Hello everybody, I hope life is treating you well or at least not too harshly. I write this to say that starting from 4th November my activity here will diminish because I start Russian language course at University. After trying to see if I could get along with Spanish, I understood it's not the language for me, never was but prejudices against Russia (just because Putler is a shitty person along with the politicians around him, it doesn't mean you have to shit on a culture I genuinely love, and don't equate a government with its people) and positive biases towards Spanish in my family made me make the wrong decision. Not to mention that only a few percentage of students pass her stupid exam with low grades, while in Russian most of people are able to pass it with great results.

So now I had enough of a teacher who clearly doesn't want to do her job the proper way (correct the entire test, don't let a stupid compute correct the grammar and if it's correct then you correct the rest; one can have a weak grammar but still be able to communicate, remember guys language is communication, not rules). I've already studied Cyrillic alphabet 10 years ago because it was a period in which I was studying Romanov dynasty and Peter the Great in particular (I have two biographies about him), and I was interested in Russian history in general. I also have a 1970s book a dear friend of mine gifted me about AK-74 in Russian. Perfect to practice my reading skills and learn some words. Another amazing friend of mine gave me all necessary material to start studying it before the course starts. I also want to mention how many times she complained that English Literature 2 teacher got the biggest classroom and she had to choose a smaller one; excuse me, buuuut English is a language chosen by majority of students of my University so it's more than natural that course require a bigger room...plus don't talk shit about that teacher, she is an angel, awesome as person and fantastic as teacher. She gave me and made me love English literature even more than I already did.

I can't wait for it to start! I already discovered I love Slavic languages since in first year I enrolled Serbo-Croatian course and this language gave me such satisfaction. Now it's a bit rusted due to other exams that kept me away from practicing but I still love it. Speaking of Russian language in future I will share some photos of photos of Leningrad during Soviet period my father's Russian ex-girlfriend took, I also have some rubles from 1920s circa. In the meantime I want to share a gift this talented woman gave to my father and I keep in my room:

See you next time, wonderful people!

Hello everybody! In the first part of this blog I wanted to show some photos of insects I took but because I can't upload more than 10 photos I had to split it up. I don't rule out I might even add a third part because I want to share other pics of the rose chafer I saw last weeks and this will give me continuity with the last photos of the previous blog.

In this photo I wanted to position the insect upside down to photograph segments and sections of the ventral view, then I immediately re-positioned her and put in my vegetable garden like in this pic:

I put her under the sunlight because she was little responsive of stimuli and because it's an ectotherm animal, a nice warm source from the sun is a nice solution.

Harmonia axyridis

This is the photo of a multicoloured Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis) I took two years ago in my vegetable garden. H. axyridis occurs in many color forms. Adults are strongly oval and convex, about 6 mm long, and 5 mm wide. The common color form, f. "succinea", is orange or red in colouration with 0–22 black spots of variable size. The other usual forms, f. "conspicua" and f. "spectabilis", are uniformly black with, respectively, two or four red markings. The pronotum is white with variable black patterning, ranging from a few black spots in an M formation to almost entirely black. The underside is dark with a wide reddish-brown border. This specimen belongs to the form "succinea". Extreme forms may be entirely black, or feature complex patterns of black, orange and red.

This species is native to eastern Asia from central Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan in the west, through Russia south to the Himalayas and east to the Pacific coast and Japan, including Korea, Mongolia, China, and Taiwan. Because of its ravenous appetite it has been used as biological pest control from farmers, I use them too when I have to deal with aphids on my eggplants and sweet pepper plants but I discovered that home-made garlic spray is even more effective against them.

The human-mediated process of introducing them for biocontrol purposes led this species to spread across Americas, Europe, Israel, New Zealand, and South Africa. This species is widely considered to be one of the world's most invasive insects, partly due to their tendency to overwinter indoors and the unpleasant odor and stain left by their bodily fluids when frightened or crushed, as well as their tendency to bite people. In Europe it is currently increasing to the detriment of indigenous species, its voracious appetite enabling it to outcompete and even consume other ladybirds. The harlequin ladybird is also highly resistant to diseases that affect other ladybird species, and carries a microsporidian parasite to which it is immune, but that can infect and kill other species.

