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Description
Hello everyone,

How are you? Are you doing well? I sure hope that you are! Well, I have here a new deviation to post; one that's a little different than usual eh? Gosh, where to begin? Hmm.....

Well, firstly, let me say that under normal circumstances, I would post a work like this on my OTHER Deviantart account as seen here: [link]

As seen by the works posted on that account, aside from fan art, I do like to dabble in more traditional artwork, as I did study Fine Art and Illustration when I attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Much like I mentioned in my most recent journal entry, though I've yet to pursue a career in the arts, I haven't given up on the possibility of finding my way; achieving some measure of success with my craft. As I also mentioned in that entry, I reasoned that a good place to start would be to try different things, little by little. And so, I thought that I'd try my hand at some more realistic looking work again.

Well, that's only partially true..... This image is also a gift for my very best friend in the entire world, . Goodness, I'm finding myself at a loss all of a sudden. I mean, what *haven't* I already said about this amazing individual? The two of us have known each other for 17 years this spring, and in all honesty I simply couldn't have asked for a better friend! Rather, she's much more like family, like a real sister to me; which actually isn't that much of a stretch when you think about it, given that we were born on the same day AND year! Coincidence? I think not!

It's an understatement to say that and I have been through a lot together. Though it may sound cliche, we've been through the good times, the bad times, and everything in between. If there was one person I could truly count on to be there for me, to understand how I was feeling, to support and encourage me through all of my endeavors, it was, hands down! And that's most definitely one of the reasons I wanted to post this work here, rather than my other account, so that I can tell all of you, how utterly awesome she is!

Even here on Deviantart, she's been a great source of inspiration, not only due to her own amazing art (check out her page everyone!!!! Here's a few examples and and XD) but due to the fact that she's been extraordinarily helpful in critiquing my work even!

The two of us often share works in progress, long before they're ready to be posted in finished, fully colored form, or in my case, even before my line art is polished enough to be posted. Whenever I find myself needing another opinion about my work, to help me point out when something just isn't quite right, it's to the rescue! I often find that it can be possible to be TOO close to a project, and that constructive criticism can not only be helpful, but also a means to make a simple idea much much stronger than the initial concept! In fact, I often mention in the descriptions of my pieces, how much has helped in the development of what I do. I do try to give credit where credit is due after all! And again, that's exactly what I'm doing now! ^_^

Last year, the two of us hit a milestone in terms of birthdays. And in truth, I had wanted to do something extra special to commemorate the occasion. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, though I found other gifts to give her instead. I had truly wanted to do something artistic, however, and though I don't think this work is what I had in mind then, nor do I think that it's nearly special enough now, I do hope that it's a start, at the very least.

I actually began this work a few days ago on a whim. I had been thinking about many of the things that I mentioned in my journal entry, and also, I knew that had been going through a tough time as of late, so I wanted to do something to lift her spirits a little. And thus I decided on this piece.

As for the piece itself, I suppose its rather self explanatory. It's a portrait of the two of us together, done in pencil. I have to admit that I'm not very fond of myself in this work; the way I rendered myself or the way I looked in general. I will admit to using reference material that is a few years old now, and I look a little bit differently now, most notably in the fact that my face was a little rounder then, and my hair appeared rather different as well. Also, since I did not physically possess a photo of this image of us, I had to settle with using a print out instead, resulting in a lot of lost detail in the reference and thus my drawing as well. But as a whole, I felt this was a very nice picture of more so than one of me, so taking that into consideration, I chose this image of us to depict.

I still feel that I need a bit more practice in rendering realism as I believe that I could have pushed the darks of this image much further and I KNOW that I could have added much MUCH more detail, even with what was still visible in the print out. But given how I can completely lose myself in the intricacy of detail, I was determined to stop myself, at least until I was reasonably satisfied with what I included. I may decide to tweak it a bit more at a later time, or even add some sort of background that is at least decorative in some way. But I thought that I'd post this work as is, for now. I hope that you all like it.

And I especially hope that you like it . Though I say it often, you really are the greatest friend that anyone could ever ask for! Even if it does sound overly sentimental, I consider it a blessing that you came into my life and I hope that the two of us will be friends till the day we're little old ladies, spouting inside jokes that only we understand! I love ya sis! Take care now, and thanks again for looking, everyone!

