Went a bit out of my comfort zone & decided to join this year's Secret Santa art trade, especially since I finally have the time (and a much more quiet Christmas holiday than usual, unsurprisingly) & therefore no excuses not to do it!

Just finished my piece last night--it's funny how little my drawing technique has changed in the past decade, which shouldn't come as a surprise since I haven't really done much more than doodle (but I LOVE to doodle). So part of the fun was finding the best way to upgrade doodles into something more presentable. The process I settled on (don't laugh!) was to sketch with pencil & paper, take a photo of it, and trace & embellish it in Flash...but for the first time ever, I got the feeling that Flash may...not be the best tool for everything??

In the end, I feel an odd mix of pride & shamewith what I drew; I'm ultimately satisfied with it (and I certainly hope its recipient will be happy with it too ^_^), but I just know I'll look back on this and cringe. On the other hand, the good thing about being a novice is that there's nowhere to go but up :)

Hope all SS participants enjoy their upcoming gifts!! And thanks again to @Xinxinix & co for putting this together--it's certainly no small feat!