Despite its effectiveness at controlling aphid populations the harlequin has been reported to be a minor agricultural pest that is inadvertently harvested with crops in Iowa, Ohio, New York State, and Ontario. This can cause visible and sensory contamination. Contamination of grapes by this beetle has been found to alter the taste of wine. 

I leave you here an interesting study about antibacterial activity of compounds secreted by this insect:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3297383/pdf/rsbl20110760.pdf

Iphiclides podalirius

This is a beautiful scarce swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) I photographed some spring ago. The distinctive feature of this butterfly is the presence of several long and black tiger stripes in knife-like patterns on a creamy white base. The borders of the hind wings are lined with several inverted crescent moon-like blue markings including the long tail-like protrusion at the end of the two wings. There are also two orange-yellow spots almost in the middle of the secondary wings. Average wingspan for the male is about 60–80 mm while the female has a wingspan of circa 62–90 mm. This species is widely spread across Europe except the northern part, Turkey, Near East, extending to the Middle East across Kazakhstan to the Altai, Southwest Siberia and western part of China.

You can find this little flying gem in scrublands, hedgerows, open orchards, isolated bushes, as well as in human-made gardens, towns and the countryside. Lifespan of adults is 2-3 weeks. First time I had occasion to see this beauty, before her I saw a common yellow swallowtail (Papilio machaon) soaring in the fields during my walks.

Fun fact: the scarce swallowtail butterfly can soar in high altitudes even at alpine levels as high as 2000 m.

TW: SPIDERS (now there will be some pics of spiders, if you have arachnophobia do not continue scrolling this gallery)

Steatoda grossa

Also known as the cupboard spider or the false widow is a common species of spider found in North America, Australasia, and Europe. This female is about 6-10.5 mm in length and has a black coloration with a round, bulbous abdomen. Typical coloration ranges from purplish brown to black, with light-colored markings but this specimen was all solid black with brown to reddish legs. It is often confused with other venomous spiders in the genus Latrodectus but unlike Latrodectus genus this species does not have a bright red hourglass pattern or any other bright, distinctive markings.

Males are smaller but can many times be nearly as long as the females, and can measures 4.1-10.0 mm in length. It is thinner than the female. I never saw a male, only females. it reportedly preys on black widows. They can go several months without feeding, provided they have access to water. A well-fed female can lay three or more egg sacs each year. Each egg sac typically contains between 40-100 eggs. A really lovely fact about this spider is that the female watches her eggs for hours, even days, at a time once the eggs start changing color and grow close to hatching. An egg will usually hatch within a month of being laid. While the male can live 1-1.5 years, the female can live up to six years.

The bite of this spider is known to be medically significant in humans, but minor, without any long-lasting effects compared to Latrodectus genus. Symptoms of bites include: blistering at the site of the bite, muscle spasms, pain, fever, sweating, and/or a general malaise lasting for several days.

Steatoda triangulosa

A photo of triangulate cobweb spider (Steatoda triangulosa) I took three years ago, I hope to post better pictures of this fella in future. As you can notice the spider has a brown or black body with yellowish legs, white and yellow triangle-shaped spots (hence the specific name triangulosa) on its abdomen, and purplish-brown zigzag lines from front to back. Besides the triangular shapes on abdomen, another peculiar characteristics is the round-shaped bulbous abdomen which can be admired better in females than males who are more leggy and slender than their female counterparts. The adult female is 3 to 6 mm long while the male is smaller. The species is cosmopolitan found in many parts of the world, including across North America, in southern Russia, New Zealand, and Europe.

You can find them on windows and several dark, dingy, and dirty corners of buildings as well as other human-made structures, they usually don't bite unless threatened or feel so and the bite is mild and not harmful to humans. I handle them sometimes and I got never bit by them or other spider because I tend to be slow and gentle. They prey on pillbugs, ticks, arthropods, ants (like fire ants), as well as other spiders like the Brown recluse and Hobo.

