Recap Post 2024
How'd it go?
Intro
Well here we are, at our final few stops of 2024, and man what a bummed out year this has been....
This has been one of the less proactive years of my creative path and it shows with the amount of art done for the year.
I was going thru constant runts here and there which provoked me from committing to projects.
For starters, I'm a college student. "Community" college student for nearly 4 years, and so far I've been trying to graduate from this stage in my college career so I can pursue a 4 year to get my bachelors. The constant thought of not being able to graduate with my age group and the fact its taking this long for me to move on was albeit not only discouraging it was the driving factor of me being uncreative at times, earlier this year I got into 2 car accidents, one wasn't as bad as the other... While the other made me a non-car owner for 5 months and almost cost me a serve injury if god wasn't watching.
At the same time I'm battling a up and down case of unemployment and being so call "Broke" starting the latter end of 2023 transitioning into this year, which has also been bumming me out as well, there has been some other stresses as well but I'll disclose that information as I won't get too personal.
As you can see a lot of thing hasn't been in my favor this year. But that doesn't mean there wasn't any good that this year brought to the table. I was able to experience quite a handful of positives, meet new faces and witness a few good things, and even being a student at a community college, I've always still found enjoyment in it regardless of the countless flaws. I was able to participate in a logo contest, and even thought I didn't win, I came very close to being first, it was a fresh breath of air to witness things like that, got a new car which was slightly bigger than my first, and got to experience an animation class for the first time! Shoutout to @TomFulp for that Drawing tablet all those years ago, I finally found use in it again after quite sometime! I realized that the tablet has functionality without a driver and because getting things like that on a school computer is very tricky, there was a trick around that which I feel like any animation student needs to know about. It also still works like a charm, at times I feel like switching my Wacom one to use that tablet for old time sake :D
I've never was able to express life outside the comforts of the internet before because I never really had a reason to but I feel like there needed to be a valid reason why I was so inactive this year. Any who enough about personal life, What has Newgrounds been getting from me this year?
NewGrounds.
Through all that I've been through this year, and the constant turbulence and trial and errors I've come across year by year, one things for certain that I can gladly express. Being a creative is something I know I can always look forward for everyday, because the energy, spirit and vibe from communities has always been an outlet for me, and NewGrounds has been the driving force for why I'm still MassiveMarioLuigi700. The constant engagement, looking at my past works, seeing my followers and peers expressing there gratitude and achievements that I do, seeing the constant growth within my craft. There's never a thing that drifts me away from this site. So many cool people are on here ready to show you there efforts either through teams projects, collaborations or solo creations. A Grand Spectacle that'll make you speculate who gonna become big on the frontpage, a consistent wave of works that keeps the community strong and sometimes you might find yourself good peers and communities to express your works in, this is coming from a website built from the grounds of new amusement and new talents its no surprise that people say that NewGrounds is the forefront of underground internet culture.
There'll come a time when I'll look back again and say "I owe most of my upbringings to Newgrounds", My start on game design, art, music creation. Its been a platform for anything a creative can think off. SO I will cap this long post with what I feel is a good recap of the year!
January
Literally right from the gate I got one of my audio piece front-paged outta NOWHERE!?!
I'm like "WHAT THE HELL THE YEAR JUST STARTED!?!" mind you I haven't seen a solo project of my get front-paged since En-Garde from last year! Which also took me away :D if you wanna have a listen to that by means ;)
This month also saw another musical score to my upcoming project. "Pico Vs Massive" for those unaware of this game. This is a NewGrounds theme fighting game I'm been developing behind scene, which crosses over with the Squad Massive Universe of characters. News about the game will come later down the line.
also @gavmcool and @NoPants69 if you are seeing this I do apologies for being radio silent about the games progression, please forgive me! I do want to have more backgrounds for the game if your up for it still, that'll help me a ton!
Also The Sketch Collab from last year created by @midgetsausage had released this year as well which many including I participated in! Tap in!
I also upload the part separately
Before I wrap up this month, Here some art I made!
Ed's 25th
"One of the most undisputed G.O.A.T.E.D shows off all time turns 25 this year, and is one of my favorite shows as well! I was binge watching it for 3 straight months earlier this year. Such a classic."
Massive Portrait
"Quick little sketch of Massive I wanted to do, I kinda like the box direction I went with this."
February
Not much had happened during this month, although I can happily say that I did attempt on streaming during this time. I wished I continued. Here are some stuff promoting the streams.
