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raven-of-shadows

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Hello there!

 I don't know if there's anyone here who still remembers me. It's been years since I last signed on, and I apologize for that, profusely. I've barely drawn at all these past years, so you haven't missed much. Unfortunately, I don't know if I'll ever make a full-time return to DeviantArt. My art has fallen by the wayside of my life, and when I do draw, it's not the subjects most would have followed me for. My primary online presence has been moved to Tumblr, for the most part. If you'd like to keep in touch with me or send me a message, you can find me at: ShadedMemoirs.tumblr.com . If you're looking for my art, you can find it here.

I hope you are all well, and I wish you all the best. If you don't have a Tumblr, feel free to message me here. I'll do my best to stay in contact if I can get through the 8+ years of notifications in my inbox.

 ~Sarah
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Hello my friends! :wave:

I'm in a rather pleasant mood this morning, so I felt like writing a journal today. :)
I also wanted to remind you all that I'm still giving away sketch cards to all of my lovely friends and watchers. And yes, I do take requests! See my journal here.

For starters, I'd like to apologize to all the people I've been in correspondence with lately. I'm afraid my family's internet was being a bit screwy this past week, so I couldn't get much done in terms of replying to you all. Thankfully, our internet is now fixed, and *knocks on wood* I should be able to go about answering your comments without any trouble. Though I'm a little backlogged, so I might be a bit, yet. xD;

And speaking of being thankful, since I'm in such a good mood (and yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US), I feel like going through all of the things that have brought me joy this week. Feel free to share your stories and gratitudes, too!

  • The weather this week has been absolutely gorgeous, if a little chilly at times.  It's just the most wonderful feeling to be able to go outside in the morning and breathe the crisp, cool air, especially after the particularly long and scorching summer we had this year. I can now let my doggies out of their pen to play and frolic without worrying if they'll get heat exhaustion. Thank you Mesa, Arizona for not giving us a shorts and T-shirts Thanksgiving this year! :giggle:
  • Speaking of my doggies, they've been the sweetest little angels this week. My dogs have always been the loves of my life, but now that the weather is cooler and they're not frying alive, they've just taken things to the next level of sweetness. :heart: I don't think I've ever seen them so happy and playful, and now that the weather is nice, I can actually stay outside to play with them, too. And then when I go inside, they'll run around the house perimeter to peer inside the various windows to look for me, which never fails to make me smile. :) I don't know what I'd do without my doggies sometimes. ♥ ♥ ♥
  • To make things even better, my younger sister and I have finally managed to get on more or less good relations with each other. Not that we were ever on bad relations, but we never really talked much (unless it was necessary or simply pointless chatter) and I don't think either of us understood each other very well. I finally feel like we're on the same page, and that we can do things together and help each other without having a lingering feeling of awkwardness. ☺
  • I had a lovely session with my psychologist the other day, and I finally feel like I've reached a place where I'm not pretending that I'm not miserable all the time. I've had a lot of troubles and doubts, most of which were put on me by my family, but I finally feel clear headed and confident enough to try and move forward in life, or at least wait for an opportunity to present itself so I can seize it. I can't remember the last time I got out of bed wishing I wasn't dead, and it's a great feeling. :aww:
  • The only downside to my week was me getting terribly sick yesterday on Thanksgiving. D: I have trouble sleeping sometimes, and I'm afraid my sleep deprivation got the better of me for once. I completely missed Thanksgiving dinner and everything, it sucked so bad. :( On the plus side though, we had plenty of leftovers for me to enjoy, and I managed to make a torte with my mother before I fell ill. It was my first time making a proper cake, and my mother's first time for many, many years, so we both had tons of fun. :) And to top it all off, it turned out to be absolutely delicious to boot. :3
  • My sister's birthday is on Sunday, and my mother and I got an awesome deal on some gifts for her, so I'm super excited to see her open them. x3 I can't believe she's going to be seventeen already, how time flies. :O Always cherish your younger siblings, my friends, because they're so much easier to deal with when they're young, gullible, innocent, and not drastically more accomplished and quick-witted than you. :XD:
  • I've managed to finish some of my sketch card requests so far, and I'm really liking how they're coming out. ^^ I hope their recipients will like them, as well. (Thanks for your patience, guys! :heart:) I am also in love with my silver and glitter gel pens, they're the only art utensils that have yet to fail me under any conditions, lol. x) I'm also hoping to get some more markers sometime soon, which will help immensely with my blending, among other things. Hooray for Black Friday sales! :dummy:


