I Know This Is Going To Make Me Sound Pretensions But I Have To Get It Off My Chest. I Feel An Unimaginable

Darkstalker redesign!

Finally I am free from Calculus and can do art.

Anyways the changes from my previous design are small but I think it will help with animating expressions.

This is an old OC of mine who actually has a name. I'm pretty sure mangrove was a rain wing name but there is considerable overlap between the two tribes loose territory that I think works as a mudding name too.

She's a lil darker than I expected, I think I need to counter the coloring with some lighter horns, but I like her a lot

Since she's an old OC, of course she has a tragic backstory.

She got lost as a dragonet playing with her siblings and ended up floating down stream. Unable to find her way back home, she started following other older sib groups. Not always welcome but eager to learn, she developed a generally friendly repour with the population around her. As she grew she started to wonder about her lost family from years ago and started traveling up stream to find them.

I want to use her development to explore the mudding cast system. If not by blood, then how do they decide who is more important or who should be allowed in the palace? What are their jobs, how do they grow crops, canals????

Adobe is going to spy on your projects. This is insane.

OH HELLO!!!

What a wonderful design, such sharp angles and interesting color choice. The shading and the detailing, and the ear shape. This looks amazing!

Frigid needed an icon in a pinch, so more stuff with a base.

Please do not use our art without our permission. Feel free to ask to use for icons and similar things, but we have the right to say no.

Program: Firealpaca Approx. Time: 10m Original Date: 01.04.25 Commission/Trade/Collab status in bio/pinned! Art Of: Frigid [Headmate] (System Member Artist: Vital)

Been trying to figure out this run cycle for months and gave up a while ago. Not as simple as a walk cycle unfortunately.

Had another idea for a movement loop. I think my problem is that I'm overthinking these. I want all the frames to be perfect, but they won't be.

I don't know why I've just now been struck by the animation bug but I'm grateful that I might be able to finish old work.

Hahahahahahah I'm not worried about my upcoming classes hahahahha

f(x) tribute band called f'(x). you'd think the point would be to be derivative but it's actually quite easy to differentiate the two.

I like the body shape

Progress sketches of Miller

My first attempt at a Hivewing.

This is actually an old WIP that I actually managed to finish, so yay!

I was attempting to imitate the gig wasp, and fortunately the colors seem to work.

Darkstalker picking his teeth.

Color is definitely still a weak point for me but I've got to practice.

Someone tell me if that arm looks janky. I tried my best but this seems to be what works.

The Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository is live!

You can find it at: https://www.animal-photo-references.com!

Here's how this repository works: all photos were taken by me, a human, at zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries, and other facilities with animals in human care. There is no AI involved in the photo editing or creation and there never will be. Right now there's 56 species on the site; my catalog has over 300 and I will be uploading the rest of them as fast as I can.

Artists creating derivative or transformative works (without AI) have blanket permission to use these references. Yes, even for work you're going to sell.

All other usage/reproduction requires permission, but assume I'm friendly and please do ask! That's educators, researchers, the media, people who need images for a school presentation, etc. This is just to retain copyright/control in case they're scraped/reused unethically - it doesn't meant I don't want folk to have access! So please do reach out via the contact form on the repository website, I don't bite and I'm most likely going to say yes.

Please don't repost the repository photos to your own blogs: I've created @animalphotorefs as a dedicated blog to share photos from the site, and of course I'll reblog a lot of it here! That again just helps with retaining copyright and sourcing of the images. If you really want to repost some for a specific purpose, please just ask me first!

Also, folks, this project has no funding. It's just me and my camera.

There will never be a paywall on the site - I believe resources like this absolutely must be free for everyone to access. So please, please, please support the repository if you use it. Want sneak peeks at photos, cute videos I take, or to help choose what I photograph and what gets posted first? You can do that through Patreon (and there's a free trial on the most interactive tier!) If you'd like to just drop a tip, I've also set up a Ko-Fi.

I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of the repository.

To whet your thirst for cute photos, here's an Indian rhinoceros contemplating a goose.