January

The Snowy Stroll on a Cold Night

This ended up being sort of a spiritual successor to “A Snowy Stroll for the Snow Princess” and while there was another art piece that, spoilers, is the masterpiece of the year, this is a close second. The creation of the path is so much better, the lighting is SO ON POINT and Claudia’s SHADOW ON GODDESS feels so real. I also love how the towers came out due to it having an almost 80s vibe, probably thanks to using refs from City Pop but end up help adding weight to the image without being obnoxious. It’s more melancholic due but came out so much better compared to its successor.

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

February

BMV: MichikoXRobin

I keep bouncing between a few this month, The genie ones kinda catch my eye but I ended up leaning on the Valentines one. I think it’s because it’s one of the few times that I did the kissing correctly and I love how the background came out. The hearts, the shine from the water, it all adds to a rather lovely atmosphere. I will admit February is more debatable but this is my favorite from that month!

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

March

Shantae Advance Forward

It helps that March is light as it usually is but this came out so well. A lot of mimicking the design-style of the promos with some more pop-py styling. This might have been fueled with wanting to make posters and celebrating Shantae’s next game. Either way, it ended up coming out really well and the cel-shading ended up making it go smoothly along with it.

Character Belongs to WayForward

April

Spell Swirl Barrage

Probably one of my favs for sure this year, this ended up being originally hard to work on trying to figure out before eventually being influenced by Yoneyama Mai’s work. I absolutely love how it came out from the spiralling magic and especially the eyes. This also help teach me the strength of single colors as part of a shaded piece, as for a while I struggled with forming the magic itself before experimenting and leaning on solid color. It all leads to this absolutely beautiful image and one that has become Sakura’s Headshot image in a way.

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

May

Claudia's First Mermaid Emergence

This was created because she was an OC Ballot winner, it’s something I wanted to do to help give more weight to the winner but I didn’t realize how amazing it would come out! It is based on a story idea of how Claudia first formed the Mermaid form she has. It’s a little shocking to me how well all of the effects and waves come together to form the image, not feeling too cluttered while having Claudia stay as the focus. The shading is also something I greatly love about this piece and came out so damn well. It’s no surprise this ended up being one of my first piece of merch as everything came together so damn well in the end!

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

June

Compassion In The Dark

June was FILLED with so many good pieces that the fact this came out so well is a testament that the mergays came out on top. It helps this is an idea I’ve been workshopping for a while as a commission but as I was struggling for ideas and becoming more confident with my art, I went ahead with it and it’s one of my favorites this year. The rim lighting and the glow on the tattoos are so good, the embrace of Drake and Caden is just so sweet. It’s just genuinely and beautifully romantic.

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

July

Kitami with the Healing Touch

This is when I tried to do ArtFight for the first time and did decently! Balancing it well alongside the usual art. This month had a big bump in the road but got through it luckily. Kitami was the strongest art piece this year and finally settling on how some of the magic looked for healing. Outside of that, its more basic but still has strong shading for the most part. I think that’s the biggest take away from this year, lighting got so much better and that carried over into rendering and the use of particles. This is a more subtle example of that but still so good!

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

August

Mermaid Luchia on a Surfboard

This was a packed month with many Zine posts but this was an art piece I wanted to become reality for a long time. This ended up with Luchia surfing on the board Kaito would have given her. I love how this came out with the shine of the water on her and how the wave came out with the reflection of her in the background. The art piece feels much more fitting for the summer and you can feel it even as I’m writing this on a cold winter night. Still one of my favorites and got a charm of it for myself!

Character Belongs to Pink Hanamori, Michiko Yokote

September

Syra Relaxing In The Stars

This was also an idea I had for a while that I felt more confident in my shading to do. I’m still super happy with that face render, my goodness there. But the idea of Syra just floating in a sea of stars is just so comforting. The neon and the reflections of the like is just TOP NOTCH! I can’t really think of anything to change here, she came out so perfectly.~

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

October

A [The Order's] Judge's Verdict

This is when my energy did not keep up with my usual output and had to slow down to 2 art pieces a month. Not happy but not much I can do about that for the time being. This has lead to a smaller amount of artworks posted per month, meaning a slimmer choice between which art pieces. This is more of a horror angle and the background is much more simple this time around, but I’m really happy with how the lighting came out. The hand against the broken glass is honestly pretty strong. October is probably the weaker of the months but still had some art that I wanted to create come out of it.

