I knew that I was feeling more confident and capable as an artist after pushing hard on the game jam. To test this, I decided to challenge myself: I had a picture of something in my mind, a jazz playing, euacalyptis chewing, trumpet playing, jazz koala.

Not only that, but I had a very specific visual in mind, I wanted it to be in the style of Animal Crossing, but a little grittier.

Now that's not a difficult style, but for me - being able to go from mental image to actual physical model was not something I had ever actually achieved before the cafe jam last week. I worked really hard to achieve a specific style I had in my head, and not only was I able to get to a point where I was happy with it, it was pretty close to what I had envisioned!

After the jam, and getting such great feedback, I had to know...

Was it a fluke? Was the cafe jam just a stroke of luck? Or had I really progressed to the point where I could start actually realizing things in my head?

Well, I'm not ready to call myself an artist yet, but goodness gracious, am I proud at the progress I've made this past year. I'm really happy.

Just a reminder, less than a year ago this is where I was: