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So that happened!

The Newgrounds 2023 Toronto Meetup was unlike any event that's happened in my life. Little me would not believe that I've attended something like this since treading Newgrounds in 2002.

JULY 28th ARRIVING!

I was really anxious about the plane ride and actually meeting my friends in real life for the first time. I didn't sleep or eat at all that morning but running to catch the plane was eventful. Once I touched down in Toronto, I was even more nervous. All these thoughts were racing through my mind: what would my friends think of me? Will I even fit in?

Taking the train downtown was really nice. It was my second time traveling to Canada but my first time in Toronto. I didn't know what to expect really. All I knew is that Canada was my escapism country since I was a teenager...and that Degrassi took place here (DA CITY OF DRAKE!!). Once we got to Union Station, it was crazy!! The buildings were huge and the streets were bustling! I was really intimidated but I was like damn!! This is da city of dreams!!

After resting for a bit and cleaning up at the place I was staying at, I went off to go see @ninjamuffin99 and my other friends. I was so nervous about us meeting. My thoughts raced about what would happen once they see me. As soon as I saw Cam and @wandaboy running up to me, I was immediately so happy. I hugged all my friends and I met @Snackers and @Cadaver as well for the first time!! I'm trying to remember but it became a bigger group of people once we all met for sushi but I met @droid @Crashtroid @pollyanoid @BrandyBuizel @DemiFrog (Sorry I'm trying to remember everyone's usernames right now! but tag yourself if you were hangin' with me!) It was a lot of fun but I got worried we were all gonna get kicked out for being rowdy.

After that, we went to go see the barbie movie!! Idk if the boys learned anything from it but it reinforced that they were more Kens than Allans!!

We just hung out, drew in each others sketchbooks and drank until it was time to part ways to ready for the meetup the next day!!

Snackers christened my sketchbook with his characters!! Yippee!

My friends Wanda and Snackers showing me affection

JULY 29TH THE MEETUP!!

Meeting my friends the day before calmed my nerves a little so I was a little more prepared to meet others at the park! I put together Ramona Flowers inspired outfit and shirt to kinda get in the mood, since we were in Toronto and all!

The park meetup was so much fun! There were so many lovely people I met. The first thing I did was meet @Magibauble !! (My buddy!!!) It was so wonderful meeting him in real life.

I also met @TomFulp !! The guy!! The legend!! He was so sweet to talk to!! I was super nervous but I'm glad we could talk as we were walking to the Royal Theater. The Royal Theater was so cool...It almost reminded me of a Alamo Drafthouse but it was a lot cooler! I remember Wanda trying to get everyone to join up in a 3DS lobby to play Mario Kart before the show started, so that was fun!!

God...all the stuff that they showed on screen was awesome!! I was so proud of my friends work being shown!! Three cheers for Snackers, Caddy and Magi!! Yay!! Watching Lunar Kicks on the big screen though was so lovely!! Easily one of my favorite animations on Newgrounds in the most recent years.

Also @AntonM your animation was AWESOME!! I love your artstyle so much!! I can't wait to see you do more animations.

Everyone's stuff was so lovely to see! I gotta go back and rewatch them all again!! Once the showing was over, we went to the pub nearby to all chill. I met THE @Postboy!! I also met @Aaron-Long @octopus58 @spicycoffee @ryychii @Luis @PsychGoldfish @NothanyTPM @elikapika @gachakoi @vhsdreamland @Sevi @WAILER @kmishama @funpix @dry felicity and... I'm still trying to remember more usernames and folks!! I'm sorry haha. If you came up to me and talked to me, please let me know in the comments!! There was a lot of sketches made in my sketchbook and a lot of photos!! AND A LOTTA DRINKIN!!!

My homies !!!

Luis getting a lotta love!! D'aw!!

Tom too!! Lookit em!!

That night I met so many people, it was crazy!! After we were at the bar, we visited a Scott Pilgrim staple and went to Sneaky Dees!! We went to the park to chill n smoke and it was so much fun!!

JULY 30TH BARCADE!!

