#gnsi

Sciartober Day 25: For the prompt toothed, a common tree shrew skull, which has some unique dentition being omnivorous with a good amount of insects thrown in. Despite being called a shrew, they are more related to primates than other types of shrews. Kuratake brushpen (extra leaky edition), Sharpie fine-line marker, and Prismacolor fine-line marker on Canson XL watercolor. And now I need to scan in the rest of the October pieces.

Sciartober Day 7: A female paper nautilus for the prompt: shelled. The females create the shells for protecting their eggs, but it also acts as a flotation device. Sumiiro thinline brushpen, Prismacolor fine line marker on Canson XL Watercolor.

Sciartober Day 27: For the prompt: amphibian, a Mini mum frog from Madagascar described by @markscherz last year. These frogs only get to 8-10 mm so the drawing is larger than the frog. I was pretty wiped out yesterday so I went with something small. Daiso brushpen, Sharpie fine line marker, Prismacolor fine line marker (01), and Sharpie oil-based paint pen on Cottonwood Arts 4.5″x4.5″ grey-toned paper.

Sciartober Day 18: For the prompt: aquatic, some simple shapes and a quick rendering. These are by-the-wind sailors or Velellas, a jelly relative. Each individual is a hydrozoan colony. Most people know them from the ones that wash up on beaches, looking mostly clear, with a bit of brilliant blue. Kuratake brushpen and Sharpie fineline marker on Canson XL watercolor.

Sciartober Day 10: A sea cucumber for the prompt: underappreciated. As mostly detritivores, these squishy bodied Echinoderms eat most of the decaying organic matter on the sea floor and help create a fine grain sand. This particular sea cucumber is called a pineapple sea cucumber. I chose it for the aesthetics even if did increase render time. Also bad planning puts one side too close to the edge of the paper. Kuratake brushpen and Sharpie fineline marker on Canson XL Watercolor.

Sciartober Day 29: Taking a very loose interpretation of the prompt: webbed with an American desert hare or black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) skull with it’s fenestrated rostrum. As @alithographica likes to say, “any excuse to draw a skull”, but also because I haven’t done a full-on skull this year yet. My Kuratake brushpen and Pentel brushpen are running out of ink so they do very nice delicate lines. Also Prismacolor fine line marker (01 & 03) on Canson mixed media.

Sciartober Day 30: I spent a long time pouring through my William Stout books and thinking about dinosaurs before I settled on this little guy for the prompt: extinct. An Opabinia sp. from the Burgess Shale, a small (2-3 in) marine arthropod with 5 eyes, a long proboscis, and a segmented body. Once I had my subject, this actually was the quickest for a piece and took about 1/2 hr. I’ve apparently drawn enough arthropods that drawing a segmented body was pretty ingrained and as an extinct creature there wasn’t a lot of information to draw on. Copic Multiliner brushpen, Sharpie fine line marker, and Pigma Micron (01) on Canson mixed media.

Sciartober Day 18: For the prompt: In the ocean, I pulled together a few photos of the deep sea swimming sea cucumber, Enypniastes eximia, known colloquially from such wide-ranging names from the Spanish dancer to the headless chicken monster. The rocky background is from one of the photos. I should’ve watched some of the videos, since the way they move is quite interesting. Here’s one from NOAA. Kuratake brushpen, Sharpie fine line marker, and Prismacolor fine line marker (01) on Canson mixed media