Well, the server's more or less under control now, and thanks to the incredible generosity of our readers, looks like it won't be going down for good anytime soon. Between this and a more personal gesture of generosity - a replacement for my tablet that died a few weeks ago, which I pretty much need to do any computer work, thanks to my tendonitis - I can almost assure you that this is the last of the "monthly" updates.

   Sorry about the horrendous delays, and thank you all very much for the support and understanding. None of us ever really believed we'd get this far... not at all. I'm still reeling from this whole thing - that, and finding out that Yoshitaka Amano apparently reads our site. I think I almost fainted with sheer joy and amazement, and I'm not the fainting type. Not even the swooning type. ...Wow. I'm getting dazed again just thinking about it. I'm sure some of you artists understand.

   Now that the major crises seem to be over (for the time being - it tends to be one crisis after another when you work for a site this big), I'm hoping things can get back to normal, for Sketch Artist and the GIA as a whole. And a little stability in my personal life would be nice too, but eh - can't win 'em all. Till the backups are complete, the artist profiles and archives and so on will be a little out of whack, but artist@thegia.com is open for business again, so go on and send in the pics. Till next time, I'll be off soaking my hands in hot water... and playing Battle Hunter. I knew there was a downside to this.

- Andrea Hartmann, suddenly feeling very close to you all