I wanted to get this done much earlier, but I just didn’t feel up to it. Unlike the list I made for 2015, compiling a list 2016 wasn’t as straight forward. There wasn’t always a clear choice for each category for one reason or another. Besides, let’s face it, 2016 was kind of a dumpster fire in general, and I don’t need to go into detail as to why.  Still, there were some great things that came out which I enjoyed, and will likely keep enjoying for years to come, so they’re worth talking about in spite of all the stupid stuff that happened last year. Let’s get to it then.

Favorite Game – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD I haven’t played this very much and I have been meaning to get back to it. I just don’t know what else to pick. I haven’t played most of the other big 2016 releases that everyone else went crazy over. Maybe someday I will, but for now I’ve got a backlog of games to play, including this one, which I’ll enjoy until I get a chance to play Breath of the Wild.
Favorite Book – The Art of Atari Actually, I don’t have this book yet, but it’s been on my wish list since being announced and I have taken a brief look at it. The artwork on the packaging and marketing materials from this era of video games is so unique and special. I’m glad that this book exists to help chronicle video game history, and can’t wait to give it an in depth read.
Favorite Toy – Transformers Combiner Wars Generation 2 Bruticus There were a lot of great options, in and out of the world of Transformers, for this category. Not the least of which was Fortress Maximus. But what can I say? I’ve just got a soft spot for this crazily colored combiner. He’s so eye-searingly ridiculous, and yet so powerful and menacing. Plus, he comes with a bonus Shockwave! There’s a more in-depth look at him on my Tumblr, so check that out.
Favorite TV Series – Stranger Things Another great series from Netflix, which is proving that intelligent and creative programming can find an audience. This show is like an all new 80’s movie, but as a series, and I love how it’s keeping that 80’s spirit alive. Definitely full of surprises and suspense. It’s no wonder this show captured so many people’s imaginations and I am looking forward to seeing more.
Favorite Anime – Cyborg 009 vs Devilman I thought I’d have to wait forever to see this, but, out of nowhere, Netflix came to the rescue back in April and released this ass-kicking crossover between two of Japan’s most awesome old-school anime franchises. Love the modernized designs while still keeping that retro flavor. Hoping so see more love for Go Nagai and Shotaro Ishinomori franchises on these shores in the future.
Favorite Movie – Captain America: Civil War There were some really great movies this year. Deadpool, Doctor Strange, and Rogue One could have topped the list. But this movie, to me, is on another level. It could have been a disaster, with so many characters, but the story and action were all expertly executed. I’ve seen it at least 4 times and could still watch it over and over again. Not only is this my favorite movie of the year, but it’s also got to be my most favorite thing of the year.

So there’s a look at the things I liked. I was thinking about maybe posting more about all the disappointments and things that were not as good as they should have been, like Batman v Superman and Mighty No.9. But who has the time or the patience for that when actual real important things in the universe have turned so mind-numbingly moronic? So, let’s just move forward and try to enjoy whatever cool things manage to happen in 2017.

Sayonara.

Hello and Happy New Year if you are into that sort of thing.

I think 2016 was a pretty good year for me as far as how much artwork I actually finished. Between all the fan art, commissions, Skeletober, reaching 100 entries in Ninjapocalypse, and miscellaneous sketches, I did a lot! I haven’t counted and compared, but this is probably more artwork than I had done in the past few previous years. With that in mind, I thought I might put it all in one place to see what it looked like together. So, here’s an image of almost my entire artistic output for the year, minus a few things that I did for other people and maybe a couple other things I could have forgotten about.

There are a few things that I haven’t added to the gallery here on SykoGrafix.com yet, but I’ll get to them soon.  It’s all there on my  DeviantArt, Tumblr, and Twitter.

Even though this might seem like a lot, I’m certainly not satisfied. This is still not anywhere close to the amount of artwork I would like to be producing. While I would like to say that I’m going to try to do even more this year, I think that instead I’m going to spend my time going back to basics, try to improve my skills, and learn new stuff. That might equal less finished drawings like this but should hopefully put me in a better position for creating cool things in the future.

2016 was a bumpy ride for everyone but I certainly appreciate everyone who has taken their time to look at my artwork and gotten any kind of enjoyment out of it. I’ll keep working hard to deliver more.

So, hey, which of these artworks do you like best?

Sayonara.

This has been a long time coming, and that fact that it’s Christmas time and most people wouldn’t be bothered right now isn’t going to stop me!

I updated the Illustration page with 8 more drawings, all in my take on the big-headed style made famous in Japanese super deformed artwork. There’s Transformers, Link, Sailor Moon, Voltron, and more! These are all from this past Summer and Fall. I would have liked to have gotten them up here earlier, but I was busy making other artwork, which I’ll also put up here on SykoGrafix.com in the near future.

Yeah, so, it’s Christmas and honestly I couldn’t really care less. But, hey, if you haven’t seen it already yet, have some dumb Christmas artwork right here:

I Am Not Ready for Christmas by ninjatron on DeviantArt

Anyway, I do actually hope that everyone has a nice Christmas and New Years and whatever if that is your kind of thing. As for me, obviously I wish it was still Halloween, Though honestly, this miserable year can’t end soon enough.

Sayonara.

#Skeletober Complete by ninjatron on DeviantArt

When I started Skeletober on October 1st, I wanted to do 20 illustrations of Skeletor by the end of the month. I wound up surpassing that goal with 25! Here they all are in one image.

You can see each entry individually here on my Tumblr.

Out of all of these, my favorites are numbers  5, 8, 14, 19, 23, and 25. Which do you like best? Which style would you like to see more of in other artworks?

Will I do Skeletober again next year? Probably not, but I’ve got plenty of other ideas I’d like to try instead. Still, Skeletober was tons of fun and I kind of wish it wasn’t over because I could totally keep going. I was worried that I might get bored of it after awhile but that did not happen in the slightest. I was energized the entire time and I’m going to take that energy and place it into my next, non Skeletor related drawings. Whatever they are.

Sayonara.

I’ve been seeing a lot of artists doing #inktober over the past few years, and this year has been bigger than ever. I thought about doing it myself, but I had something different in mind that I’d rather do instead.

I’m drawing Skeletor, everyone’s favorite villain from Masters of the Universe, almost every day this month!
Follow along on my Twitter or Tumblr to see for yourself.

Skeletor is the perfect mix of scary and funny, and has become one of the Internet’s most famous characters in recent years. He was even in a car commercial.

For the first few days I was keeping it fairly standard and using some traditional tools I haven’t touched in a long time. But I’m looking forward to trying some new techniques and crazy styles. Now let’s see how far I can push the character of Skeletor in the realm of illustration.

You can see all of the Skeletober posts thus far right here: http://sykografix.tumblr.com/tagged/skeletober

Sayonara.