KilroyLW

It’s been about two years since I mentioned anything to my followers/community. Or gave a proper intro. Guess its time to update a bit😁

Wanted to also say I am very grateful for those who have been finding and following me or even those passing through. Well, here goes…

I like to draw “focused” angles or a certain (back) side of things. It’s been a while since I started now days. So much so I finally decided to update my bio!

Back about 10 years ago the backside of anime characters was not as mainstream? I guess you could say, haha. The “plot” was always the way to go and still is for the majority. A lot of artists now have branched out and solely focus on the “backstories“ of characters.

In terms of speed or quality, I still have difficulty to perfect the art (at least in my eyes). I am by no means a professional nor do I consider myself one, let alone popular. The busy everydays of life delay more of my art then I like to admit. Now by the time I finish one, 2 months go by and the fad of that character has passed…haha. I try not to let that stop me though. That should never affect someone wanting to create art. I very much enjoy drawing characters that are from popular media rather than my own OCs. Although in the near future I hope to expand on that. My favorite is drawing characters of older anime or ones that have fallen out of popularity with the passing of time. Although bringing exposer to them are still limited with my influence. Maybe one day…

I keep rolling with what I have and when I have the time to do it. I try to be trendy, but life keeps me busy and its a stuggle to keep up. I really don’t know how some do it. I may not draw very often like “back in the day” but I appreciate those who visit and follow my peculiar style of art, haha. You find me here on deviant more often nowadays. I’ll still enjoy posting as often as I can, though the production factory is slower than it used to be. My archives are packed full of drawings still needing to be completed. I will still aim to do so. For those who patiently hang around, I hope your wait is rewarded by something special from me.

I’m not good with social media, and with the way modern society flows, I find it sometimes hard to put my work out there without a bit of judgement fear. Like I said, 10 years ago was a different time right? Maybe I should have dived into social media way back when?? hahaha. Because of that, Art sites have been my only homes of expression.

I’ve been warming up to the idea, but that confidence is just not there yet. Sometimes my works make it through reposting and I’ve never minded that. It’s fun when people enjoy your stuff/creations.

Thank you for your support over these years. Maybe one day I’ll hit that breakthrough. Or I get over my introvertedness- although I bet I’d win the lottery before that 🤣

10/30/2021

You won't find me here as often as I used to. I may or may not reply to your comments or posts, but for those who do comment, favorite, or view, I just want to say hello and thank you for stopping by.

These days it feels like that "last login was 2 years ago" type of stories. If you would spare some time, I would like to share it with you now. Your own story may not be too different from mine...

It was Christmas of 2011. I was a lot younger then, when my old friend came back home on Christmas leave from the Army. At this point he had done 2 tours in Afghanistan with the 508th PIR of the 82nd Airborne division and was near the end of his voluntary service.

10,000 miles later, he came straight from the airport to my house, much to my surprise. Excited to see me after so long, he was tired, smelly, hungry, but happy to be back home in the middle of nowhere.

We shared a meal with my family and stayed up late talking story over Christmas music and catching up. When it was getting late he headed to my room where we'd crash until the adventures of tomorrow. But before that, there was one thing he wanted to share with me, this thing would change my life and broaden my cultural understanding of the world forever. Not even joking.

Anime...

Now I always knew what it was and it cringed me to see a small few of my classmates draw it back in high school. I just didn't understand the concept of it all. The big eyes, and long legs, large boobs covered in tight shirts, weird hair, fangs, and Japanese. It may seem trivial as you read this, but it pains me to look back and feel how judgmental I was at the time, but being young and non-seasoned in real life can do that. Anyway, my friend spent every leave from the army trying to convert me. He filled is lonely days away from home, in his barracks, gaming on his Xbox 360 and watching his new found hobby of anime.

The extra jump and combat pay he got only fueled his extreme (in an understandable way) to reach that of what I soon found out was called, "being an otaku".

So now comfily laid out on my now sweaty and stinking bed (I had just washed the sheets earlier), he popped into my Xbox 360 a DVD disc of an anime he convinced me to watch. Funny enough, I had just spent the past half an hour fighting him not to put it on, alas I gave in...

