Oblivion Descends

The other day it came up in conversation with about what inspired me to get into art in the first place, the very reason I aspired to be an artist. I've always pegged it to my obsessions as a 14 year old, like DBZ or Final Fantasy.
After playing StarCraft II for a while this past week though, it struck me. The exact moment that made me truly aspire for art, and especially concept art, was the original StarCraft Manual. The pages upon pages of back story, peppered with pieces of concept art from the game. Most specifically the pencil image of Zeratul holding his blade in front of him, was the moment that I realized I wanted to create things like that.
To give other people that same sense of wonder would be my ultimate goal; but to be able to create such wonderful things at all, would be soul-satisfying to me.
So when I procrastinated and resisted doing art, for fear that I couldn't make anything good enough, told me to look at the things that inspire me most, and work with it. The idea was to start something I would stick with, and so I thought of this, the reason why I started, again.
So I painted a picture of Zeratul, an homage to the character that really got me started on the path I've taken with my life. Even though I'm an animator by profession, it's still what started it for me, and I stuck through it and pushed hard. In the end, I made something that I finally feel I can really be proud of, a testament to what I am capable of if I just push past my own self misguidance. I hope to anyone who's read this far and has felt the same things I have, look back through my gallery, see how far I've come. Remember to take your own work seriously, and to take the time to do it right. You will make many mistakes along the way to a good piece, but if you just keep going, the effort will take you a long way. I've learned that from this painting, and I know now that all the mental frustrations that have stopped me in the past are just steps along the way to a good piece.

tldr; Zeratul gonna CUT you!