2021 art summary

A very raptor-full year. I don't think I even drew any non-raptor dinosaurs, though a few humans and other non-dinosaurs did still manage to sneak in.

I took on a couple of a bit bigger projects, after finishing the a bit bigger comic project continued from last year. Meeting is a shorter comic than Collision, but it's the second-longest dino comic I've made so far, and in full colour. The figure repaints were not as plentiful in numbers, but they did take enough work that I pretty much spent the entirety of August on them with little time for other art things, and I'm really happy with how they turned out, especially considering they include my first tries at articulated joints. I also made another dino figure from scratch; a very small one, but miniature things are a challenge of its own kind. I'm pleased with the amount of feathered raptors I got to draw this year, too, and I think I've gotten better at those. I also finally finished a text-only story again.

Blank template for the graphic is by yorunaka at deviantart

Two messy babies

Dad M15 feeding 2-day-old E19 (front/lower on screen) and day-old E20 at Southwest Florida Bald eagle nest.

Second hatch!

This season's younger chick, E20, has now also hatched at SWFL Bald eagle nest.

Older sibling E19, and the growing pip on the shell of egg #2.

Colds

Supper for the little one

More baby pictures of newborn E19 from yesterday evening at SWFL eagles. Warning for a view of prey (a bird).

Hatch!

Hello, E19!

 Edit: A bit drier and fluffier E19:

Looks like there's a pip on Egg #2 as well now!

Harriet and E19. M was at the nest at the time of hatching.

Pip!

Hatching has started for Egg #1 of the 2021-2022 season clutch at Southwest Florida Bald eagle nest.

Lot showing-off

I call this house "Weather, nosy neighbours, and burglars that know how to climb over a fence don't exist". Probably physics don't exist, either; some of the upstairs doesn't look very soundly supported, if such things were acknowledged by this game.

(I don't have the Seasons EP installed, so weather - other than not-too-hot, clear-skies summer - indeed does not exist.)

Just add sauna

Managed to make a functional swimmable lake! Will probably still dress it up a bit with more plants and such should I have residents on this lot other than my brave tester sim, but it works.

• tutorial by patul
• clear floor tiles by RGiles
  
• diving board & pool ladder recolor by tkdjunkie
  

Nib frabanage

New gaming computer for my state of the art games.

December sunset

A pretty sunset in the winter for a change.

Duck and parrots at eagle nest

The duck continues to incubate her five eggs at the Sydney White-bellied Sea-eagle nest, and is visited by a flock of rainbow lorikeets.

Masu and other things in morning light

 

She's been all mine for two years today.

Sunrise reflecting from windows of one apartment building onto the wall of another.

Birb.

New egg at the White-bellied Sea-eagle nest, too, with a twist

It's a duck egg!

It's outside nesting season for the eagles at the Sydney White-bellied Sea-eagle nest, and a duck has chosen the empty nest as a good spot to lay and incubate her eggs. A duck nested there during the off season last year, too, perhaps the same one. The nesting wasn't successful then, but perhaps this year she will have better luck. In any case, seems the eagle cam is a duck cam now.

Meanwhile the latest news I've heard of the eagles is that a juvenile sea-eagle found in the area had a three-week stay at wildlife hospital to recover from an injury, and has been successfully released back into the wild healthy and banded. It's believed to likely be one of the chicks from this nest, and looking at this news video about it, that does look very much like SE27.

Good luck to all of you modern dinosaurs out there, eagle and duck alike.

Lamplight and branches

New season and new egg at SWFL eagles

Harriet has laid the first egg of the 2021-2022 season at the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle nest, at 15:48:56 EST yesterday. Looking forward to another successful season of eaglet-raising.

Harriet (front) and M15 a little over an hour before egg.

The sunlit wall matches her eyes

Yes, that.

Misted lights

Spoopy gift

WIP stages for the tiny skull making an appearance in my recent raptor toy figure photoshoot.

 

Light grey and black polymer clay, and aluminum foil, later also joined by liquid polymer clay. I'm using a silicon "brush" tool, a sewing pin, a small craft blade, and a loop of wire, and sculpting on a glass photo frame and baking paper.

RaptorCon 2021

I put one together last year and had fun taking pictures of my raptor toy figures interacting, so let's do that again! This year's con doubles as a Halloween party, and triples as a birthday party.

Welcome, scalies, featherfloofs, and all those inbetween!

 

Or outside of that spectrum, I suppose, as our two organizers are, fittingly for the theme of the evening, skeletons.

Snow morning

snöge

It snowed.

SE27 and SE28 fledge!

Both eaglets left the nest tree this morning. Not entirely of their own volition, but that's how it goes sometimes. Here is video of the fledges: SE28's, SE27's, from both cameras, and here are some screenshots I got of the events:

First, SE27's first visit to the branch SE28 first branched to. SE28 meanwhile perches on "SE27's branch". She prepares for a jump...

...and launch!

Good job!

Branch hopping with mother

SE27 (left) and SE28 exploring the nest tree branches together this evening at Sydney White-bellied Sea-eagle nest. The Pied currawongs would still occasionally swoop at them, but an eaglet at the cusp of fledging can only take so much being cooped up in the nest.

Wings open, head down

SE27 (left) and SE28 having some evening negotiations at Sydney White-bellied Sea-eagle nest.

The chicks have been continuing their branching adventures, despite disturbances.

Couch corner cat

 

A napping Masu.

Oops, I woke her up.

 

I think I might be forgiven if I pet her, though.

Happamia

Siblings are not landing pads (allegedly)

SE27 trying out a branch of the nest tree. Just a couple of steps, but I do believe that counts as at least the beginnings of branching! The eaglets are starting to consider leaving the nest, and climbing is a gateway to flying.

Squabbles with each other and with neighbors

SE27 (left) and SE28 getting ready for bed at Sydney White-bellied Sea-eagle nest tonight. SE27 is 11 weeks old, and SE28 turns 11 weeks tomorrow. Post includes views of prey.

Cozy stretches and effective theft prevention

Screenshots from the Sydney White-bellied Sea-eagle nest from the past week. A few screenshots show prey, including in closeup.

SE28 stretching a wing over big sibling SE27.

A book of tyrants

 

I bought a new dinosaur book. "T-Rex and other tyrannosaurs" by swedish artist Johan Egerkrans, published in 2019. I found it a delightful look at various tyrannosauroids, including the King of the Cretaceous itself, as animals instead of monsters, though of course some details on their hunting abilities are going to be of interest.

There's also a quick overview of other prehistoric creatures, mainly the dinosauria clade as a whole and theropoda in a bit more detail, before getting to the stars of the book, so some illustrations of other dinosaurs as well as pterosaurs (and one synapsid) are also included (yes, there are raptors, and they all look great, even the one unfortunate individual that has ended up as prey). The illustrations are beautiful, stylized depictions of naturally colourful animals both very and barely feathered. Despite the stylization, there is attention to scientific accuracy, and this book feels like it's made out of a desire to share the joy of knowing about these animals as they are currently understood to have been.

So, I loved the book, and wanted to share the joy. I think it presents the information in a way easy to understand for kids and adults not neck-deep in scientific terminology, and have I mentioned the art is fantastic? Here are (photos that don't do justice to) a few of my favorites:

Autumn air sniffs

 

Bonus blep: