Hiya Gatchamaniacs! I decided to bring in the New Year with new art. I give you... Daydreaming of Peace - 9x12 - 100% Digital in Photoshop CC! I have some rules when it comes to my fan art. Characters will always be portrayed true to themselves and not doing anything they wouldn't normally do, and if it's not canon, I won't draw it. In this case, though, I can bend that rule a little. (And for Origins, I can bend that rule a lot, but that's a cat of a different color.) This moment isn't real. It's a passing fancy never to be realized. But the question still remains, just exactly to whom does this daydream belong? This piece served several purposes. First, I've been sitting on the idea for over a year and finally found the opportunity to cram it into my schedule (mainly because I've spent the last couple of months in a funk and haven't accomplished jack crap. That's a lie. I've been pretty busy, I just feel like an unproductive lump...yay winter.) Second, I used it to learn how to ink my art digitally (again). I still can't draw directly in Photoshop, but I am starting to fall in love with digital inks and that is a bleeding first. Third, for probably a year and a half I have been working toward simplifying my art style into something more animated/less time intensive so I can complete my Origins comics without spending a billion years on them. There is no question, they HAVE to be in color. And that brings me to the fourth reason, I needed a test run to see if I could match the nostalgic tone of that old school cell animation, marrying my style with a heavy Tatsunoko influence and that retro color palette. I do believe I have successfully knocked all four of these out of the park. As an added bonus, it's done in time for me to share with you all for the New Year. Happy 2019, Gatchafans! I am working on a few more digital files to share, printable coloring sheets and a couple variations for digital wallpaper. If you would like access to these, let me know with a comment or send me a private message. I will send you a message with a link to download all the high res goodies as soon as they are ready. I'm offering this to my Patrons, friends, and fans, pretty much anyone who just wants to enjoy the art. All you have to do is ask for it, that way I can at least have a little control over who is downloading since these are all high-res un-watermarked files. I am not comfortable making prints off of licensed characters, so I'd rather share it all for free. I just don't want to see it end up on that stupid teechip t-shirt/poster/art ripoff website. I hope you are all doing well. I'm actually pretty excited for this year, in spite of...*gestures vaguely at everything* reality. It has honestly been a while since I looked forward to a new year with something that resembles hope. I've been in darkness for a while, certainly a lot for longer than I realized. Usually, January 1st rolls around and I wake up feeling like death and hatred but without the previous night of drinking. I'm excited because I've got this project to work on, and a whole bunch of wonderful people to share it with. It's not just an idea in my head anymore. It actually has a tangible form now and I am making progress on it every month! In May, I will have to start balancing my time with old commission work that I need to clear out before I quit that crap indefinitely. It's quite a backlog and I'm not really looking forward to it. Burning myself out on commission work was probably one of the most detrimental things I have ever done to my soul, (that and the "office" job I took up after finishing art school...Eh, also, dating a narcissist.) Yet, if I hadn't gone through that, I might not have tumbled back down the Gatchaman fandom rabbit whole, and I can guarantee I wouldn't be working on a super spiffy as-canon-as-possible fan comic. It's all got a purpose, I suppose.

OH right, and I saw the Secret Santa thread you guys were doing. I really wanted to take part in that but my head space has been trash since November, and I didn't trust myself to finish anything in time. So, consider this my gift to all of you. Yes yes, there will be other things coming for those of you who aren't as excited about the Ken and Jun ship as some fans are. Swallows, Owls, beloved Condors, I have surprises in store for you all. ^_^

Happy New Year GC! Sounds like you have been very busy! That picture is great - you did an excellent job! I love the colors in it (And that's Jun's daydream you drew above!)

Happy New Year GC! Wow. That's is lovely. I've never thought it might be difficult to recreate the color palettes Tatsunoko used. I had more problems with the fact Ken, Ryu and Jimpei had brown hair than Jun having green, since the guys are supposed to be fully Japanese. I originally thought their hair color was a product of the same problem they had with Jun's hair color.

I can't think of anything else to say besides "WOW!" I would love to see more of your files! You have a talent that people would die for.

Happy New Year to you GC. This daydream is a beautiful work of art. Congratulations to you on all the things this piece helped you learn and conquer. I look forward to seeing more of these wonderful treats . . . and of course your finished comic! Colouring sheets sound fun!

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Many thank yous! Man, it's just so nice to have people looking at this stuff who know what the heck I'm drawing... AND...my freebies are up. I made a new thread for free stuff! It's all on a by request basis, so just holler at me via comment or message and I'll send you digital treats. https://www.gatchamania.net/thread.php?threadid=5665&sid= BR - I kind of wonder if this is where the crazy anime hair colors started? I noticed the G6 fella had hair a similar hue to Jun's too. I don't know if it was meant to mimic dark hair that has a cool sheen to it, or just for fun. For Origins, I have gone with the assumption that this is an alternate reality and some people have odd colored hair. XD We'll definitely have some generic background character's with Jun's color, and probably some burgundy and blum tones too. Why not.