I do believe that's all I can type about at present, but it still feels good to be able to have a positive journal for once. :D I just needed to get some of this happy out of my system before I imploded. :lol: Kudos to those of you who read this far (or were smart enough to skip down here :giggle:). So, do any of you have stories or things you're grateful for that you'd care to share? I feel like spreading some positive energy around. :)

Anyway, I'll try to keep drawing and staying in touch with you all. I'm afraid I don't have any refined pics to post just yet, but I do have some glorified doodles that I've done over the past few months, so I'll try to post some of those while I'm still working on nicer pics to share. c:

Thanks for reading and bearing with me you guys, you're all the best! :D

Much love and best wishes~
Sarah :heart:
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I don't want this to be another journal about me apologizing for disappearing for months on end. For once, I want to be able to do something without being reminded that my offline life is threatening to swallow me whole and then regurgitate me. :P

And so, without further ado (and since my first attempt failed miserably and I've no one to blame but myself :lol:), I would like to announce that I'm sending FREE sketch cards to any of my watchers who want them. Some of you may recall that in my previous journal and deviation, I mentioned that I wanted to send little "thank you" gifts to my lovely friends and watchers here on dA for being such wonderful people and giving me their support. Well, this is my second attempt at doing a better job of getting the word out, as well as not failing to contact those who were interested in cards to begin with. :XD:

Anyway, in order to keep this as painless and organized as possible (for me more so than you xD; ), I'm going to list everything you need to know about how I plan to go about this, as well as how to go about getting your sketch card.

Before I begin: I will be needing your physical address via note in order to send your card to you in the mail. If you're not comfortable giving me your address, or you're under aged and can't get your parents' permission, that's totally fine, and I don't blame you. But I just want you guys to know that I'm not some creeper looking to find out where you live or send you junk mail. I'll just send you the sketch card (and possibly a postcard to fill out the envelope with), and then you'll never hear from me again. :)

Okay, now that the obvious has been stated, on with the show! Er, you know what I mean...
  1. Everyone is welcome to ask for a card! I don't care if you live in the USA, or Europe, or Australia, or anywhere else in the world - I will find a way to get a card to you should you ask for one! So please, please, please, don't be shy about asking! And if you're not comfortable leaving a comment, feel free to send me a note instead. =)
  2. I am sending these to you for free, as in no charge and no strings attached. This is my humble way of thanking you lovely people for stopping by my little corner of dA, as well as those of you who've been the most wonderful friends I could ask for (you all know who you are :heart:).
  3. I will draw cards on request! If you don't like any of the cards I've already made, or would like a card with one of your OCs on it, please feel free to ask! I'll try my best to fill all requests, but please bear in mind that I might need references if I'm not familiar with the characters.
  4. Which leads me to another point: Please let me know whether you'd like your card colored in Prismacolor markers or Prismacolor colored pencils. Please bear in mind that I'm still getting used to my markers, so there might be some bleeding and other minor mistakes, but I will do my best. :) I am also sad to say that my marker supply is limited, so I might have to substitute particular colors with pencils instead.
  5. As for the cards themselves, they are approximately four by four and a half inches big (4"x4.5"), give or take depending on how steady my hand was when I cut up the Bristol. xD; Apologies in advance if the edges of your card are crooked/uneven; I blame my shaky hands! ^^; Anyway, all cards are Strathmoore Smooth Bristol, so hopefully they'll hold up in the mail/handling process. :fingerscrossed:
  6. Alright, are you ready for me to quit yammering and just tell you how to get a card? Well, alright then. :D If you want a card, please feel free to leave a comment on this journal, or any of my sketch card sample deviations (here and here). Or, if you're so inclined, simply send me a note with "Sketch Card" somewhere in the title, so I'll be sure not to lose it. xP Please be sure to tell me whether you'd like a specific card I've done (and I'll tell you if it's still available), or if you'd like to request a new one. Again, no need to be shy; I actually like giving gifts to people, so you'd be making me happy by asking for one. :meow:
  7. Aaaaaaand to wrap things up, I want to thank you guys for simply being awesome, wonderful people. I appreciate all of my watchers, and deeply adore the friends I've made here more than I can express in text. :hug: I'll keep this going for as long as I can to make sure everyone gets a chance for my "thank you" gifts. Oh, and before I forget: If you had expressed interest in a card prior to this spiffy new journal, I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me again what you would like. :D I promise I won't go incommunicado before getting your cards to you this time. :XD:


Thanks for reading! :aww:


Much love and best wishes~
  Sarah :heart:
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- my little sister yelling at her X-Box Live friends in the next room over, or my mother singing as she goes about her housework. It's almost enough to make a gal feel lonely, but at least I have my doggies. :heart: Anyway, my mother and sister are in New York for a family reunion on my mother's side, and my father is no longer living with us, so that leaves me all by my lonesome in this dreadful Arizona heat. :X Unfortunately, that means I'm also charged with house upkeep and making sure my beloved doggies don't overheat in this weather, so I haven't had much time to answer all of the lovely comments you've all left me. ^^; I also admit to being addicted to Final Fantasy 13 right now; I've had the game a while, but kept getting fed up with the new combat system, among other things, and put the game aside thinking I'd sell it off later. Now I find myself on the third and final disc and totally loving Oerba Yun Fang and her awesome outfit. :love: Ahem, anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I'll do my best to reply to all of you as soon as possible, and I thank you all for your patience and kindness. :D



On another note, I'd very much like to do something for all of my wonderful watchers who have been very kind, gracious and patient with me throughout my art journey, as well as my various extended absences.  As it were, I was practicing with my Prismacolor markers recently, and decided to cut up a piece of my Bristol board into six little pieces, so as to have a smaller surface that would use less ink (I can't afford to buy any new markers right now :XD:). When I had finished, I realized that these would fit nicely with a postcard inside a standard mailing envelope, so that I might mail them to some of my lovely watchers here as a little gift of appreciation. :aww: I know this is probably a silly gift to offer, but it's the best I'm capable of given that art is the only thing I can offer of myself, as well as my current economic situation. ^^; Anyway, what I'd like to know is how many of you might be interested? I'm more than willing to make more little cards depending on how many people wold like one. The only problem is, as you can probably guess, that my markers only have so much ink, and my pencils only have so much lead, and with over 200 people watching me right now, I can't exactly afford to make a card for everyone, no matter how much I wish I could. D: So, in short, I'd like to get a ballpark figure of how many people might appreciate a card (watchers from outside the US are welcome, too! :heart:) so I can get an idea of whether or not I might need to organize a raffle or some other method of picking recipients. I currently have six cards featuring the Titans GO! animated characters (Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and Terra), but I'll probably be able to take some requests should I need to make more. =) Also, since I know how some of my watchers can be, please don't be shy about wanting a card, I appreciate all of you, and want to do something nice for as many of you as possible! ^-^
Anyhoo, I'll post the cards I've done so far in a little while, so you can get an idea of how they look, and whether you'd want to get such an ugly piece of work in the mail. :lol:
My sincere thanks go out to all of you for all your support and kindness over the years (or months, or weeks, or days, depending on how long you've been watching me ;)), as well as taking the time to visit my little corner of dA and look at my pictures. :kiss: Here's hoping my attempt at giving back will be successful. :fingerscrossed:

EDIT: Here are the first six cards I made, I hope you'll like them~

Love and best wishes to you all,
Sarah~ :heart:
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Hello to those of you out there still gracious enough to check in on me and read these ramblings. I humbly apologize for my ridiculously long absence, as well as for being a completely rubbish friend to the special people I know here. I have a few confessions for you all...
I'm afraid I've been in denial about t a lot of things in my life these past few years, and I've come to the realization that I have serious social psychological troubles (among other things...). <.> Whenever things tend to go badly for me in real life, or when things aren't going at all and my life is at a standstill, I retreat inside myself in order to distract from whatever I'm subconsciously dealing with. As a result, I have no real life friends anymore, and even my dearest friends on the internet don't hear from me for months or even years at a time. I don't know how to fix this, and I have little doubt that it will keep happening, so please consider this a public and very humble apology. I'm sorry I'm not nearly as wonderful a friend to you all as so many of you are to me, but please know that I think of you all extremely often, and cherish each of you dearly.