Now, at this time, I was a western believer. Pixar was Pixar, Avatar the Last Airbender was the greatest show to exist, and the Iron Giant would never have a continuation. I was set solid, nothing was going to convince me otherwise. However, gnawing at the back of my mind was the (young) adult realization that that was pretty much it. There was no constantly released western animation, expect for "geared to kids" cartoons. Heck, even SpongeBob was still running its first 3 seasons on constant re-run (chocolate!!!).

So I settled in, gritted my teeth, and waited for the cringe fest to begin. For the sake of my fiend, being home from war and the military, it was the least I could do.

The intro kicked in and till this day I can still perfectly remember the Japanese lyrics ( and I don't even speak the language). It was the first season of Infinite Stratos.

I was hooked. The English dubbed voice acting (I couldn't handle Japanese yet), the add-lib swear words (which I later found out was not what they said in Japanese, lol), the boobies and TKB's, and those constant, yet glorious, panty fan-service shots. I was thrilled, horny, mind-blown, and shocked into amazement. Instantly sold, with no way of going back to my old life.

As a recently graduated (kind of) high schooler, I instantly found that anime was something I could seriously relate to. This anime brought to life the imaginary fantasies I daydreamed about when I checked out that cute girl in class, or got close to one of your (girl) friends who you knew from childhood. I was extremely and simply put...blown away.

Thinking about it now is hilarious. The show was corny on even harem levels of cliche.

I love this story so much now that I'm older and much more wiser than I was back then.

Now mind you, the greatest gift my friend gave to me (besides the rabbit hole of anime) was that he introduced me to many "not-so-popular" types of anime. Not the ones everyone knew so much about (yeah I'm looking at you naruto, gurren, and cowboy bebop). I had shows like Seikirei, Strike Witches, Baka and Test, Highschool of the Dead.

I learned genres and words like shimapan, ecchi, tsundere. And body physics I can't even...

It was a treasure trove of info I did not need, but now wanted so desperately.

Then came along Girls und Panzer and my love of WWII history took a very unique turn. I learned to read subtitles faster than ever and really came to appreciate the power of Japanese voice acting.

Shoot, for those that have been around my works since the beginning may even remember that I dabbled in the world of AMV's and became decently successful. (In the end copyright killed me, but it was a fun journey.)

Everything snowballed from that moment. It led me to the world of fan-art. I was blown away at the sheer amount, even back then. The quality was nothing short of professional.

My long dormant love of drawing suddenly felt nuclear levels of revive. It was almost wholesome, Wholesomely Nuclear! From my cringy start with pencils and paper to my next level cringe of digital ecchiness.

I'm not gonna lie, I tried to be seiso in my art, but over time...

Something about drawing the female figure gave me levels of excitement I cannot put into words, only in art (haha).

But honestly, that excitement carried me to where I have my interests now.

I find poses that are "unique" or interesting, close-ups of of well, "daring" places that to those willing to venture down that mysterious road, will find my art there.

Now days those feelings have slowed. I don't watch as much anime as I'd like and work is even more to bear (in a responsible way. Its hard, decent work). I don't even have time t draw like I used to, sadly.

But...

My anime art life always takes me back to that night of Infinite Stratos, where I nearly binged watched the entire season and never actually went to sleep. My old friend, passed out after the first episode, lying there stinking up my clean sheets.

I know I'm not that fresh out of high school type of person anymore. Motivation may struggle, but the best part is...I can always go back. With some new found adult powers of maturity and effort, its never really lost. My art is there to prove it. Its nowhere near levels of professionalism I feel I can reach. But I hope the quality of content is there and improving.

In fact, there may be even better days ahead. New possibilities, new art directions. I may not draw ecchi forever, but I hope to do more with my anime style of art in the future. I am still learning in this field, for I have chosen the hard way...going in head first and getting straight to the point. Probably not the best thing for an artist to skip ahead certain processes, but I only have myself to learn from. I will and have definitely struggled because of it, but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.

In the end, I thank you for your time, and hope you can be patient with whatever works may flow from the "more seasoned" in real life me.

Deviant is no longer my go-to platform, but it is my first. I will post here as often as I can.