#sciartober2020

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 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

Sciartober Day 25: For the prompt, mimicry, I referenced some photos from Paul Bertner’s flickr of the Kerengga ant-like jumper (Myrmaplata plataleoides or Myrmarachne plataleoides). They are particularly fascinating for how well they mimic ants, with slender legs, pedipalps that look like ant jaws, and a very Hymenopteran body shape. Plus, I always like a Salticid. My Kuratake brushpen cartridge is low, so this is mostly done with a Copic Multiliner brushpen and a Prismacolor fine line marker (03) on Canson mixed media.

Sciartober Day 7: For the prompt, invertebrate, a couple of purple-striped sea jellies (Chrysaora colorata). Spent too much time reading last night, so I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on this piece. Luckily, I’ve drawn quite a few jellies at this point so the process was relatively quick and painless. Pentel brushpen, Daiso brushpen, and Pigma Micron (01) on Canson mixed media paper.

Sciartober Day 13: For the prompt, avian, a casual murder of crows. I was hoping that making a lot of silhouettes would cut down on rendering time, but it still took a few hours. Anyway, I had the idea of a close up crow with a bunch of silhouetted crows flying overhead, showing off various flying positions. Kuratake brushpen, Pentel brushpen (which is not so much leaking as dripping at this point), acrylic brush, Prismacolor fine line marker (03), and croquile pen on Strathmore Bristol board.

Sciartober Day 10: For the prompt: shelter, a hermit crab inside a whelk’s shell and outside of one, showing off their soft vulnerable abdomen. I think I’m going to keep the “naked” version a bit less rendered than the shelled version. Daiso brushpen, Sharpie Fine Line Marker, and Prismacolor Fine Line Marker (01 & 03) on Canson Watercolor paper.