FANDOM BLOG

I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study

after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines

et voila

GIVE IT UP FOR BIRD NUMBUH 5, THE CANADIAN GOOSE, Branta canadensis!!!!

bird 5/14, Bluejay, Cyanocitta cristata

birds 6 and 7: American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, male and female

BIRD NUMBER 8, (yellow shafted) NORTHERN FLICKERRRRR, Colaptes auratus

genuinely made me start questioning my sanity around day 3, it's half the size the of the goose, WHY did it take me 4 days to finish??

Bird number 9: Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on

this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏

BIRD NUMBER 10!!! The Male Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos

the male and female ones are gonna be posted separately bc they're taking a lot longer lol but yea! super happy i was able to capture the iridescent green of the head, i found metallic green and blue paint at a craft store that really made his head POP. it looks better in person i promise

ALSO!! As this is the 10th one, BIG announcement. The end is in sight!!!!! I plan to finish within the next 3 weeks and there will be a small dedication ceremony/ unveiling happening at the library to commemorate its completion on the 16th of May. If you live in the Western New York region and want to check it out for yourself shoot me a dm!

there's plenty of reasons that many other animals can't vomit! the act of vomiting is actually fairly complicated biologically speaking, and requires:

a) a neurological path to detect unwanted material and trigger the rest of the physical process of vomiting, which needs

b) a reversible entry between the esophagus and stomach, and

c) a diaphragm muscle powerful enough to contract the entire midtorso hard enough to empty the stomach violently backwards up the esophagus without accidentally getting anything into the lungs (this is why vomiting kind of feels like you're dying)

animals that don't have access to the vomit ability tree for lack of any of these systems tend to just have really REALLY beefy digestive processes that can break down most harmful things they could reasonably eat by mistake, or else they do something else entirely to purge their system.

for example! frogs cannot vomit, true. but they CAN just evert their entire stomach inside-out out of their mouths, scrape the offending insect off with their little frog paws, and slurp it back down into their torso!

those are all domestic horse issues that were introduced by humans when we bred horses to be taller and faster and hence more fragile. wild horses do not have these problems.

this thing doesn't need to vomit because a) it doesn't have people feeding it weird shit sometimes, b) it doesn't even have ACCESS to the weird shit like parsnips that can give a domestic horse colic, and c) they're sturdy enough to survive most mild issues that accidentally eating a bit of the wrong plant could give them.

I promise you that the steppes of eurasia were never filled with the corpses of wild horses that died tragically of tummy hurty. they evolved to be functional and competent animals until humans started fucking with them to make these things

Spawn Camping

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise. 

First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.

We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.

In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that,  including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.

Thanks we all sincerely hate it. Look I know Tumblr's entire Thing™ is being a hellsite and complaining about every update that crosses the dash but please. Do not do this. I am actually literally begging you to give me a reason to stay loyal to you guys. If there was ever a single time where our feedback as users was actually listened to, please let it be this time. Taking this action will alienate artists, and as a website based primarily on following artists, I can promise you that if an artist leaves, their fanbase likely will too. Tumblr will hemorrhage users at an unsustainable rate. Personally, I think I'm gonna head to Pillowfort or Dreamwidth and hang up my shoelaces for good if something doesn't change.

Original Posters deserve to know how many people they've reached. Artists deserve to see ALL of their feedback. Fanfic writers deserve to read ALL of their comments.

Sincerely, caffeinatedsquirrl