2026 Is Coming... Ready Or Not... MAKE A WISH!
Hello, and Welcome back, Friends. Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all have had a nice and enjoyable Holiday Season (whatever Holidays you celebrate). I myself have had a very nice Holiday and am looking forward to the New Year. Now, I have a very very very very serious question to ask you all: What is it that you wish for this next year? Seriously, though. What is it that you truly wish for yourself for this next year?
We think of Holiday wishes usually around this time. What we probably never think about is how our New Year's Resolutions are ALSO wishes. I mean, isn't a "resolution" nothing more than just a wish we make for ourselves?
I had talked about this in a previous New Year's post. It's really just a matter of word use. I prefer to use words like wishes and goals. I think resolutions imply situations in which you already know how to make this resolution happen; you just have to apply work and energy towards it. However, wishes differ in this regard as they invoke desire and passion. Most resolutions fail because human nature usually loses steam about 3-6 months into the year... Resolutions are more analytical. Something that spurs from our minds rather than from our hearts. But if you make a wish, you are forever driven by this need to reach that goal because it is something you so fervently feel passionate about and really, really, really want to see manifest within your life.
So... I am a big advocate for making New Year's Wishes as opposed to resolutions. Now, I plan them out the same way that everyone else does: by a list of short-term goals or long-term goals that can be broken down into short-term steps that I can realistically achieve within a year's time frame. Yes, Dream Big, but be "real" with yourself about it. Ok? I will share some of my personal and artistic goals a little later in this post.
I say all this, and then I break one of my previous "resolutions."
Two years ago, I had stated in a previous New Year's Blog Post that I wanted to RESOLVE to make an illustration of a New Year's Baby each year. And like most humans, I fell short of keeping that resolution. Not to make excuses, but the Holiday Season (in America) was marred by who won the presidential election. At least it was marred for most individuals who use the right sides of their brains. Anyway, I was feeling really down and depressed last year and did not create a New Year's Baby.
This year was filled with a lot of Chaos and Horrors for the American Working Class. So I wasn't let down in that expectation. This year was also filled with some moments of rebellious joy as well. It was definitely sweet and sour... maybe mostly sour lol.
I wanted, as this year ends, to resuscitate this resolution/tradition of creating a new New Year's Baby illustration each year. I kind of placed this illustration project under the Holiday Illustration Series.
...So, here we are.
Let's talk about the Art, and then I will meander back into Wishes/goals again later...
I didn't really have that much of a plan put together for this year's New Year's Baby illustration. As a result, I personally am not entirely happy with the sketch. I knew that I wanted this year's baby to be on a crescent moon and for it to be surrounded by a starlit sky. Moon and Stars are the celestial entities that we all make and hang our wishes upon. I felt, conceptually, it would fit... and it does. I just feel like the design of my NYB this year feels (to me anyway) like it's a bit rushed. I pulled some "cute baby" images and threw together a sketch. So I know it was rushed. I had a friend stay with me for some of the Holiday, and they said they really liked what I had created...
...So, I guess maybe it's fine as is. However, I just get that inner nagging feeling that it could be better... and maybe it could have been. I only gave myself a day to really throw it together based on the protocol and routine that I used to follow for Illustration Friday. I decided I would just finish this illustration as it was and just make improvements to next year's. I think I will make an exception on the "one week" rule for the New Year's Baby and begin working on it, maybe in early Autumn or late Summer, off and on, so that it can really be more developed and less "last minute." I want to devote more to the concept development and to the character design of it in the future. So with these caveats for future NYB illustrations, I decide it's ok to move forward with this one.
I will be honest, I was considering throwing it out altogether and starting again from scratch, and just finishing whenever I finish it. But I had changed my mind. New Year's is about planning ahead for a better future, and I think making tweaks for future investment in the project makes more sense, even conceptually. And for this Season, I will just work with what we have to work with for now. And, who knows... I'm a terrible judge when it comes to creating things that people like. People tend to like things that I myself really do not, and people seem to feel indifferent to the things that I think would be really popular... so whatever. lol. My friend really liked this illustration. Maybe others will also.
...for me. It's not my favorite.
I do have another New Year's illustration coming up for the Chinese New Year, and that one I will put more planning time into. So I think ultimately that outcome may be more satisfying to me, as an artist. And, I'm ok with that... maybe. lol. (My inner perfectionist is giving me side-eye, but I'll try to ignore it if I can. lol.
So.... Confession: I "pre-wrote" much of this blog due to time/deadline, so I actually have softened in my opinion of this little guy. He's growing on me as I continue to finish the illustration. I did a color comp this morning, and I am much more fond of him now than I was before I picked out colors for it. We will see as things roll into the final illustration phase.
I mean... I think he's cute. However, I think I can do better... but... I am out of time. Oh well. You live, you learn, right? I know what to do for next year's (start in like September and spend more time planning and working on it.)
The rest of the illustration process was rather normal for me. Again, I will share a new "process" post in the coming month or so to go into detail about my creative process. So there's not much else to say about the illustration itself.
One of my personal hobbies is tarot. The Star is a Major Arcana Card that is often associated with the thing we wish for most of all. It represents our deepest of deepest hearts' desires. I absolutely love that card for this reason. To be honest, I wish I had thought of the tarot sooner and had created a tarot version of The New Year's Baby... maybe that can be my concept for next year's illustration. That would be something I would feel artistically satisfied with, both concept and execution. So, stay tuned for that in 2026 lol.
So, as promised earlier, I said I would share some of my personal and artistic goals for 2026. I'm only going to share a few because 1.) Some of them are quite personal, and I am a Scorpio Moon. I enjoy and cherish my privacy and private life. 2.) This is really just to get you all jump-started (if you haven't started jumping already) into developing a collection of goals/wishes for yourself:
Lewis's 2026 PERSONAL GOALS: (excerpt)
1.) Find some sort of variation of meditation that works for you.
2.) Pick up Spanish again and dedicate myself to it this next year ( I was learning Spanish, but that fell to the side for a long while)
3.) Read more... but actually do it by making it part of my daily routine.
Lewis's 2026 ARTISTIC GOALS: (excerpt)
1.) Finish all the research I have to go through and begin writing a book I want to write/illustrate
2.) Set up my new website
3.) Write more Blogs.
I really hope I am able to fill the tall order I have created for myself... We will all see, I guess, right? As the mysteries and magic of 2026 unfold, how will we all navigate its unknown waters to our set charter? Please feel free to share a goal or wish (or two) of yours in the comments below. I truly would love to hear from you all. I hope you all have a fantastic and lovely New Year's. I will see you all next year with more (promise) blog posts. I raise my glass and toast you all. Here's to the wishes and dreams we keep in our hearts and to the hope of making them come true! I love you all and leave you with a tune to carry you through to the next year.
Until next time, friends,
Keep dreaming, keep sketching, keep thinking, keep laughing, and most important of all, keep making art.
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