Okay here’s a more sentimental post
I think the first time I watched Steven Universe was a little bit into its first season, just before Lapis debuted. I remember seeing Garnet and thought how cool her design looked. And then I looked at the other designs of the other characters like Pearl and Amethyst and I was like “I have to check this out”. I remember telling people about it and I got my friends hooked on it too, especially when the Gem plots started to kick in. The more I watched, the more I got sucked into its world and lore. And then, with my friends in one of their old houses, I created Fire Agate. And for Gemsona Week in 2015 she debuted. The rest is history.
I started drawing more gemsonas and participating in monthly events and challenges. In 2016, I saw people were making ask blogs for their gems and in September of that year I started mine. Fire was a different character then, when she was involved with other characters my friends created. I started working on gem fusions and all of that fun stuff. My audience, which I was trying to create for over a decade, started to grow. I made new friends and I got closer with others as we watched more SU episodes and developed our characters together.
Then 2017 came and it was the darkest and hardest year of my life. I cut ties with a now ex-friend who was extremely toxic to me for over five years. It was incredibly hard as I still cared for them, but I knew I couldn’t be around them anymore. That their influence was harming my mental health. I thought things would get better from there. There was a lot of stuff I was looking forward to and I saw that my designs and fusions were getting popular. I was excited to see what the future hold. And then... my mom died. My life changed in a way I never expected. I was lost for a long time. I had amazing friends and supporting family there with me through it all and I can’t thank them enough. But Steven Universe also helped me through that time. Even with the dreaded “filler episodes” that people hated so much, I found catharsis in it. It’s cheery, positive, but sometimes intense episodes took my mind off of what happened. Not to mention all of the gemsonas I created.
Steven Universe has been there with me through the best and worst parts of my life. My art and character design skills grew with it. I grew with it. I met so many wonderful people. Despite all the drama the fandom spurred up, I’m still glad I became a part of a community like this. This show means so much to me, flaws and all. Also I like to say some thank yous:
Super big thank you to @gemsona-hq for reblogging my art, giving me a leg up and helping me get an audience for my work, and making those monthly gemsona challenge (I should consider finishing up the ones for 2018!)
To my audience who’s been supporting me through the years and is kind enough to deal with my Dark Crystal content
To my friends, especially @tkpinkerton and @sentaiaddict, who stayed with me through that dark moment in my life. And the fan content we created together is still so special to me.
To Rebecca Sugar and the entire Crewniverse who worked on this incredible show. It’s touched and changed my life in so many ways for the better and I don’t where’d I be without it.
And thank you Steven Universe for all the great memories you’ve created over the years.