Fun fact: because of their prominent abdomen in Germany they are called Fettspinnen (literally 'fat spiders')

Scytodes thoracica

A female spitting spider (Scytodes thoracica) that lives in my house. The name derives from the fact that she spits a venomous sticky silken substance over her prey. The size ranges between 3–6 mm. The carapace is unusual in sloping upwards towards its rear end, whereas the abdomen slopes downwards. Unlike other spiders has only 6 eyes instead the usual eight. You can find this species in Europe, North Africa, Turkey, temperate Asia to China, Korea, Japan. It was introduced in North America, Argentina, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

Hunting starts during the night and the spider sneaks very carefully towards its prey and, from about 10 mm, stops and carefully measures the distance to its prey with one front leg without disturbing it. Then it squeezes the back of its body together and spits two silk threads in a zigzag manner over the victim. The prey is immediately immobilized. This is how an immobilized prey looks:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/FliegeSpeispinne.jpg

Fun fact: some species exhibit presocial behaviour, in which mature spiders live together and assist the young with food.

Zoropsis spinimana

A beautiful female false wolf spider (Zoropsis spinimana) I found in my house while cleaning the yard last year. I gently hold her and put in a safe place as I had to wash that area. Awwww, my heart melts looking at her (I love spiders so much). I took other pics of this beauty. Like in all spiders females are larger than males and this species reaches a length around 15–18 mm while males are 10-12 mm. You can see how the brownish prosoma has broad darker markings, ophistosoma has median black markings. The legs are mainly a speckled brown color.

They primarily hunt freely at night, meaning they do not build a web. Spider are sexually mature in autumn. The females lay eggs in spring, resting in a brood chamber on the cocoon. The species is distributed widely in the Mediterranean, but reaches into Russia, and was introduced to the United States (San Francisco area) in 1990s and to the United Kingdom (London area). It can reproduce north of the Alps because of climate change and now a 2023 find describes the species even in Copenhagen.

The female lays eggs in a silken sac, which she guards diligently until they hatch. The sac is often hidden in crevices or under rocks to protect it from predators. Young spiders, or spiderlings, emerge from the eggs looking like miniature adults. They are independent from birth and start hunting small insects soon after their first molt.

In terms of hunting behaviour, Zoropsis spinimana does not construct webs to catch prey. Instead, it relies on its agility and hunting skills, wandering at night to hunt down its prey.

Like most spiders they are venomous however, their venom is not harmful to humans under normal circumstances. It is primarily used to immobilize their prey. Their diet mainly consists of insects and other small arthropods. Their presence in an area can indicate a healthy insect population, which is vital for ecological balance.

Fun fact 1: in Germany they are called Nosferatu-Spinne because the abdominal black marking evokes the vampire of the 1922 German silent film Nosferatu

Fun fact 2: Zoropsis spinimana spiders have been observed to “play dead” when threatened, a behavior not commonly seen in spiders.

Fun fact 3: despite their roaming nature, these spiders are known to return to the same hiding spot regularly, showing a sense of territoriality or preference for their chosen home base.

Trochosa ruricola and Euborellia moesta

An interesting case of predation from a male rustic wolf spider (Trochosa ruricola) towards a male Southern European earwigs (Euborellia moesta) I could observe before washing my yard (after taking pics I took them and put in my vegetable garden to avoid killing them with water). If you take a closer look under the spider's right third leg you will notice the earwig counterattacked and hit with his forcep-like pincers right in the area between book lung and digestive tubules, causing the wolf spider great damage. The earwig escaped then after the spider gave up hunting him. I know the earwig had to defend himself but at the same time I felt bad for the spider. I hope he recovered after this unpleasant experience.

The females are 15 mm but can reach 25 mm, and the males are 10 mm. Both sexes are dark brown and have a pale band that runs down to the carapace and continues to the abdomen. The spider hunts on the ground and often gets caught in pitfall traps(1). Females carry an egg sac around on their abdomen for around 3 weeks until spiderlings emerge and gather on the mother's back. Grassland, woodland, scrub, and lawns of temperate Asia, Europe, North America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda (in the last five countries it is introduced(2)).