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

November

Dance Of The Autumn Fairy

This was created both for my Aunt as a christmas gift from some feedback given and a celebration of hitting 1,000 followers on Bluesky. At the time, I had Ballerinas stuck on my mind, and also was inspired by Breadsticc’s work. Ended up combining some elements to make the glow and love how it came out. It’s bright but the effect is beautiful! Also the background has this fantastic use of focus that was done through experimentation and I actually LOVE IT!... I do not know how to recreate it tho! XD

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

December

Nashira's Winter Attire

At the time of writing this, the last art piece is more recently finished but I end up gravitating towards this one the most. What helps is the sky and background. The aurora effect is done with a gradient brush and some gaussian blurring but the effect is so spectacular and the gradient for the background is so good, ended up using it for the trees as well!

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks

Character Of The Year:

Claudia Synderson
OC Ballot 2023 Winner

I feel like this was a given, not just because of her being the OC Ballot winner but also because she’s one of my favorite characters of mine. Looking back, I actually got a lot of bucket list items out of the way for her, including some lore about the more foster family. I think my only regret is not doing a more action focused one, but several of the art pieces involving Claudia made the top spots so not fully complaining there! One day I’ll get around to more action but for now, I am really happy with all of the art pieces Claudia has been in.

Character Belongs to CentaurWorks
Design by Azura-Mermaid-Arts

Masterpiece Of The Year:

The Rainbow Empress

While this ended up being the spring board for the whole year, this artwork eclipsed a lot of my work, this was me at 150% it feels like, even now. This was a gift to Punisher2006 as I realised a lot of key people in my life were fading and wanted to do an art piece that was a thank you to them for getting me to draw. Heavy inspirations from Rella’s work and it all comes to this. What helps this is the two light sources combined with being deep under water. The glow is so good and reflective that it helped elevate this piece so high. I wouldn’t trade anything to be where I am now.

Character Belongs to Punisher2006

January

Drake Florian (Reference Sheet)

Started off the year with a goddamn BANG! I wanted to do something like this for a long while but did not have the confidence to do it until this year. I also slightly adjusted Drake’s black hair so it would be more easier for shading and to not be so hidden with the lines. I’m really happy with how Drake came out overall, this ended up being super useful to both myself and other artists! For a first step forward, this was a great one!
Character belongs to @CentaurWorks

February

[COMM] Fire Djinns - A Lover's Ring

I kept going back and forth with this and BMV: A Sunset Caress, and I ended up just going with the Girls Love Emblem. It’s much more simple but so charming. I ended up having this real Shoujo energy with the two that I can’t help but just love so much. The more I look the more I’m sort of touched by this, it’s a sweet image that I feel like lasted so much longer with this loving feeling.
Characters belongs to Nintendo/Intelligence Systems

March

[COMM] Genie of the Games

March was filled with commissions this year and even though I tried to limit the amount of commissions shown on the list, I could not omit this image. I love how the background came out and ESPECIALLY how the tail came out! I experimented with a more CRT-style tail and it came out amazing!
Character belongs to Meris

April

Happy 20th Anniversary, Mermaid Melody

This was one of those unplanned images, but I felt a mighty need to do it because it’s the 20th anniversary and Mermaid Melody is one of the reasons that I got into Art to begin with. I have a hard time remembering but I either did the cel-shading either to pay tribute to the anime or because of time crunch reasons. This ended up being the beginning of the Cel-Shading style I would start to do more and more. I especially love how her eyes came out here, it’s honestly a pretty good recreation while fitting my style. What else can I say but Thank you again Mermaid Melody.
Character belongs to Pink Hanamori & Michiko Yokoke

May

Merfolk Soaked in the Rain

So this was an artwork that I wanted to do for years but kept wondering how to go about it. Simple, 3 characters in merforms in the rain right? To me, I really wanted to make sure that the art piece came off like it was pouring, the lighting fitting the scene, and having everyone unique enough that they standout. A lot of lighting research and study of rain against people, and this ended up being a lot of people’s favorite art piece and easily the best in MerMay. Sometimes it’s good to reserve yourself before taking on a project.
Character belongs to @CentaurWorks and Azura-Mermaid-Arts