Going Live, Chime in sometimes!
Stream Widgets
Decided to Whip up an art of Massive and Femi casually carrying a wagon of valentine envelopes to celebrate this years Valentine day! Giving that Femi's soul purpose is to spread love throughout the land, and she a demi-god whose powers got strip away. I always envision it went sorta like this.
Happy Valentines
People have always seen the depiction of Pico, Darnell, and Nene for this game. But never the big bad goth girl herself, here is a early take for what Cassandra could potentially look like for this game.
Pico Versus Massive Banner(2024)
Accompany by the theme that plays when you fight her.
Good friend of mine @gavmcool and a few others last year where developing a Halloween themed game called Monster Tavern, on most occasions he would DM me screenshot of early build's, it garnered my interest so much I asked if I can make a few Soundtracks for the game, too which he agreed and I'm glad he did! It was really fun! In February I ask him permission to upload The OST to the site which he greenlighted! Go have a listen, and while your at it.. Play the game too!
March
@MarshyBruh, another good friend of mine had assembled a community of people to participate in last years bar hopping collab! It was awesome seeing a bunch of talents come to create there characters all having themselves a refreshing beverage... ya'know.. Mmm Having a good time! This take on the tradition was actually quite interesting, it follows a 4 story building which feature characters in each layer. Then on the last frame is the whole building in one shot!
Bar Hopping Collab 2023
During this month I joined in another collab hosted by @AhWham and @jamriot in there Spoken Word Collab where a group of people are tasked to created an audio featuring music voice actors and a nice narrator to voice over it, I was luckily picked up by @Jesse-Pinkman-420 with the task to compose the track and with the help of 3 other people, we where able to combine our efforts to get the job done!
STORYTIME COLLAB 2024
Also here is the actual piece use for the Audio, the full fleshed song without the loop.
NG Story Time Collab Part
(Side Note" Jesse Pinkman's Discord profile origins came from this one move I had watch 3 years ago called HeavyMetal, which is an 80's animated Western Movie in which the movie plays in segments with different styles of animation that builds the narrative of the film, Themes featuring cyberpunk and sci-fi elements its a must watch for vintage goers! I immediately saw his picture and knew exactly what scene that picture was from too. But yeah that's about it.")
April
This had to be the most emptiest of the months. With the only thing this month had offered was the art I did in commemoration of Super Smash Bros 25th year span, this art was based of the release of the game here in the west, while the actual series didn't originally debut around April, The Japanese original game launch in January of 99, same time around the Ed's triumph. Use this game a lot when it come to game philosophy, theme, composition and playstyle. This upcoming fighting game I have in the works owes a lot to Smash's Humbled beginnings.
25th Smash
June
Just wrapped up my spring semester and been out of school for a lil minute, I then take to my tablet to Sketch out a lil feud I created 5 years ago, "Massive Vs Lloyd" was the first look at Massive as a generalized animated series, at first I wasn't to comfortable drawing full flesh out characters at the time, still coming out of my stickfigure phase which is why the characters only had a single pose throughout the duration of the match. At the time I was coming home from Highschool, and I had this concept in my head the whole day of Massive battling with this double wielding Swordsman's with a hat and a cape, so I rushed to my family computer, booted up "Macromedia Flash"โthe program I used at the timeโand whipped up a sketch of a character with the depiction in mind, drew out his swords and effects, animated him and BOOM! The origin story of Lloyd's inception. So this art work was just a throwback to that time.
5 Years Ago!
During this time I was scrolling through my feed in Newgrounds when I stumbled across a few artist, it then reminded me of how many cool artist I had came by on this platform and I want to bring tribute to those exact artist who filled me with much inspiration over the years, plus to those who I just stumble upon as well.
It was difficult to pick who would be on this 8 panel project, I had to really sit down and think who would get to be represented here, Some honorable mention was bluethebone, mindchamber, cootiegirl, snackers, speedoru. But I had to boil down to realistically who I'd gave the most attention to recently.
Right off the rip I picked AllyRat, Cubesona, and Cardbordtoaster, just because it was clear that they where top artist that came to mind first, and I had quite positive interactions with them prior to this piece, Then realistically I had to pick Bleak-creep, only because she had been a helping hand during LMNG2 development, helped Write dialogue for Pearl and drew her one time, I think its fair to say that she was definitely gonna be up here, plus her character was the first one drawn. She another awesome artist I'd admire next to Cubesona.
