Merry Christmas! NSFW version + some congratulations and thanks from me (Marinette Dupain-Cheng, MLB)

My dear kittens! I will not beat around the bush - I want to congratulate you on this main holiday of our controversial and very restless civilization. Even though in my country where I live Christmas is not celebrated so widely (it is replaced by the New Year), I understand how important it is for the rest of the world. 

I tried very hard to get a gift for You, and I did. 

It is customary during these festive days to sum up the results of the past year. I am with you only halfway through the year, but I have a lot to say. 

What happened this year? I have painted for many years before, but thanks to your support I have painted as much in seven months

It all started with my trial drawings on MLB - I love watercolor, and that's where I started. The first ones were these:

I posted them publicly on Reddit. And friends advised me to have a Patreon, where all my fans could gather. And it opens up the possibility of earning money, which is one of the benefits.  

Very soon I realized that I wasn't very interested in drawing SFW - drawings. They are too boring. And since I'm a rebel by nature, it's also a way of expressing my rebellion against rigid, completely illogical foundations. We are allowed to draw violence and blood, but we are not allowed to draw love in its physical form. Isn't that silly? 

So NSFW is also an opportunity for me to give the middle finger to idiots who (however!) also deserve to be heard. 

So I decided to focus specifically on NSFW - content. My first steps to Patreon were timid - I didn't know how to run it, and I didn't believe that I would get at least one patron. But, to my surprise, I received strong feedback, and even a few commissions early on. 

Watercolor is a very time-consuming activity, and I wanted to get a tablet as soon as possible so I could paint digitally. That would have taken a lot of technical limitations off of me. 

In the end, thanks to you, and thanks to commission orders from my patrons, I got this toy. It seemed to me at the time that I could draw in digital painting with no problem. I missed out big time! 

Here is my first digital work. I'll show you two pictures from Bannix so you can see my progress as a digital artist over these six months.

This is what I drew when I first got the tablet: 

And this is the result I came to ONLY THANK YOU: 

All my progress that you see here has only come about because of your support. That is, you are the ones who make an artist out of me, and I am eternally grateful to you for that! Every comment you make, or heart, not only makes my ego feel good, but also nurtures the artist in me. Every month spent here stays in my heart forever as a memory of the people with whom I am united in thought 

I'm glad I'm not the only one. And while we are not as many as other artists, but I would never trade our cozy company for an army of other people 

Thanks to you I have a better understanding of drawing anatomy, color and composition. Before I thought I knew a lot, but now I see that before every artist there is an infinite road of Mastery. 

And all the achievements of a master are worth nothing without his patrons. We often talk about brilliant creators, but we never talk or think about those on whose shoulders they stand. 

In other words, an artist is nothing without his patrons. 

You are my patrons, and I am infinitely grateful to you for that. 

You have given me an opportunity from this  

grow to that level: 

Thank you for that! I thank each and every one of you individually. I will not list names and nicknames as I appreciate your privacy. I have gotten to know many of you in these six months, and you have become good friends to me. I hope it will continue, and I will have even more such kind and wonderful friends. Crazy people like me who love children's cartoons. 

Kittens! I congratulate you on the holiday, and I wish you all the best in the new year. Take care of yourself and your loved ones 

With love, and endless gratitude for your support, your Tiana Lynx