June

Zelda: Tears of the Djinn

While late to it’s release, this was both wanting to both make some art for the new Zelda game, while also being a sequel to one of my more popular images back in the day. Part of the inspiration was from starting to do image remakes of my old art, and I wanted to do it here. Simply put, I absolutely love how Zelda’s eyes came out here, probably one of my best so far. I also love the background around her. It might be simple but it’s effective. This was also before we got more information on what exactly Zelda was wearing so I had to improvise and really enjoyed the outcome.
Character belongs to Nintendo

July

Lady is Better than the Sword

July was a very weak Month of OCs. I was very ill-prepared and needed to do a last minute theme-swap to make everything work. In the end, I got burnt out but at least the art I created was really damn good. At this point, this was the peak of my lighting so far. The lighting felt so gentle and eye-catching. Kitami and Kevin looked so good and the background was so fitting for the mood. There are many other art pieces in this year’s Month of OCs that really pushed me, but this was my overall favorite.
Character belongs to @CentaurWorks

August

No Art This Month

This month I took off due my Full Time demanding much more work than I was anticipating and burned out from Month of OCs this year. This actually was the worst month by far for me, as I got sick for about 2 weeks and pushed through it to keep working. Tho, in the end, I was laid off by my job, “company going in a different direction.” I’m at least thankful that I got the experience, as it feels so rare to get it. Time to push on.

September

Nathan's Sea Paladin form

After that break in August, I needed to get back onto the boat. While September was planned out before even July, a lot of art featured here were much more simple ones, but the best one that month was another remake. What helped this out the most was the background and the coral. It was GREAT to finally redo Nathan’s Sea Paladin form but it was even better that the background was treated this well. This and a commissioned piece is what helped me get back on the saddle in terms of art, and I can not be happier.Character belongs to @CentaurWorks

October

RosaJon the Siren

This month had one of the hardest punches to the gut outside of August, but it was also the full rejuvenation of my art. I knew I wanted to do some fanart but had a hard time choosing until I saw ProtonJon again… and then it clicked. I’ve done fanart of RosaJon in the past, why not work on as a Siren? Using the glitching effect since he’s known for his accidental glitches. Other than that, I am beyond happy with how this came out in the end and felt so fitting for the spooky month.Character belongs to ProtonJon

November

Misaki and Michiko Singing Together

This was created for a VGen Discord Server contest and my god did it come out absolutely AMAZING! Where do I begin? Ok; 1. It was great to draw the Hato twins together as there hasn’t been much art of the two for a while. 2. First time I drew them singing which they used to do when they were younger. 3. Misaki came out amazing as she normally doesn’t get drawn due to favoritism but she came out amazing and wanted to draw her for a while. 4. Even Michiko and the Background came out so damn well! I did lose but I am beyond happier that I created this piece and for the two getting this good of a treatment.Characters belongs to @CentaurWorks

December

Preparing for Christmas Night

This ended up being a bit ambitious not going to lie since I wanted to do the Bob Ross style trees with a lovely starry background. I won’t lie, Kenna was more a late edition since she won the OC Ballot in 2022 (hence a rather simple design). But I loved I brought back my little Basalees (the slime creatures), Payton came out so great and the fluff shading is at it’s peak here. There’s something so magical about this scene and I love it so much.Character belongs to @CentaurWorks

Character Of The Year:

Kenna Flamber
(OC Ballot Winner of 2022)

It’s no surprise but Kenna ended up being the one with the most images this year. It makes sense since people voted for her during the OC Ballot of 2022 and I wanted to make sure this time around to make it feel like the Ballot mattered more and in the future. It was really fun to work on this very new (at the time) character and to flesh her out more. Hopefully I can give her a bit more love overtime but right now, here’s the spotlight to the Fire Princess Knight.Character belongs to @CentaurWorks
Designed by NewPersonaWorld

Masterpiece Of The Year:

Claudia Vs Ego

Have you ever created something that finally shut that negative goddamn goblin in your brain? The kind that kept putting you down until you showed it something that finally made it say YES. This, to me, is that picture. Between the the intense lighting, the posing, the storm in the distance; this ended up coming together PERFECTLY. I had this idea for years, even made a story, and it just came out perfectly. It ended up proving that I can make something amazing, something jaw-dropping, something that finally makes me want to hang it on a wall. There’s no greater feeling than slaying that goblin’s comments, knowing that you will get better.Character belongs to @CentaurWorks

Monthly Donations

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