Ennuikal made it to the panel because she pop up in my feed a lot recently, and every submission was so cool to glance over every now and then, I like her surreal style and how she able to switch it up by drawing something calm the next day, and then something mad crazy the next, that choice of stylistic decision making is what I feel earned her wide success in every painting, that's just me though... yea ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ. I stumble across Cheebster OC one time and was like. I want to draw that person.. Because I just want to, and I love the uniqueness in the style of her art, the pixelated line and the photo copy print overlay effect has a very cool aesthetic to it, on top of the cute marshmallow chubby art style she utilizes is very cute and oddly comforting.
Binejyeah art style is so grungy and pop, Its so 2000's and I freaking adore it so much! Funny enough while I was in the mist of doing the piece, I actually stumbled across a roadblock because I didn't know what type of artist I could draw next, I was honestly lost. But I was casually looking through the front page and saw this guys character mouthman, dude I just love how freaking crazy he look, then I went to see more of this guys art and the rest is history. Lucky man.
Lastly Bakertoons, it was nice to find someone art style more reminiscent of old school comics more so Jim Davis then the late Charles Schulz, His constant uploads of comic strips are always fascinating to look at, Lauren Ipsum, the mundane and Gag a day comic series has been his long running series and has always been a treat to look at. He specialize in Cartoony cats, just so happened that I love cats เธ ^>โฉ<^ เธ
With all these selections in mind I went to work drawing and... Dedicating an hour on finding out the name of characters. But at last! I managed to finish up the drawing! There where many artist that I wanted to include in this piece, but I got burned out look last minute at the amount of color I had to do with 8 characters already. Who knows though I did plan on doing another one, and this time it would feature more than 8. But that's a project I'll save for the New Year.
Cool People!
July
Another Ost addition to the "Pico Vs Massive" Game was uploaded around that time and it was a nice little goofy remix to the "Massive Kun Quest Intro theme." which has been a reoccurring leitmotif in most of the game's OST.
BonusRound
August
I participated in @Dry Pico day album last year and I submitted a song that was based loosely off the character Femi! Months from then I decide because the track was nice cozy and comforting, I'll upload it by itself.
Femi's Room
Summer around that that was coming to a close, and I realized this whole summer I didn't get to pump out one art really. So what would be a good way to get back into the swing of things by drawing a little SummerEpisode inspired art with two characters. I realized my priority when it comes to drawing my oc's has always been Massive, MML, Pearl, Femi, Lilith, and Lloyd ~sometimes Grace~ and I have a hell ton of characters that I haven't drawn once since there initial introduction. So I did something different this time around and drew the Vampire sister from the Vampire Duo with Lilith! An awkward lil combination but sure enough was fun to draw, I especially use the hair shine technique from AllyRat's hair.
Beach Time!
September
I had a plan before the month of September, something unique I wanted to try. To spice up the days leading to my birthday I would find a handfull of characters with the same birthdate as mines and everyday before the 15th I would Draw a character with that same birthdate. However because school had started and I had no time to fool around, I had to make sure I had my prioritize in check. But We get to witness what it would've been with this Fanart.
Kanzuki Karin
The 15th
At Last! The day has arrived and I was already celebrating it with family and peers, I have this tendency thought to not make something on the day of my birthday which is honestly quite disrespectful towards myself. So in honor of that I make sure 2 days Prior I prepared myself. Giving myself the ultimate gift. I got so many Happy Birthday wishes from close ones that I was so loft in the fact that I could drink legally now โฎ (. โ แด โ.) โญ quite a tremendous feat. Any who I was able to release a orchestrated piece and an art work dedicated to the day. I was in so much relief when I finally was able to do something I couldn't do.
Celebratory Birthday!
Surprise at the Cathedral
Part-took in a collab by @3manonMusic where you have to make a D# audio track with 130 BPM, I never really part-took in a music collab where you have a designated set of criteria's, I found it a great exercise to try something that'll help garner my skills, and so I ushered to get into this collab because it truly something I needed!
!NGAP MEGACOLLAB!
Was feeling Mystical one day and I had a skit about Lilith and Femi playing back and fourth in my head. I wanted to capture the spirit of that image in my head through an animation sequence but that takes a hell of long time to complete, and I had plans for animation down the latter. So I just created a music track of what that piece would've looked like.
