'd look like in a goatee. XD serioously she's very nice and treats me like an older brother. I am charmed to have known her and I hope to be able to talk with her again one day. It's been a real pleasure getting ot know her. ^^

Finally there is a friend who I took for granted in the past. Only recently last year have I decided to let go of my wretched past and ask for his forgiveness of my idiocy. He is LanceSkyboom. representing him is his angel formed dalmation char Vector reformed as Rock. He had longer dark hair and a blakc trenchcoat now. Really cool. He and I have been talking again recently. He's such a great guy I can't beleive I was a jerk to him so long ago. always great exhanging ideas and having good hearty talks with him again just like the old days. Lance, it's still great to be your friend dude. I hope it lasts forever!


There you have it. The Holiday Memories are complete. Until next christmas enjoy a new year with 2006! Peace out and keep up the great work. To all my great friends and comrades I've known for all these years; keep shining like the stars you are. ^__^

HAPPY 2006!!

I go relax now. My hands are sore. =-p