Well here it is, early Christmas morning, and I'm at a bit of a loss on how to do this. Drew did the somewhat anti-social and disturbing holiday greetings over in Double Agent. Between the Christmas poem and the Christmas fanfic, Fritz has the Christmas humor thing taken care of. And finally, the "just plain weird seasonal stuff" category would be covered by the fact that we just posted a movie from Christmas Seaman. So there's not much else for me to do except get a little sappy and introspective. So if that doesn't appeal to you much, well... here's what you came here for in the first place:

   At any rate, for the two of you who might read further out of curiosity, here goes. It came to my attention that I've been working for the GIA for nearly a year now, and it's incredible how much my online life has changed since then. Originally, I was just slated to write some retrospectives and gather information -- and with me having just been forced to quit my "real job", that sounded like the coolest thing ever, even if it never actually made me money. Just the whole idea of actually being hired to talk about a subject I really enjoyed, video games... and if someday I actually got paid for that sort of thing, it would make it that much cooler.

   So I joined, I wrote, I emulated some of the classics, and had a marvelous time. When BSM had to retire back in April, and we were trying to find someone to take over the Sketch Artist section, all of a sudden it occurred to me that this was a job I would probably take to well. I think some of the other staff weren't so sure, but they let me give it a try...

   ...And I suddenly panicked. There wasn't a very large volume of art coming in at that time, and those who contributed work were often people whose sites I'd visited, whose work I'd admired. Seeing as I've never been particularly outgoing, writing these introductions and replying to people that I looked up to was really nervewracking. After a few months, due to that and other stress-inducing factors, it got to be too much, and I had to take a few weeks off to rethink the whole thing. I wasn't entirely sure I'd return.

   During those weeks though, I noticed something: I really missed having all this great artwork appear in my mailbox, and recognizing the names of people I'd been impressed by, and often getting a gorgeous piece from someone new to the fan art scene. Even remembering how I'd had troubles with the task in the past, despite the fact that other things in my life had not improved, I couldn't ignore how much I missed it all, and so I asked to come back.

   The next time I was doing an update, I was sitting there, sorting through emails containing beautiful pictures and good wishes from familiar names, and it dawned on me that while I was working on that update, for the first time in months I was at peace. Throughout my life, artwork was never a hobby for me, but something I just felt compelled to do. Any anxiety it gave me was dispelled by the simple fact that I love art.

   I'm still not sure exactly what changed during that time. Maybe the time off gave me perspective? But every single time I've done an update since that time, despite the fact that I occasionally see the amount of HTMLing necessary and cringe (basically when, like this update, it's been awhile since the last time), while I'm actually putting it together, I end up being amazed at how lucky I am to be in this position, where I can correspond with all these incredibly talented people, and have the honor of presenting their work to a rather large, targeted audience. Several times I've been inspired by an artist's works or their words to try something new, or maybe something old that I'd ignored in my own recent work. It's just plain one of the best experiences I've ever had -- and opened me up to several other opportunities that I don't imagine I'd ever have had the guts to pursue otherwise. So in short, I'd really have to say, in all seriousness, "This job is a gift from God."

   This is getting rather long, and a little sappy, so I suppose I'd better shut up already. But I just had to say thank you, to all the artists who contribute work. It's been incredible watching your skills grow over time, and corresponding when I actually have the time. (Which granted, isn't often these days... to the many people who haven't gotten email from me in awhile, sorry...) And thanks to all the readers out there as well, for supporting the artists with hits, commentary, and just general interest. If I had a few thousand dollars, I'd give you all a candy cane or something. ;) And in the future, I'll try to get quicker with the updates.

   Having said all that, this update is huge for reasons besides my rambling commentary there -- twenty-eight pictures are divided into three galleries for you to enjoy. Several new artists debut for the first time, and some rather unique pieces. A few holiday-themed pieces can be found here, as well as some absolutely hilarious ones (including the first Maniac Mansion fan art to be posted here! I'm a little obsessive about that game...) and breathtakingly beautiful ones as well, with a tribute to a classic square.net fan piece starting the whole thing off. Take the time to see them all, because every single one is fantastic.

   -- Andrea Hartmann, wishing everyone a happy holiday, whichever one they celebrate, and despite the fact that they're all pretty much over with at this point anyway.