Fireflies around the Cabin
October
Have you ever noticed that you can smell a certain season, and feel its essences? I gotta a strong whiff of Autumn and all I was thinking about is all the Pumpkin flavor items, cozy peaceful nights, cool temperature and hoodies and sweaters, also Halloween. So I wanted to Create a song that Captures that feeling of cozy relaxation.
Foliage - Massive Music
Was in the mood to draw Nene for some reason XD so I just drew a wallpaper of her doing tons of fighting moves planned for the game
Nene Wallpaper
So this was a late submission to the Brazilian theme event hosted by @Arzonaut based off the Brazilian Miku that blew in popularity during September. People who wanted to participate in the collab needed to make something that was related to brazil. I had came across a festival style outfit in mind for Lloyd awhile back, that happened to be from brazil. I dug more resources to inspire a full fleshed outfit for Lloyd and drew exactly how he is depicted in the art. Seeing how Lloyd came out had gave me the wits to do another character in this style, so I picked his little sister Grace to fill in that role, I honestly had a fun time drawing these guys in feather clothing even though I was on the crunch.
Lloyd/Grace Brazilian Amusement Outfit
November
I was randomly chosen on a discord server to Part-take in the Christmas Collab Audio Event and even though this came unexpecting, I was actually quite excited to to fill in the role of a music collab! This song in particular was a very special one for me, I pulled a really old song idea I have from childhood and modernized it for a submission! Lets just say, I couldn't stop jamming to it!
Orange Star
This month also saw birth to a New Character to the Massive Universe "Pulsphon Nova" who is an a close affiliate with Quazar. They both love space, and together they traverse the cosmos. There are also more Character Sheets Available to reference from in the "Character Sheet Playlist".
CharacterSheet#11
A nice Remix of the boss theme from Fancy Pants Adventure Remastered for "Pico Vs Massive".
Wielder of Writing Utensil
Massive gets his own stylized theme for the game as well! This was so fun to create and I feel it gives more life to the existing main theme that this is loosely based off from. With the Energetic Drums sequence and synthetic MIDI, it'll surely keep players on there toes when it comes to battling him.
Massive
That about wraps up for Audio this year as of writing this!
The only things left are Movies and Artwork!
December
A Huge Tribute to the Artist @Cubesona for being an key idle of art for me. Ever since I found out about him, I could never stop looking at his art ever since. If you didn't know who he is, He makes a lot of art based on Original characters, Games, commissions, etc. I think this post will do the explanation for me, as I'm trying to keep this brief as much as possible
Cubesona(Gift)
This year not only saw 1 Sketch Collab... But 2! Again I would like to thank @midgetsausage for carrying this tradition! and hopefully He'll make rounds about another one where others will get a chance to participate. I know combining a collab is not an easy task yet alone when your trying to be creative about it. It's without a doubt that people who host big Collab's have my upmost respect! That is never easy to do. I witnessed that struggle first hand during the Door's 5 days with Sean Pluto streaming the process. All n' all, hats of too you again midgetsausage.
The Sketch Collab 2024
And Lastly...
The 25th
Christmas Time. The time where everyone is running back and fourth to find a gift to satisfy people and losing there minds in the long run. With that comes national community traditions here on the web where people express there cheer for Christmas through there sheer talents and will. Hyun Dojo's saw the annual Christmas Carol, and many individuals took to streaming as a way to express there Christmas spirit, here on Newgrounds many things where going on, you had Tankmas 2024, The NGTV Christmas Special which was absolutely outstanding, and the @PsychoGoldfish Secret Santa which I never hesitate to join! This time around as my Chosen present I had @OnyxGalaria who's OC was just to much fun to draw, and boy... Thought I was gonna make it on the naughty list because of how much times I was delaying drawing it. But I could never. Anywho I present to you the Final content for this Recap post.
[SECRETSANTA] - OnyxGalaria
And with that, I gotten to experience a sheer post of content over the year, and while it wasn't enough too feel like I had things going for this year, I not gonna lie how I was blessed to post content with a consistency in mind. Now its not to say that I'm done posting stuff entirely, as December is not over and I'm always cooking something in the background even if it takes long. But this is what I had so far! I'm really happy to always hit that upload button and showcase what I have. 407 fans as of writing this, A bluesky, and the will to push forward no matter what.
Making Content is fun and it should always be fun. Remember that folks. Any who, Tis to a New Year 2025 is going to be year I put things into gear and really start revving the content.
Till again! Peace!
