Gift of Art Contest Entry: Cycle of Kindness.

There's something phenomenal about artists falling in love with each other.
At one point I was under the impression that all hope was lost. I mean-- who'd fall in love with me?

But then, when I took a crack at hosting an original character tournament I met the most beautiful woman in my life.
She's precious to me-- more than any tangible thing I've ever wanted. You see, as artists, we give each other inspiration. We help each other come up with creative ideas, motivate each other, and collaborate while our minds blossom with a creative light. But as people also, we give each other amazing, intangible things: feelings. Comfort. Support. There's nothing more meaningful than hearing "I love you, we can do this!" being exchanged between each other. Even though we both suffer from Depression, we constantly give each other the gifts of confidence, passion, so on and so forth. She's held me up when we lost our kitten to FIP, I've held her up when she felt overwhelmed and helpless.

It doesn't stop there; as an artist-- as a person-- I've come to pass on such wondrous gifts to people I know; inspiring them to challenge their self doubt, to delve back into the creative recesses of their mind and create or do something they can be proud of themselves for, no matter how small. And in turn, they give to me that confidence that I need, the self esteem that I struggle to keep hold of. It's an endless cycle of positive vibes, and in spite of our flaws as human beings, we always come back to give each other that ray of light that we've been looking for. Sometimes we don't even need words to show each other the kindness and empathy we need.

So for the gift, I choose to pass on kindness. May the candle of kindness never flicker and the warmth in your hearts be eternal. <3

For Anxiou , my fiancé. <3
And for all my friends and supporters, for helping me stay strong.

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Here we go-- entry for Wacom's Gift of Art contest. Now-- this isn't anything fancy but I've spent a while obsessing over how to articulate the "gift" without having to rely on typography or something. So-- I made the figures (my fiancé and me) look comfy, content, and loving.

Made the background pattern myself, and used textures from here and here; purchased licenses. ;w; ;;
S-so yeah! even if I don't place I wanted to share this with you guys. I can't even properly express how special the people I know/have known are to me, and the fact that the art world lead me to a lot of them is super duper special. Uh-- hope you guys like it. <:3 ;;

Tools Used: Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Illustrator CS6, Wacom Intuos5, lots and lots of love.