E. moesta is a common earwig (Dermaptera, family Anisolabididae) in the Southern parts of Europe. The female lays several batches of eggs between May and August. The larval development is often completed in September. Although omnivorous, E. moesta is an occasional predator. It lives alone, showing territorial aggression. However, the fights end without any wound to opponents. Mating occurs with aggressive preliminaries, without any courtship behavior. The intra-specific aggressivity appears by the end of the first larval instar(3).

The earwig in this photo is at third larval stage considering the number of antennae segments.

References and footnotes:

(1) Hopkin, Steve. "Trochosa ruricola in Cornwall". Stevehopkin.co.uk.

(2) "Trochosa ruricola". World Spider Catalog.

(3) Blancheteau, Marc & Jean-Pierre, Lumaret. (1979). Observations préliminaires sur la vie et le comportement d’Euborellia moesta (Géné) (Dermaptère) en conditions d’élevage. Vie et Milieu. 28-29. 211-236. 

Hello everybody! I hope you are having a great day.

In the first part of this blog series about photos I take or took in the past, I talked about some old, historic photos taken during WW2, here I want to share some photos of insects and arthropods I took (there will be spiders too in the next blog so do not go forward if you have arachnophobia!). Because I cannot post many pics, this blog will be split in two parts 2a and 2b. Enjoy the first part^^

I want to start with lovely red admiral:

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is a well-characterized, medium-sized butterfly with black wings, red bands, and white spots. I could see and take several photos of this fella in my vegetable garden. It almost looked like he was posing on purpose to be photographed as I could take pics from different angles XD

The species is found in temperate regions of North Africa, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and island regions of Hawaii (introduced if I recall well), and the Caribbean. Mals are territorial and perch during the afternoon until sunset. They patrol their territory by flying around the perimeter between 7 and 30 times per hour. On average, territory holders interact with intruders 10 to 15 times per hour. Only males of exceptional flying ability are able to chase off intruding males and successfully court females and this makes females to select only males with a territory. Wow, such demanding life for a male admiral! Respect.

In northern Europe, it is one of the last butterflies to be seen before winter sets in, often feeding on the flowers of ivy on sunny days. The red admiral is also known to hibernate, re-emerging individuals showing prominently darker colors than the first brood. The butterfly also flies on sunny winter days, especially in southern Europe. Whereas in North America, the red admiral generally has two broods from March through October.

Sometimes, especially in the female, the red band of the forewing bears a small white spot in the middle and this is why I think the specimen I photographed it's very likely a male.

Chrysolina rossia

I am sure it's a Chrysolina sp. and I think it's likely a Chrysolina rossia due to its common presence in Italy and the trapezoid shape of the prothorax unlike Chrysolina sanguinolenta which has an arched prothorax (the species is not that present in Italy). The species belongs to subgenus Stichoptera. This is a very large genus consisting of about 450 described species and a further 250 subspecies included in 65 subgenera of which 23 are monotypic. It is a species primarily distributed in the Balkan Peninsula and Italy but reaching also France and Central Europe. Kippenberg (2010) lists it for Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Serbia. In Switzerland, it is restricted to Ticino. 

Polystes gallicus and Aspidapion sp.

I was taking some pics of this paper wasp (Polystes gallicus) I noticed a small friend on this geranium leaf, a beetle belonging to the family Apionidae. Sadly the focus in on the wasp so I can't tell if it's an Aspidapion aeneum or an Aspidapion validum, I am more inclined it's an A. validum.

This has spent all night in the northern side of my house so the next day, after I noticed her, I took the wasp and put on geranium as sun hits the flower during morning. This way the heat coming from the sun might have helped her a little but since we are in autumn she will likely die soon. Rest in peace.

Aspidapion is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Brentidae. The species of this genus are found in Europe and Africa(1). Brentid larvae are fungivorous, eating fungi on dead wood. The adults are usually long and dark, and can be as small as 1.5 mm or as long as 90.

