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!

aaaand another one bites the duck,

we're movin right along with bird numero 11!! The lady Mallard!! Anas platyrhyncos

power couple that they are, here's bird number 12 and 13,

the Northern Cardinals, Cardinalis cardinalis

and NOW that they are complete, ITS GO TIME, in the next five days (library's closed for mother's day 😭😭) i need to have the GBH fully rendered, the names of the birds vectored, weeded, masked, applied to the wall, and then painted, plus additional cattails throughout. I may be able to get away with just getting the GBH done in time for the unveiling and then just have the names and cattails added later, but i'm gonna really try to get it all done in time. BUT, i have a plan. Part of why i take so long on these is because i really am just figuring it out as I do it lmao. there have been many a time where i am sitting on top of the ladder googling "how to paint birds" but I think if i take the time tomorro to do all that figuring out how to approach it beforehand, this will go a lot faster. I may also recruit some of my artist friends to help with the placing of the names... hrmm we'll see.

Anyways, shout out to the librarian who tracked down exactly the thing i needed so i could figure out where to place the highlights in my birds eyes, ur the real mvp

Bird number 14 out of 14,

The Great blue heron, Ardea herodius

thank you to everyone who reached out or got excited about this project, it genuinely gave me the fuel i needed to keep going. In total, the 480+ total hrs it took me to cover this wall pales in comparison to how long its expected to spend on there, hopefully imparting a sense of beauty and love for the natural world to the next generation and here's hoping i'm only getting started with these.

Thank you for my life, I hope you’re sitting down for this.

This is the only tierlist I feel I've ANY authority to make (if you’ve been following me long you could probably guess what's on it), but I'm not gonna be a hater bc I have mutuals who play this game whom I must not offend - so instead of doing S~F I'll just do a top 5 with 10~20 honorable mentions:

Jawbone:

This is the perfect outfit fullstop (I know I went off on Jeans Ghost last night but that's just bc I like jeans) Jawbone is The look, the right amount of dramatic yet casual af — this murder uncle, out here hunting on a weekend, rolling up those sleeves to get to bloody work. We first MEET him in this fit, and we are in love IMMEDIATELY because who shows up to a function like this demanding OTHERS for some answers?? What a legend

The fuckin khaki top with the split canvas hood/cape, the red pop of the gas can... This mask is also his best, it’s honest, with the jawbone meticulously painted on: alluding to the time he dug himself out of a grave with one - poetic, macabre, ARMS, ARMS, TATS TATS TATS

I have probably drawn him in this the most, and if I haven’t I’m a fraud - too bad we'll never know for sure

2. Jeans Ghost:

It’s compact, lightweight, battle-ready - it’s the iconic 22 Ghost look and he is at his comfiest and nimblest in it, he can jump over a 10 ft fence in it. He killed shadows in it, fell in love in it, it’s clearly HIS favorite, well-used — and it’s madness that it's only getting added to Warzone NOW, if I played that game I’d be demanding compensation.

I think it's just like a windbreaker or something which is nuts, because he's the size of a mountain in this fit (kill me about it) and the JEANS... sun-bleached, a little stretched but never tattered... it's workmanlike, Ghost's just a laborer. Then ofc there's the hot, useless harness around his thighs, and for what (we know for what)

I also love the version of this with the Ghost Team mask:

3. Red Team:

This would've been number 2 if Jeans Ghost didn't hold all that sentimental value. This… phantom of the opera mask has moved me with it's hard surface and smooth edges ever since I first laid eyes. The fit is so clean, the camo's clean, the cape's clean — it's modern, it’s like what if Ghost wasn’t just the campest man in the SAS, what if he was just a little subtle about it. What if someone designed an outfit for him that carried the message (skull) while still looking chic, tactical, deadly, and like you could take him somewhere nice. Anyway there's like a 5-sec shot in a Warzone trailer where he blows up a car from another, shittier car and then slow-mo slides back in through the window, cape flying, so it's just simply out of my hands. Here he is earlier in the footage, driving like he wants to crash:

4. Desert Ghost:

I will not digress on this, but the mind you must possess to sew a skull onto a scarf, wear it over your head and then put on the fratboy-est shades to ever exist on TOP of that so the glare doesn't get in your eyes... that is a mind I can’t resist. I love him in this, it's nonchalant, it's artsy, it keeps him cool, presumably — he's living his best life.