The next day I met up with the crew (Cam, Caddy, Wanda, Snackers, Post Boy, Magi) and we played Brain Age!! I won all of them maybe exception of one match :D And then we played Mario Kart and I lost!!

Later on, we went to a barcade where you could pretty much play all the games for free for an afternoon and just drink to your hearts' content. That was so cool!! I got a Flying Monkey IPA that was really strong! I did not expect to get drunk so fast but it was so much fun playing games with the Newgrounds crew that stayed an extra day. I'll never forget it. It was a really wonderful Sunday!

JULY 31ST - AUGUST 3RD

Pretty much after that, more people were starting to head home and I stayed around and hung out with my friends. We went to a Blue Jays game, we did some karaoke, my pals ate a Donny Burger at Wahlburgers and just explored the city. I also got to meet the Funkin Crew, who were incredibly lovely and super passionate about game development. It was lovely getting to know them!! I loved talking to all my pals, just about art, about life, and what's to come. I had deep talks with Wanda, Snackers and Caddy and those late nights where we were just smoking, thinking about the future, I'll never forget it. This trip truly changed my life and is starting to encourage me to get out of this rut I've been for a period of time.

I feel more confident in what I want to do with my life and who I want to become. I want to keep doing my best in art. I want to make something worthwhile I hope I can be proud of and others can enjoy. I want to keep meeting my friends every year and share new experiences with them. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love them and that I always pray and wish the best for them. Thank you everyone. I really love you guys.

On the final day, me and Snackers had to head to the airport together so the gang walked around for a little bit. I didn't expect it but on the very last day I met @PhantomArcade in the flesh!! He's so fucking cool and sweet! I wish we had hung out prior but here's hoping we can hang out more next time!! That guy is freakin awesome!!

Caddy and Wanda took me and Snackers to the train station to the airport and we hugged each other goodbye. I was a bittersweet moment. Once me and Snackers reached the airport, we hugged each other goodbye and parted ways.

I cried on the way to customs once I realized the whole week was over. I felt like I had lived an entire lifetime of emotions in a week. It leaves me yearning for whats to come the rest of this year and for when I meet my friends again in the future, hopefully sooner that 2024.

Thank you @ninjamuffin99 for hosting this wonderful event. You are a homie for life!! All of you are. To everyone that I didn't get to say hi to, please add me on here and we can exchange discords or something!! It was wonderful meeting everyone. Newgrounds really is a tight community!! Thank you @TomFulp for hosting an amazing website full of talented creators!!

At some point I will try to upload all the wonderful stuff everyone wrote, gave me, and drew in my sketchbooks too.

But with that...

I think 2022 went alright!

I was featured as an artist for the website background in the Evangelion collab. (Thank you @wandaboy for having me!!) Working on this was a blur hehe. I was sick with COVID while working on this and got like 90% done before I ended up recovering and moving as well.

I also made a weed cartoon with @ookiyo and @wandaboy

I participated in the Cult of the Lamb OC contest and got 9th place!! Woohoo!! I drank a whole 16 or 18 oz thing of caffeine and drew on the PC for 12 hours before throwing up lol.

And I got to be in @Magibauble 's cartoon as a background artist and voice actor!! Magi asked me to voice Gon one night when I was out and about and I'm glad I said yes!! And I was able to work on backgrounds last minute but man...I feel like I learned A LOT with backgrounds this year within that short period of time. Thanks to him and @Bishop for inspiring me and pushing me to do my best!!

A lot of neat things happened this year!! Just thinking about it, I think I did a lot.

I learned a lot this year and I would like to think it's all worth it in the end, whether it be a lot of bad things happening or a lot of good things. What I'm grateful for are the lessons and how to be a better person. I think my mental health is improving as well so I'm more optimistic about the future.

I've lost a lot this year and learned a lot and that's ok. That's what life is about. I make a lot of mistakes but I want to do my best to be better overall.

Thank you @TomFulp for Newgrounds. I met a lot of people that have pushed me artistically and inspired me to get better as an artist and as a person. And to my friends that I stay in touch with the most or talk to in passing even when I get busy, thank you!! I hope I could be a good friend to you in return but thank you for inspiring me.