Love,
yamigirl21

Description
Hello everyone,

How are you? Are you doing well? I sure hope that you are! Well, I have here a new deviation to post; one that's a little different than usual eh? Gosh, where to begin? Hmm.....

Well, firstly, let me say that under normal circumstances, I would post a work like this on my OTHER Deviantart account as seen here: [link]

As seen by the works posted on that account, aside from fan art, I do like to dabble in more traditional artwork, as I did study Fine Art and Illustration when I attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Much like I mentioned in my most recent journal entry, though I've yet to pursue a career in the arts, I haven't given up on the possibility of finding my way; achieving some measure of success with my craft. As I also mentioned in that entry, I reasoned that a good place to start would be to try different things, little by little. And so, I thought that I'd try my hand at some more realistic looking work again.

Well, that's only partially true..... This image is also a gift for my very best friend in the entire world, . Goodness, I'm finding myself at a loss all of a sudden. I mean, what *haven't* I already said about this amazing individual? The two of us have known each other for 17 years this spring, and in all honesty I simply couldn't have asked for a better friend! Rather, she's much more like family, like a real sister to me; which actually isn't that much of a stretch when you think about it, given that we were born on the same day AND year! Coincidence? I think not!

It's an understatement to say that and I have been through a lot together. Though it may sound cliche, we've been through the good times, the bad times, and everything in between. If there was one person I could truly count on to be there for me, to understand how I was feeling, to support and encourage me through all of my endeavors, it was, hands down! And that's most definitely one of the reasons I wanted to post this work here, rather than my other account, so that I can tell all of you, how utterly awesome she is!

Even here on Deviantart, she's been a great source of inspiration, not only due to her own amazing art (check out her page everyone!!!! Here's a few examples and and XD) but due to the fact that she's been extraordinarily helpful in critiquing my work even!

The two of us often share works in progress, long before they're ready to be posted in finished, fully colored form, or in my case, even before my line art is polished enough to be posted. Whenever I find myself needing another opinion about my work, to help me point out when something just isn't quite right, it's to the rescue! I often find that it can be possible to be TOO close to a project, and that constructive criticism can not only be helpful, but also a means to make a simple idea much much stronger than the initial concept! In fact, I often mention in the descriptions of my pieces, how much has helped in the development of what I do. I do try to give credit where credit is due after all! And again, that's exactly what I'm doing now! ^_^

Last year, the two of us hit a milestone in terms of birthdays. And in truth, I had wanted to do something extra special to commemorate the occasion. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, though I found other gifts to give her instead. I had truly wanted to do something artistic, however, and though I don't think this work is what I had in mind then, nor do I think that it's nearly special enough now, I do hope that it's a start, at the very least.

I actually began this work a few days ago on a whim. I had been thinking about many of the things that I mentioned in my journal entry, and also, I knew that had been going through a tough time as of late, so I wanted to do something to lift her spirits a little. And thus I decided on this piece.

As for the piece itself, I suppose its rather self explanatory. It's a portrait of the two of us together, done in pencil. I have to admit that I'm not very fond of myself in this work; the way I rendered myself or the way I looked in general. I will admit to using reference material that is a few years old now, and I look a little bit differently now, most notably in the fact that my face was a little rounder then, and my hair appeared rather different as well. Also, since I did not physically possess a photo of this image of us, I had to settle with using a print out instead, resulting in a lot of lost detail in the reference and thus my drawing as well. But as a whole, I felt this was a very nice picture of more so than one of me, so taking that into consideration, I chose this image of us to depict.

I still feel that I need a bit more practice in rendering realism as I believe that I could have pushed the darks of this image much further and I KNOW that I could have added much MUCH more detail, even with what was still visible in the print out. But given how I can completely lose myself in the intricacy of detail, I was determined to stop myself, at least until I was reasonably satisfied with what I included. I may decide to tweak it a bit more at a later time, or even add some sort of background that is at least decorative in some way. But I thought that I'd post this work as is, for now. I hope that you all like it.

And I especially hope that you like it . Though I say it often, you really are the greatest friend that anyone could ever ask for! Even if it does sound overly sentimental, I consider it a blessing that you came into my life and I hope that the two of us will be friends till the day we're little old ladies, spouting inside jokes that only we understand! I love ya sis! Take care now, and thanks again for looking, everyone!

Love,
yamigirl21