Polistes gallicus is a species of paper wasp found in various parts of Europe, excluding England, Denmark, and Scandinavia, from warmer climates to cooler regions north of the Alps, and uses an oral secretion to construct their nests, which consist of a combination of saliva and chewed plant fibers. This structural mixture physically protects the nest from various harsh elements and from weathering over time. Bright yellow and black markings are the most distinctive traits of this species but it may be separated from allies through the following traits:

females are identified by having 12 antennal segments and 6 abdominal segments. The antennae are orange and paler on the ventral surface than in many allies and have yellow-marked scapes. The malar space is short, under 0.75 times the distance between the lateral ocelli, and is black. They have slender mandibles that are mostly colored black with an excentric yellow spot on each. In contrast, the clypeus is yellow and often with a small but distinct black spot or band. As in many species within the subgenus, the mesoscutum has a pair of developed spots. Both the spots on the propodeum and continuous band on the fourth abdominal sternite are wide. Unlike species such as P. dominula, P. gallicus has a mostly black hypopygium(2) (a modified abdominal segment, in some insects, which supports the copulatory apparatus).

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5674218/pdf/zookeys-713-053.pdf

males are identified by having 13 antennal segments and 7 abdominal segments. The head is roughly triangular as viewed from the front with a curved clypeus. The apical half of the antennae is entirely orange-yellow, and the final segment is slightly under twice as long as wide. The pronotum has a yellow band that widens toward the sides as well as short, straight hairs. The mesosternum is largely yellow, more so than in some allies. Both the mesoscutum and scutellum typically have distinct spots. The abdomen has the final sternite entirely black(3).

P. gallicus is one of 27 members of the subgenus Polistes (Polistes), which are typically very similar black-and-yellow species. This similarity has resulted in taxonomic complications in older literature. For instance, many references prior to 1985 misapplied the name to the European paper wasp, P. dominula. In terms of coloration, P. gallicus typically has yellow spots on the mandibles as well as a black hypopygium whereas P. dominula has often entirely black mandibles and always a largely yellow hypopygium(4).

P. gallicus is also very closely related to P. biglumis and P. mongolicus, which are members of the same species group(5). The former synonyms, P. foederatus and P. mongolicus, were restored from synonymy following revision of the genus in 2017 and are considered as distinct species again(6).

Cetonia aurata

This is a photo I took two years ago. This is a female green rose chafer (Cetonia aurata) I photographed in my house before releasing her in my garden. It is a 20 mm long beetle with a metallic vivid green colouration and a distinct V-shaped scutellum that can be found in southern and central Europe and in the southern part of the United Kingdom. South East Asia, especially in the countryside and outlying islands of Hong Kong, is another place where you can find them. They have a fast flight and feed on pollen, nectar, and flowers, especially roses hence the common name. Larvae have a C-shaped body with a firm, wrinkled, hairy look, a small head, and tiny legs. They grow very quickly and will have moulted twice before the end of autumn. They have a two-year life cycle. They pupate in June or July.

One might think that the colour is natural but it is created structurally. The colour is made by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light instead of pigments, although some structural coloration occurs in combination with pigments. It happens because of the reflection of mostly circularly-polarised light; like other scarabs, this is left circularly polarised. Besides the common green there is also copper, grey and black. Some specimens have white speckles (like this one) while some have very few or none at all.

I want to share with you some new photos of another specimen I saw these days in my garden:

If you want to look around for adult rose chafers May to October are the best months, when they are active. Curiously I saw this beauty on 31st August. It can be confused with the much more rare noble chafer (Gnorimus nobilis), to identify them keep in mind that on the noble chafer the scutellum is an equilateral triangle, but on the rose chafer it is an isosceles triangle.

Fun fact: when viewed through a right circular polariser, the beetle appears to be colorless.

References and footnotes:

(1) "Aspidapion Schilsky, 1901". www.gbif.org.

(2) Schmid-Egger, Christian; Kees van Achterberg; Rainer Neumeyer; Jérôme Morinière; Stefan Schmidt (2017). "Revision of the West Palaearctic Polistes Latreille, with the descriptions of two species – an integrative approach using morphology and DNA barcodes (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)". ZooKeys (713): 53–112. doi:10.3897/zookeys.713.11335. PMC 5674218. PMID 29134040.

(3) Ibidem.

(4) Ibidem.

(5) Larch, Rainer; Hannes Baur; Gaston-Denis Guex; Christophe Praz (2004). "A new species of the paper wasp genus Polistes (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) in Europe revealed by morphometrics and molecular analyses". ZooKeys (400): 67–118. doi:10.3897/zookeys.400.6611. PMC 4023243. PMID 24843256.