Praying everyone has a good 2023.

Until we meet again!

amazing pic by @snackers!! captures my hopes for the future!

Thank you Newgrounds for all your support!! 1000 Fans is a BIG MILESTONE!! AAA!!!

This site has been in my life forever! Since I was about 6-7 years old, I was always navigating the Sonic the Hedgehog and anime portal. Even though I was on and off the site for years, I always kept coming back! Kinda like life was calling me to come back here at some point.

It's surreal to think that many years later Newgrounds would impact my life so drastically and in the most positive way ever! Even super cool I did a site background ToT I'M STILL SO HAPPY THAT I DID IT AND THAT I WAS CONSIDERED!! AAA!!

Newgrounds definitely is a welcoming community and I've made so many wonderful friends, met so many talented creators and I feel like personally I've grown as a creative since joining the site. I can't thank everyone enough for their kindness and love. Newgrounds has shaped me for the better. It honestly takes me back to how I first felt joining DeviantART in 2009. Everytime I log on, I'm just always so happy seeing people post blogs, art, animations, games, etc.

Thank you Newgrounds for bringing light into my life! :)

I strive to get better as a creator and as an individual every day! Thank you for giving me that hope and motivation that I can be better than I was before. Thank you thank you!

I plan to continue posting here as much as I can and I want to give back to the community as well!!

Love always, arkoiris-angel <3

I'm not posting this on Twitter...only Newgrounds gets to see my feelings.

This year started out incredibly bad. I had a hard time trusting a lot of people and I cut a lot of people out of my life. I was under the grasp of bad people for almost my entire life and I finally cut away. My self esteem was just completely nonexistent at this point and I felt kinda lonely.

I was really unhappy with myself and my art and I was lost for a long time on what to do. Then I started talking to @mogy64 and @cashumeru a bit more and I started to feel like I could trust people again. I started to get confidence back in my art and had the drive to keep improving and posting. They were really sweet to me and their art inspired me so much. It felt nice feeling loved and supported instead of being knocked down all the time.

Then @Xinxinix invited me to the NG Block Party last minute and I got super nervous T_T All these cool people were listed in the line-up and I felt like I was still a beginner and barely getting to know people. Even though I couldn't draw much during the live stream, I still had a fun time talking and after that, I made close friends with the group I was placed with :)

And I love them so dearly. I don't know where I would be without them.

It's so strange. I never knew how much Newgrounds would impact my life later on in my adulthood. I used to hop on every day after school when I was little and frequent the video games portals and mindlessly watch the Sonic flash animations or watch There She Is!! so many times. Before Youtube, my favorite websites were Newgrounds and Homestar Runner's website and both have a really special place in my heart.

I feel really welcomed in the Newgrounds community and I want to thank everyone that I've met this year and people that I've befriended.

Also being frontpaged for the first time felt really nice LOL. I struggled a lot with this piece but I'm glad I was able to squeeze this out and challenge myself :D I want to participate in more Newgrounds events in the future for sure!

Pool Party 2020 Entry

If you're still reading this, thank you so much everyone for making this year a bit better on my heart :') I wish you all a Happy New Year's 2021 and I hope everything can work out for us next year. I look forward to meeting more people on Newgrounds and continuing to improve my art!

Love, Arkito <3

Hi guys. Aaaaa thank you to everyone that came yesterday and I'm glad I got to meet a lot of cool people ToT

Thank you to the new followers I have too! Welcome welcome! I post art here and on Twitter frequently!

I've been lurking Newgrounds since 2002-2003 and it's changed so much! I didn't decide to become a part of the community until much recently and it feels really nice getting to meet so many talented people. I hope I can participate in more future collabs/jams or events here on NG in the future. It literally is a safe haven for creators and I can't thank the site enough :) I've grown to love so many artists when I've treaded the site in my childhood and now, posting my own art here feels surreal! But I'm glad I'm here!

I hope I can provide great content for everyone following me and that I can make new friends here on the site!!

Thank you so much for following me and my work! Please take care!