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