(6) Schmid-Egger, Christian; Kees van Achterberg; Rainer Neumeyer; Jérôme Morinière; Stefan Schmidt (2017). "Revision of the West Palaearctic Polistes Latreille, with the descriptions of two species – an integrative approach using morphology and DNA barcodes (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)". ZooKeys (713): 53–112. doi:10.3897/zookeys.713.11335. PMC 5674218. PMID 29134040.

Thank you very much for this small but very important, personal milestone that I reached in these days. I never thought to get this far in less than a year I am here on NG and consider that my activity increased a lot after I passed most of the exams I had to do this year (there are still a few, but the most part is done). The fact that 100 people decided to follow this silly profile in which I try to use, combine and experiment different styles and touch various artistic topics really motivates me to improve even more and work to see different realities.

I admit that what makes me really happy is not the number, views or faves per se a submission, that I make, can get but the recognition of my effort in what I do via cool comments I see. When I see people notice the effort and want to take time to express this, well this makes me truly happy because even a single comment that points out this repays me for the time, effort and money I spend to make art. So to those people who notice this, I thank you all from the deep of my heart! You truly make my day!

Of course people are not obliged to interact with me nor to comment or fave, I am not like a certain person I met on DA back in 2016 who constantly required her followers to comment on almost every single post or piece she posted. This really drained my mental energies but thankfully my friends and I cut ties with this person long ago.

Naturally I won't always be active since real life can keep me away from this site but for now I want to cherish the time with you guys, the community and the site itself because I can manage to balance offline and online time.

100 people are 100 different worlds, thoughts, emotions and feelings that decided to interact with me in a way or other, and I find this quite fascinating. Fans are not numbers but people who have hopes and dreams. The title of the journal echoes line 454 of Terence’s Phormio.

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Asides from this happy event, I am also happy that I managed to finish in time my works for the Brazilian contest despite I am dealing with some stress no one asked for caused by my father. I thank my friends, this site and art if I am coping in a constructive way this extremely annoying stress that I want to end on legal terms (I won't go into details but let's just say I am dealing with a bastard for a month and a half thanks to my father's irresponsible behaviour). Brazilian contest helped me to create many works in a few time and with different styles but this month also allowed me paint with MS Paint for the first time in a serious manner and some funny and cool forum threads made me have fun with silly draws like the "Draw a face on Gengar". I posted only this submission in the thread:

But I want to share here other faces I want to put on one of my favourite Ghost type Pokemon:

It was funny to be silly and try different faces XD

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I am also finishing a quick drawing as way to thank the person who gifted me the Support status, thank you! It was a nice surprise to be able to promote an artwork for the Tuesday Takeover and I can't wait for tomorrow to promote another artwork. Like I said I prefer to promote others rather than me but I don't mind if people want to promote themselves, they have the right to do if their work is done with effort and creativity. Here the sneak peek of the drawing:

This is a thing I always liked to do, even when I was on DA and someone gifted me a Premium membership. I like to thank those who make my day with a small drawing, it's a personal policy of mine when I am online.

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After the Brazilian contest I will take an artistic break from participating in other contests or collabs because I want to recharge energies with personal pieces and I want to finish works for collabs I am already in. The Great Homer collab is doing great, I see many awesome and creative pieces in the forum thread and I know what to draw for my 8th Homer. Sadly I am reaching the end of my Homers but it was fun as heck nonetheless. Soon I will continue the ugly cat collab and after I recharged myself enough I will continue the cool OCtober challenge made by Oddlem.

So that's all for now, again thank you 100 people who decided to follow me, you are amazing and keep rocking! See you next time!

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing fine. As for me it's been a nice day and it concluded with a cute addition for the art gallery I am making for the Brazilian Art Contest (I aim at showing different styles and techniques):

This is my very first work with MS Paint I ever made because since I got my first computer I never really tried it because I didn't like the results it gave me but this thread gave me the will to go out my comfort zone in terms of relying only to a single layer just like in traditional art (despite traditional art gives me more control over what I'm doing). And I was happy to have participated because I learned a lot about some aspects of digital painting that Krita didn't immediately gave me. I learned the importance of "sculpting" colours using the same hues and editing the value to work with different shades of the same colour and build a more realistic image.