Extra special thanks go out to these magnificent people whom I love the most~ :heart:
:iconcrazy18gurl: :icondelitescentrix: :iconpainting-with-light: :iconblueserenity: :iconkalmahine:

Thank you for being my friends. :hug:


Alrighty, I'll just take a deep breath now and carry on like I never typed something so difficult for me to discuss. .___.;



In art-related news, I'm afraid there's not much improvement on my end. Much like I never speak to anyone, I also never feel like drawing when I'm having a rough time of things, so any finished pictures are few and far between. But! I have been trying to force myself to draw more, as an alternative to thinking about all the things that have been going wrong in my life this year. xP I'll just have to wait and see where this goes and how long it lasts, but in the meantime, I apologize if the pictures I post aren't up to par with what you guys think I can do. ^^; I do thank you all for taking the time to look at my art, though, it's very appreciated. :aww:


Oh, and before I forget: Thank you sooooo much to all the people who wished me a happy birthday last month! :love: You guys made my day so much brighter, and I'm very sorry I never properly thanked you all individually.  Thank you all very, very much. :heart:


On another note: I officially hate DC Comics right now. I'm so tempted to quit buying altogether, but I'll give some of the latest #1's a chance before I go on strike. :furious: If any of you need to rant about what bull turd-ish marketing ploys they're pulling, feel free to use my page as an outlet. In the interim, I'll just keep drawing fan art of my favorite characters before most of them were mutilated beyond recognition and/or "benched" out of existence. xP


Well, that's all I have to say that's appropriate to share with you all. xD; I apologize for such a long journal, and take no offense whatsoever if you guys just delete this without even reading it (not that you'd actually be reading this, then, but... *shrug*). Many thanks to those of you who have, you're most gracious. :)

Love and best wishes to you all~
  Sarah :heart:




100 Theme Challenge

1. Introduction
2. Love
3. Light
4. Dark
5. Seeking Solace
6. Break Away
7. Heaven
8. Innocence
9. Drive
10. Breathe Again
11. Memory
12. Insanity
13. Misfortune
14. Smile
15. Silence
16. Questioning
17. Blood
18. Rainbow
19. Gray
20. Fortitude
21. Vacation
22. Mother Nature
23. Cat
24. No Time
25. Trouble Lurking
26. Tears
27. Foreign
28. Sorrow
29. Happiness
30. Under the Rain
31. Flowers
32. Night
33. Expectations
34. Stars
35. Hold My Hand
36. Precious Treasure
37. Eyes
38. Abandoned
39. Dreams
40. Rated
41. Teamwork
42. Standing Still
43. Dying
44. Two Roads
45. Illusion
46. Family
47. Creation
48. Childhood
49. Stripes
50. Breaking the Rules
51. Sport
52. Deep in Thought
53. Keeping a Secret
54. Tower
55. Waiting
56. Danger Ahead
57. Sacrifice
58. Kick in the Head
59. No Way Out
60. Rejection
61. Fairy Tale
62. Magic
63. Do Not Disturb
64. Multitasking
65. Horror
66. Traps
67. Playing the Melody
68. Hero
69. Annoyance
70. 67%
71. Obsession
72. Mischief Managed
73. I Can't
74. Are You Challenging Me?
75. Mirror
76. Broken Pieces
77. Test
78. Drink
79. Starvation
80. Words
81. Pen and Paper
82. Can You Hear Me?
83. Heal
84. Out Cold
85. Spiral
86. Seeing Red
87. Food
88. Pain
89. Through the Fire
90. Triangle
91. Drowning
92. All That I Have
93. Give Up
94. Last Hope
95. Advertisement
96. In the Storm
97. Safety First
98. Puzzle
99. Solitude
100. Relaxation
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