5. Ghost Senpai:

Before you judge, have you seen the fit (ass) ON the field?:

I am but a simple beast. Everything about this outfit is insane: the rider jacket, the platform work boots, the white skinny jeans, the brick phone (??) on his belt, the holographic skull shirt underneath just in case it isn't clear he's going to a cybergoth rave after this

Also I think in order to fill him out to fit the hitbox for multiplayer, they like doubled his body mass, and I've never in my life been so grateful for fair play. Listen I don't need to explain this, you get it, my beloved mutuals get it, it's a no-brainer: this is step-on-me territory and it's on the list

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Classic Ghost: I love this 22 Ghost cosplaying as 09 Ghost. I love the 09 Ghost fit in general, bc it's such a cuddly jumper, and so old-man coded, and to see 22 Ghost in it is such a delight.

Nightwar: I do love this fit to death: "this is capture or kill", following the Lt into open fire, seeing him lit up in night-vision, falling in love media res — but it's not as iconic as the others, 70% of its goodness is sentiment, and god forbid I allow bias affect this very objective list

The Rook: I like, looked at this skin once to draw it and it grew on me instantly. It provides no tactical advantage, makes him look extremely bully-able — but there he is in his lean-back: "Go on take the piss, it's a ghillie suit" obscuring him in WHAT ENVIRONMENT? Who could say

Venator: I am endeared to this one because in my head it’s depressed, grieving Ghost letting himself go, not giving a shit about how he looks because the love of his life is dead, wearing one of Soap's scarves or something. Look at the RAGS on him, covered in dirt, cuts untreated, mask RUSTY?? (what's it made of)

Unidentified MWIII promo look:

Happy (belated) Appreciate a Dragon Day! I was so busy colouring these guys that I missed it ^^

Kazilik, just based on the description of Iskierka and her parents

Kazilik, based on one that Laurence remembers seeing at the Nile

Berghexe, based on a drawing I did 11ish years ago and the Berghexe butterfly (Chazara briseis)

Regal Copper, the pattern has no specific reference but I tried to use colours from a few butterflies: the large copper (Lycaena dispar), the fiery/golden copper (Lycaena thetis) and the ruddy copper (Lycaena rubidus)

Pascal's Blue, went with the colours I picked about a year ago

Sea Serpent, based on the dragon moray (Enchelycore pardalis)

Longwing, I just love their colours :3

Roi-de-Vitesse, based on @mist-the-wannabe-linguist's design

Papillon Noir et Pêcheur-Rayé

The colour of the Papillon Noir were inspired by various Papilio species, especially the giant blue swallowtail (Papilio zalmoxis), Horniman's swallowtail (Papilio hornimani) and the Malabar banded peacock (Papilio buddha).

The Pêcheur-Rayé was mostly inspired by the crested kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris) (which is actually also quite stripy) and the blue of the striped kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti).

A sleepy Malachite Reaper, and a Longwing and a Grey Copper meeting in the sky.

or a series of drawings inspired by this scene:

“The hills were odd; irregular and richly covered with grass, they drew the eye queerly as they went overhead. ‘Oh,’ said Emily suddenly, on the forward lookout, craning her head over Temeraire’s shoulder to look down at them [...]. Temeraire’s wing-beats slowed. ‘Oh,’ he said. The valley was full of them: not hills but barrow-mounds, raised over the dragons where they had breathed their last. Here and there an outthrust horn or spike came jutting from the sod. In places a little fall of earth had bared the white curve of a jawbone. [...] They flew on silently, above the verdant deserted green, Temeraire’s shadow flowing and rippling over the spines and hollows of the dead.”

Empire of Ivory, chapter 14

and by @elexuscal's vision of a hypothetical painting of the burial grounds. I've added image descriptions with some further details and context.

A gaggle of Jade Dragons for RustlingLeaves for this year's Temeraire Summer Exchange! Since they also asked for sketches, here's me trying to figure out how to draw Jade Dragons:

The wings are inspired by the common swift (Apus apus); they have a fast, dynamic flight which would match a Jade's.

This also means that the "arm" part of the wing is shorter than the "finger" part, which would mean that the wings are rather long when folded up. That also matches the description of Jade Dragons having dragging wings when walking.

I pondered either giving them a short mane or some frills or nothing and then went with a short mane.

For the horns I went with simple antler-like ones in adult dragons, they take a moment to grow though. The fifth dragon (the one landing) is a young dragon and therefore has more nub-like horns. (On that note: the fourth dragon is supposed to be old and therefore more grey in appearance than the others.)

Since dragons do apparently have external ears, I gave the Jades small ears to be more aerodynamic.

Realised that I had a few finished sketches I never shared, so:

Temeraire at the Cliffs of Dover during a Storm

Sea Serpent