KangJason asked a couple of days ago:

"is this really you mike? if so, what happened to your old account??"

The answer is that I'm not really a part of the whole social media thing anymore. My facebook account is no longer active, and my twitter is just basically there to promote stuff, but hopefully only to promote stuff that people who are following the account would be interested in. I deleted my deviantArt account as well because I really did primarily consider it a social networking tool (which is totally cool) and a marketing tool (also really cool) and I didn't think I was using it very well in those terms. In fact I think in general I wasn't using the whole social networking thing correctly either. I have an unfortunate habit of saying things that come back to haunt me sometimes, most times rightfully so, and as they say, the Internet is forever.

But the reason I joined dA in the first place is because I really like the community in terms of the level of skill and experience in art that is shared by everyone. So my second time around is hopefully just going to be built around this. I'm only very recently trying to become a finished artist (in that I'm trying to produce finished pieces, as opposed to pieces that need to be finished by other people, no matter how talented they are or how much better the product of the collective talents looks in the end.) I'm not trying to become a colorist, or an inker, for that matter, in that I don't have any desire to color or ink anyone else's pencils.  I just want to do something from start to finish, and that is something that most of the great, or even just good, artists on dA seem to have mastered. In addition to being a more full accomplishment, I've also discovered that it's also a lot of fun directing and establishing things that I've never tried to before, except in theory. And I really feel like that's what creating art should be. The reward is either in the process, or in the product, and this next step for me seems to add to both.

Whether or not I'm any good at it is another matter Whether or not it's in the layout or pencilling stage, or the lighting or coloring stage, or whatever, I really want to improve as an artist as well just from a personal standpoint, and I think the best way to do that is to welcome input from everyone, especially in the artist community. So as well as using you guys as inspiration, which I hope to maybe reciprocate, I hope to also make everyone feel welcome to offer constructive criticisms. I may not respond to everything, but I do read it all eventually, and am grateful for the time you spent writing.

Thanks.