Creative Corner

Snagging this space for a little creative background work. Realization of the day - my spanking new illustrious clan is pretty much a bunch of kids who have founded a clothing-optional commune at the beach. Most of them are still growing. I hadn’t paid a ton of attention to that before; there’s been a whole lot of other stuff to learn, but I’m starting to try to pay more attention to… [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444887_eb777692f6_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444917_91492b66a0_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193187856_815fe0c2a8_o.png[/img] [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444967_da8d787c3b_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193187981_913ee4c7f3_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444982_c63ace536a_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444952_402567af60_o.png[/img] ...details. Ratio here is a straightforward one pixel per mm of length. Those top three are at their full growth. Bottom four? Still have another full WEEK to go. Average adult Fae female, scryed here in basic white, is 1.09 m in length. [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50192729873_4e9dae6b1f_o.png[/img] That's just two hairs bigger than VanillaOrchid there in the bottom row. NightShade and RiverRain-- the bookends? *Big* girls, and getting bigger! (Oh yeah, and guess which one of these has had the attitude since she arrived? Which one whips her way into the Coliseum shrieking "Reap the whirlwind! I am the killer of a thousand cuts!" Which one has been counting down the days until our Imperial is breeding ready ever since I brought him home? I swear to Tidelord, I never looked at her stats until today. All this time, I thought it was a Wind thing. Compensating much, Abradorite?)

Okay, time to do the boys. Cis Fae males tend to be a bit smaller, averaging .9 m length. Taking a really close look at the relative skull sizes, I do believe this is represented in the standard art. [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193131298_58e0bd63c8_o.png[/img] Which... I think means I can safely just keep rolling with my same straight-across ratio? Average fae clocking in at .9 m tail tip to snout: [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50192774688_e9f1cec5fd_o.png[/img] And here's our own, again in order of age: [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193370371_7a87f31048_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193372511_9d125898f9_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193627057_89af80e5bb_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50192819348_b42cb0aaa8_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50192819353_7ceac623b3_o.png[/img] Yes, the last two are still growing but... Pond there at the end was born a week and a half ago. I don't think he's ever going to be exactly big. Now I understand why he is already bucking for a gene change that will make his crests stand out more... both of the four day old hatchlings are bigger than he is, and neither of them have hit puberty yet. Then there's the hatchlings... oh, fewmets, that's going to take actual math.

I'm having trouble figuring out whether keeping the same ratio is adequate compensation for the fact that the hatchling close-up is clearly not dimensional to the adults. Meanwhile, there's the Imps, Tundras, and Gaoler hatchlings, which are definitely going to need different ratios. There's a whole lot of Imperial tail and neck arched up in the standard art. I'm going to make a ballpark estimate that the pic is showing them relaxed at about 40% of their length. So, it would be about right if Zuma’s portrait here break down to 350px = 10m, 35px per 1m, 3.5px per cm, .35px per mm. Now, I do believe that to bring the fae in to that same scale… it’s just 35% of the pics I already did. No, wait, because the Fae are shown curled up at only half their length. So I need to double the size of the pics and then do 35% of that… or, 70% of the original pics. I think. [center][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193655911_da1513b12a_o.png[/img][/center] Yeah, that actually looks about right. ...and now Abra is irked at me for having another girl in the picture instead of grabbing BeeDee and making it a shot of our Coliseum team. Abra, BeeDee is really hating having his picture published right now, we can do it after he's gened when he'll be happy about it. And I'm sure RiverRain and Zuma have no interest in making babies together, right? Um. Oh. OH LOOK IT'S DINNER TIME RIGHT NOW.

So it looks like RiverRain's going to be staying down in the Tundra tunnel for a couple of days, which is fine, she gets along with everyone, and everything, so as long as the GaolGrrls don't bring home anything live and kill it in front of her we're good. And last I heard the Tundras have declared the tunnels a vegan-zone after that first morning gross-out. Nobody else eats meat around here; they weren't prepared. Moving on to the Tundras, then. "Who's a floofy floof-meister! Yes, you are, Osy, yes you are!" ... and she's rubbing his belly. With her whole body. That's our happy RiverRain. She'll be fine while Abra and Zuma talk it out and get a start on those eggs. Tidelord, girl, just... hold off doing anything with Zuma until after Abra manages to hatch out an Imperial, okay? Yes, Sasa and BeeDee are big free love advocates, but, that doesn't necessarily apply to everyone in the clan. She's a Coliseum fighter, sweetie. --- RiverRain's right. Osy is a floofy floof meister. He's also a big boy by Tundra standards, clocking in full-grown at a 4.54 m in comparison to a 3.57 m average. Crow's 17 days old and still growing a little, above average at 3.8 and still... well... just look at our lovebirds together. [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193206018_1bc6d18c6a_o.png[/img] And then there's the GaolGrrls. Those bitty balls of newly hatched fluff I brought home *the day before yesterday*? [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50194210797_401006172e_o.png[/img] We always knew they'd end up bigger than their fluff-daddies, but I think Moonstriker's going to outgrow Crow *tomorrow*.

Grown fae only, by wingspan: [center][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193187856_815fe0c2a8_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193372511_9d125898f9_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193370371_7a87f31048_o.png[/img] Sasa - 1.45m, Fresco - 1.31m, MG - 1.17m [/center] [center][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444917_91492b66a0_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444887_eb777692f6_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193627057_89af80e5bb_o.png[/img] Abra - 1.08m, MF - .95m, BeeDee - .85m [/center] Abra's got some real reach; no wonder she's such a hellion in the Coli. And no wonder BeeDee can never quite manage to dodge... ------------------------------------------------------------------ Grown Fae only, by weight: [center][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444887_eb777692f6_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193372511_9d125898f9_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193627057_89af80e5bb_o.png[/img] MF - 2.98kg, Fresco - 2.07kg, BeeDee - 1.18kg [/center] [center][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193187856_815fe0c2a8_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193444917_91492b66a0_o.png[/img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50193370371_7a87f31048_o.png[/img] Sasa - 1.11kg, Abra - 1.06kg, MG - 1.01kg [/center]

Just here to say spent all day-- ALL day-- yesterday transmuting down a pile of shale.

