It has been about 7 years since I wrote my last journal entry on DeviantArt, and pretty long since I submitted my last deviation. I have grown a lot in terms of experience and achievement; from a hobbyist illustrator/designer to a professional design and brand consultant; with involvements in projects I never would have imagined getting involved in 7 years ago. However in the past 5 years of my career, my works were largely for commercial purposes, and for large corporations. My work is out there, but nobody really knows who was behind it all; multi-million dollar deals were made and yet I was still struggling to pay for my bills and make ends meet. There was no real sense of satisfaction. There was no real sense of gratitude.

However, in December 2011 I submitted an entry for Blizzard's Holiday Card Contest; seeing how it was pretty easy to outdo every years' entries. I thought out of the box; and explored beyond the provided template from Blizzard, and created a pop-up Deathwing card with the assistance and support of my sister's skills in digital art.

The winners were announced yesterday at about noon, and I was overjoyed by the fact that my entry won first place! And this was recognised by Blizzard; the very company I have looked up to since Starcraft and Diablo in the 1990's for their amazing concept art; mostly illustrated by Samwise Didier, my personal hero in the world of art. It was the first time I felt that my skills and efforts was recognised, although it was just a contest to serve the Blizzard gaming community. I was not aiming for any of the prizes; I would have had no use for any of them in fact, and the Wacom Bamboo tablet will be given to my sister, who made it possible for me to submit the piece in the first place. I hope that the entry will give her some sort of recognition as well by game developers in the region.

It was always my dream to work for Blizzard; although the reality is that the thought of me joining Blizzard as a concept artist alongside Samwise Didier is a little far-fetched, because I have seen so many other gifted artists out there who are far more skilled than I am, and probably stand a better chance than me, who doesn't even know how to use a wacom tablet. All I have is my imagination, a blank piece of paper and a pencil. But winning this contest is a huge thing for me; I am happy to have my works recognised and rewarded by my heroes at Blizzard. It's a small victory, but it's an important victory for me. I am reassured of my passion for games and art, and I am confident that my creativity will once again take me much, much further than where I am already.

Hopefully, in another 7 years, I will achieve much greater success. Hopefully, in another 7 years, I will once again have time to play the video games I love so much...