One might think I'd be inclined to be a bit more sympathetic after learning cause of death was from an accidentally fatal combination of of drugs and alcohol, but I'd already assumed something along those lines to begin with. What was news to me was that he was supposedly on anti-anxiety medication in part because he wasn't taken seriously in the art world. Seems a bit daft considering there were scads of people who thought his stuff was simply marvelous (and that's what really pisses me off about the guy). On the other hand, I can kind of understand, seeing that there are a fair number of people who seem to like my art (or portions of it anyway) and yet it doesn't seem to make me much happier.
I wanted to give a shout out to

As I told him, it was probably the nicest surprise I've had in a while. I can count on one hand the amount of gift art I've received in my seven years on dA. Though, as I always point out, the amount of original work I've produced has been pitiful, so it's not like I've done anything that's captured the imagination of others. Also, I've more or less failed to form any close connections with anyone on this site, so again, I wouldn't normally expect anyone to go out of their way to do anything like that.
The first example of anything approaching gift art that I ever got was from the artist formerly known as ~bluesonnet. He drew the OCs of a number of his watchers. The closest thing I had to original creations in my gallery at the time were Cody and Regan, who I hadn't even formally named.


This doesn't really count as gift art, but I participated in

Art trade with







