Good gravy, is it 2012 already? I must be aging more rapidly as I get older; it feels like Halloween was about a week ago, and here we are, hurtling bravely into the unknowable rolling expanse of the future!

And as Miss *Sephiramy so aptly deduced that there were few better ways to celebrate the holidays than by showcasing the work of others to one's watchers and any passers-by, and was even gracious enough to supply a spot for me in her star-studded display, how could I do any less than to offer you the same, Internet?

Of course, as it has been a while, I can't imagine there's very many of you poor, optimistic, souls still fluttering by this page on the rare occasion I'll come scrambling back to the Internet and throw a few pixels together to try and obscure the fact that I've become a kind of digital nomad -- wandering the wastes for months at a time, and returning to my old haunts with delirious tales of new jobs, high-heeled boots, and weddings in the sand. But I am glad to see you again, Internet, and I dare say I can't think of a better way to get to know you again than to take a pilgrimage through your portfolios. And of course, if I can give any of you something sensational to look at in the process -- so much the better! And away we go!

RULES!
1. For each of the 10 first people answering this journal, I will post their avatar and the three deviations I like most from their gallery on the list!
2. If you answer, you have to do the same in your journal, putting the tagger on the first place. The idea of this is not to get a free feature, it is to spread art around for everyone!

1. First on the list is the incredibly lovely , who brought this meme back to my watchlist, just in time for a fresh new year!
I will get out of the way early that I adore this picture in the most inarticulate ways -- it just glitters like a jewel. More specifically, I love the warm and cool colors, the nuances of expression, and how the background manages to frame the scene without looking like it's trying to overtake it. It's a snapshot that tells a story, which is a hell of a trick, and it's even more bewildering and fabulous how it contrives to say it's a story with a happy ending.
Here on the opposite end of the warm-and-cool, heroes-and-villains, coming-of-age-and-mobsters-in-love spectrum, are Roddy and Desma, who not only aren't even looking at the camera, but don't have a background at all! I love them just as much, of course, because there's a lot you can say with interlaced fingers and posture, and there's not a background because some things are simple. It says a lot about them, without needing to have a word of it written down.
And, last but not least, this would be no kind of feature journal at all if I did not trumpet from the rooftops that *Sephiramy draws sexy ladies in their underwear and that that is awesome. (I'm sorry, did you think that I perhaps became some kind of serious art analyst in the interim between now and the last time I posted a feature journal. You were mistaken. )
(And dang it, I know I said I'd stop being indecisive and only post three, and I told myself - I told myself! - I wasn't going to post a picture of my own characters, even though *Sephiramy has drawn approximately a billion completely awesome pictures of every one of them, but I love this picture, and I don't care who knows it, because it is amazing.)

2. The noted illusionist, conjurer, and Sorcerer Supreme swoops in at number two -- you may remember her as ~PipChance from Masque! And of course, if you've never met before; why wait?
Entirely different from almost every other piece in her gallery, and it catches the eye instantly. I love how the shading on these figures sets them so definitively apart from one another and the background, and how the subtly sophisticated color choices that make the reds look redder and the blues look darker by performing dastardly illusions on the eye. Abracadabra!
And of course, who could forget writing as a type of very familiar conjuration, one magic word at a time? I love all the buttons and spats (the sleeve you can keep spare quills in!), and how Sterling has that scruffy, faintly guilty, twitchy look one typically sees on writers whose Muses lurk in dark alleys and hit them repeatedly with baseball bats. (That is to say, most writers.)
You can try to tell me that not only fitting this many characters into one picture, but fitting them all into one brain isn't a magic trick, but I will probably not believe you! Look at them all!