The Tundra lovebirds went out digging this morning and WHAT do they bring home?

It's been a bit. The GaolGrrls turned into a big handful. They charged into the Coliseum about five minutes after they hit puberty, which was not long before the clan doubled its size from over-enthusiastic breeding. I mean, Zuma actually woke me up just past midnight the day he was breeding-ready in order to be the one to take Abradorite to the nesting grotto instead of the other way around-- not sure if that was chivalry or apology but whichever it was she most surely appreciated the gesture. The sad thing was that RiverRain was ready for her first breeding about two days after-- sweet, uncomplaining, no-trouble Fresco had been waiting patiently for her all that time-- and she was still down with the Tundras. He was so disappointed... but putting her on a nest right next to the one Abradorite and Zuma were incubating was not going to be a good idea. Just... not. And then the completely unexpected happened. Primavera arrived. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/62516704][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/625168/62516704_350.png[/img][/url] Look at those wings. Isn't she dazzling? Took one look at Pond-- with his new pale crests like he wanted-- and they were off to the nesting grotto together before everyone else had even met her. Pond's got a full-sized ego now, let me tell you, and he isn't worried a bit about the rest of him anymore either. I guess he was right about the crests. So, of course, after Zuma and Abra's firstborn son and two daughters hatched and they cleared out of the grotto, I was able to get Fresco and RiverRain in next to Primavera and Zuma. It's just been too much. There were so many babies all at the same time we needed to bring in Suncatcher to be our nanny. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/63189301][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/631894/63189301_350.png[/img][/url] I've got to tell you, nothing beats a Spiral for keeping hatchlings occupied. And worn out. But what do you do to wear out the Spiral? We have not figured that out yet, but, the kids-- all teens now-- have built up a kind of clubhouse between the trees up in back of the cliff face that the cavern. It's made out of that tree sap stuff fae love, the sun shines right through it like amber. The thing is, instead of being the usual roost sized for two to four, this thing... well. Have you ever seen a hornet's nest the size of a small beach ball? It reminds me of that. So it's all settling down. The youth and the Spiral have their own space, the Tundra and Gaolgrrls are down in the ever-expanding tunnels, my founding fae and Imperial have the grand cavern back more or less to themselves most of the time... things are starting to feel back on track. Even with that Bogsneak coming around. And the Guardians who moved in and are now planning to breed an army.

The reason I wanted to catch up my notes on what all has been happening was THIS momentous occasion: [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50260807053_e600ba9b75_o.png[/img] Wait. No. Wrong picture-- not the Hibden incident. I mean [i]THIS[/i] momentous occasion: [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50276181303_0cccc019f8_o.png[/img] Thanks to Zuma's infinitely patient explanation of the details of external reproduction, Osy and Crow are having a go at fertilizing eggs laid by VanillaOrchid and Nightshade. Then they'll take any Tundra hatchlings down into the tunnels to bring them up the way they did Moon and Day, while 'Nilla and Nighty will take any fae hatchlings to be brought up commune-style, like pretty much all the other fae hatchlings have been. Since 'Nilla and Nighty have rare genes and colors very close to Osy and Crow, there's very good odds of any offspring bearing a strong family resemblance to the bois. And if we are very, very lucky, one nest will have a female Tundra, and one next will have a male one. That way, even though they can't make babies together, Osy and Crow will be able to have [i]grandbabies[/i] together, and still realize their dream of a fluffy family underground related to them both. And if we're unlucky, we're going to have to go through convincing both of them to try again... because the logic of the whole thing isn't really sticking in their fluffy fluffy heads.

Sidenote: Nothing prepared me for the constant smack-talk of the GaolGrrls in the Coli.

They're "Searing Jackalopes", grrls. Searing Jackalopes.

Not "punk-*** barbecue bunnies."

Why are you trying to make something that fast and mean even angrier?

So. This morning: [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50278951721_df19ae94d5_o.png[/img] I mean, wow. Could have been anything; either nest could have been all Fae, or all the Tundra could have been the same sex... Could have been anything, but, how could it possibly have been better than this? Osy's next hatched first, and, just like that, we knew we were probably in like Flynn. [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50280525112_be4bc35f20_o.png[/img] Identical twins. Identical-- male and female. And oh my Tidelord, look at that color gene combo. All three babies-- their father's torso and tert, and their mother's wing pattern. (Just look at that gorgeous little Fae.) As long as Crow and Nighty's produced just *one* Tundra, the dream was about to come true. Then the three eggs of nest number two hatched... with just. one. Tundra. [i]And he got his mother's ghost gene over his father's basic![/i] [center][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50280376386_8a16a4b664_o.png[/img][/center] Ghost is one of my all-time favorite genes and I do not have words for how much I [i]love[/i] ghost on Tundras in particular. Not only ghost-- that sweet smoky gray. Crow's tert color is watermelon; that's undoubtedly why he was free. (Fact is, my whole lair seems to be about breeding beautiful wonderful dragons out of other people's idea of trash.) And let us not forget the happy mothers, who are more than satisfied with what they got out of the deal: [center][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50279753733_969e864fb5_o.png[/img][/center]