3. at slot number three -- did you miss her the first time this journal went up, because Crow can't count? Alas! Don't be the only one on the block not to have had a peek at this gallery! The revolution must not be stopped by matters of mathematical impossibility!
There's something serpentine and appealing about Alastriona; the combination of the slinky dress of clinging green nothing and the addition of the piercings, with the contrast of her very pale hair and skin, makes her a visually arresting character. I wonder if we'll ever see more of her?
If there is one thing to say about *Enveous, it is that if you love to watch an artist's style grow and evolve, she will scratch that itch. Take a look at this character sheet for Tatsuya after looking at some of the older character sheets in the gallery, and prepare to have your mind blown. The attention paid to clothing, the pose, and - as bizarre as it sounds - Tatsuya's feet totally sell this image for me.
Glorious. I've never drawn a mech that didn't look vaguely like a turtle that ate too many crayons, and this kind of drawing is why I'll always be embarrassed of that. Full-view to really get a good look at those wings, guys, I promise it is worth it! Praxis herself is a sweet, memorable, character -- of course I'm not biased because I thought Hephaestus got a bum rap in Greek mythology and it's delightful to see someone related to him prodding buttock and taking names!

4. , making a rare public appearance at slot number four! Alert the paparazzi!
Oh, wait, you -- you didn't want to use this elevator, did you, Freeman? Har har har! Headcrabs are jerks!
I'm always jealous of people who can draw animals -- and the single-spot-of-color contrast here is real nice, too; even if the subject matter isn't. Awooo!
_{AAAARGH CAN NOT UN-SEE.}

5. What's that? We didn't get to the despicably desirable until slot number five? Now that's a crime! Always a fun gallery to prowl around in, but mind the murder!
Oh, man, there is just nothing about this picture I don't like. Not only is the mood lighting fantastic, and the expression on Vicare's face says everything any budding megalomaniac will ever need to know about being threatened by some troglodyte with a peashooter, but the fact that there's already one bullethole in the wall (perhaps one's initial overture for a truce didn't go over as well as one hoped?) lends the whole thing a delicious sense of urgency. It looks like a screen capture taken several seconds before an astonished audience learns how one can turn a mugger inside out using only one's brain.
*VicareLovelace has a keen eye for design, and what seems like an intuitive knowledge of what will look good together and function in a design. Nothing feels overdone, out of place, or unnecessary, but none of them feel overly simplified or dumbed down, either. Suffice to say if this was a real show -- in space! -- I would watch the hell out of it.
Not only is it a group shot drawing together a ragtag band of misfits who happen to be real people, but it oozes slick style and some great, sharp, composition. That, and the three-color palette just screams noir, which you all ought to know is my weak spot to attack for massive damage. This is it, boys, this is war!

6. springs onto the scene at spot number six, like a plague of enlightenment locusts intent on razing the amber waves of your unsuspecting existence up until this point to chaff!
M'aaaaw! But for real, I am just having the hardest time deciding whether the MAW is terrifying or adorable. Maybe it's the bunny ears, combined with the fact it's some kind of wiry, agile, murderous cannibal robot. Either way, I want one in a terrarium that I can feed mealworms and Miracle-Gro until it's big enough to rampage.
Okay, I'm not sure where I was even going with that anecdote in the last feature. But I love the quiet, understated, creepiness in this one. The cozy library, the nonchalant pose on the fellow with the pinstriped vest, and the antiquated amber screen tone (complete with dog-eared edges!) is a jarring contrast to the suddenly stark and unnerving shadows on the faces, the sudden realization of the shadow on the bookshelves, and of course the eyes, aaargh aaargh.
_robot

7. powerslides gloriously  into spot number seven, bringing the might of Canadia behind her!
I mentioned that I have a huge and shameless weakness for noir and ladies that are basically poured into dresses, right? Right. Just checking.
I really shouldn't give you features back to back that will give you this kind of mood whiplash, should I? Haha. But it's so cute! How could I not? It's also an example of one of *SabieMoonbeam's most admirable qualities -- there's almost more art for others in her gallery than art for herself! She is a generous soul, and the Internet art community would be lucky to have more like her.
Pffft, okay, the expressions on this one are pure distilled glee. Bahahaha. Spider-sense -- tingling!

8. , also known as one half of ~NanameAndCiaros, busting up slot number eight like the street-smart vigilante she is! Word to your mother!
I love *Parara's "cutout" style, and this is one of the best illustrations of why. Also she draws dragons like nobody's business. Gung hay fat choy!
The perspective and moody colored shading on this is just lovely to behold! I also really like Venn's design -- there's nothing quite like a widebrim hat, a sweeping cape, and tall boots to say "I own you".
Like the vector "cutout"art from the first feature and the traditional art of the second? Why choose? Let it never be said that *Parara cannot cater to every taste!

9. brings the funk wherever he goes, and thus slot number nine is the funkiest of them all!
I love how the owner of that huge toothy maw is almost obscured by the shadows in this one, and you could almost miss the eyes at first blush, but how they become impossible to miss once you see the tiny light source in the center. Fabulous use of light and shadow!
Goodness, could it be a theme? Haha. I'm really liking this idea of a Pokemon battle operating on the rules of what looks cool, though -- grinding and breeding chains be damned! -- and this is a clever way of depicting the fight!
Some nice motion on this one, Internet! It looks like it hurts!

10. shows slot number ten who's boss! Bam!
Okay, so I'm a little biased because I always felt like Hephaestus got a bum rap in Greek mythology. (I can't believe these features blitzed me like that!) What better cure than to embrace the power of going zero to hero? Hephaestus actually gets to do a lot of cool dress-up in this gallery -- check it out!
Because no feature journal can ever have too much Blue Beetle!
Because he calls his harpoon "Natalie".

11. And next-to-last, but certainly nowhere near least, the rogue steampunk super-genius who roared away from endless dusty academia on a motorcycle fueled on self-actualization and swing dancing, ! (I'd come up with a cute description, here, but she's basically Indiana Jones, only instead of treasure maps she uncovers the square root of a billion. How do I top that? I throw up my hands! FEATURES NOW!)
Still one of my favorites from her gallery. The peaceful, uplifted, expression is done marvelously, and the floaty, dreamlike, feel from the muted colors and the not-quite-submersion really lends an interesting effect. Even the blood swirls are pretty!
I may have mentioned before how much I loved Runaways (a Marvel comic series by Brian K. Vaughn), and the fact that =Sins-Of-Angels not only feels the same way, but managed to put my two favorite characters in the same picture is, naturally, something I'll gravitate toward! Of course, I could hardly expect you to share my enthusiasm if this wasn't also a deliciously technically sound picture -- Karolina in particular is marvelously done (be sure to full-view to get a good look at the skeins of color in the hair and the textures on her blouse!), and Molly's sassy stance is every bit as indicative of who she is as the titular quote.
Salvation The point of the land was to be impressive.  Since he stepped out of the carriage, he could see that.  Impressive and imposing, with old, distinguished stone steps through the winding hills that only seemed to go up.    But he climbed all of them, even the ones that crumbled under his feet.  There were hedges and trees, guards to bar his way.  As if this was a test.  Although, in this society, it very well might have been.  Here was different.  Here with the stone steps and winding hills and guarding trees, everything was different.

Eventually, even the trees gave way to an arena.  It was the first place he had come to that wasn’t overg Because love expects no reward, keeps no score, and knows no fear -- even if the very human shell around it fears plenty. A great read, that builds a setting so quickly and subtly you hardly see the stage being constructed, and asks questions of romance that don't have the easy answers, and are instead an untidy conundrum of fear and love and acceptance and sacrifice. Guaranteed to give you the shivers if you've ever known love as something that, when it can't pull you out, goes willingly after you.

12. I know I said ten slots, and I've already had eleven, but is a true-blue stand-up bro, and I hadn't featured her last time, and it is my journal, and you are not the boss of me! I'm a loose feature cannon!
Oh, man, look at that facial structure and the subtleties in those expressions. It's a beautiful thing!
Because I love people dancing; especially when they're as bouncy and thoroughly fabulous as these two. Anybody arguing that life is not a musical is advised to check themselves, lest they run the very real risk of wrecking themselves on this piece!
asdlkjsfghlfsdf brb, have to go lie down for a minute before I die of the giggles. _{(INCONCLUSIVE!)}

Mahalo, Internet. I missed you! It's good to be back!