I first started with the background and practiced with blending colours by switching between the pencil and ink tool 2 in order to achieve what I wanted, then I started sketching the rough shapes of the capybara (photo reference). After this I spent a bit of time painting, blending and working on both shades and highlights to obtain the final result. This is first time I learned to see the digital painting process under a different light that not even Krita or GIMP gave me because I was too focused on other process of digital creation. Thanks to MS Paint I learned that I can use hard brushes, like ink tool, as sketching tool for the blending phase and then the pencil can help building different hues by only working with colours I put on the canvas. Digital painting is really a form of sculpture with colours and hues made by them and this experience showed me this concept in all its power. I will try to apply what I learned on Krita. See you and have a nice day!

Hello everyone! I hope this month will be full of inspiration and fear >:D

I am very happy to be able to finish and post my recent work for a Halloween collab I took part so now I can continue with the Brazilian contest. In the meanwhile a quick sneak peek of the ugly cat collab hosted by Simoes1000

Yes a lil' angry Pico I doodled while I was adding the tabby pattern to my cat (he won't hurt the cat I promise). This is an interesting collab that allowed me to work on a design that drift away from the usual idea of "ugly" cat, basically Doritos, Gattomammone (loosely) and triangular shapes inspired me with the design. I originally intended to go for a more normal cat (a shaved Persian cat) but then I got this idea and I didn't want to scrap it. The deadline is far way so I can focus on other collabs but in the meantime I started with the cat, I will then add a background which will be a forest one.

I will leave you with a pic I took three years ago during Halloween period:

It inspired me to write a Shakespearean sonnet but I still struggle with the iambic pentameter. That's quite funny since English language relies on it for the most part. Many words are iambic pentameters. Oh well, Happy October Month! May the fear be with you.

I had so much fun experimenting with a completely different style like Madness style. First time I participate to it since my account is less than a year old, here the preview of the finished work. I will post it tomorrow in the afternoon:

The complete work will be rated M due to the gore I wanted to add. It's been 9 years since I drew something gorish, last time was during a Goretober challenge on DA. It was extremely cathartic drawing this Madness fanart because irl I am dealing with something, or better someone, extremely disturbing and annoying so subliming my anger and frustration through art helped me a lot these days. Now that I am done with this piece I will start with the entry for the Heritage Day Collab, the sketch at least because the Madness piece tired me a bit due to the layers I had to use to achieve effects I wanted.

Well, see you tomorrow for the Madness Day!

Hello guys, I hope you are doing fine. As I mentioned in a previous journal I plan to post photos and talk a bit about them since I am removing them from FA after discovering I feel much more at home here with its amazing community. I want to start with a set of historical photos taken during WWII when my great uncle fought during Operation Barbarossa in Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Union (he was one of the few who managed to survive but he partially lost toe mobility because of frost).

Let's start with something simple:

The fallen fighter

This is a LaGG-3 "White 4-50" (Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3) shot down in 02/05/1942 in Stalino. With the help of my cool friend Szynka and this website I was able to identify the model. Despite its flaws and poor production quality, it was one of the backbones of the Soviet Airforce and laid the groundwork for one of the great fighters of the Great Patriotic War.

This was a single engine Soviet fighter. It was developed in 1938 under the name I-301 to replace Polikarpov I-16 and because there was a shortage of light alloys and steel, it was designed to be predominantly made of wood (delta-drevesina, a special chemically improved plywood that was particularly rugged and fire-resistant. The prototype was the LaGG-1 and  took its maiden flight on March 1, 1940. It was underpowered and overweight — its Klimov M-105P engine could produce only 1050 hp at sea level, which was insufficient, and was also prone to oil leaks(1). Pilots reported that the plane generally had poor flying characteristics (it was prone to spin during steep turns, it would stall suddenly, and the landing gear were too fragile). Despite these flaws, it passed its trials and was ordered into production in November 1940(2).

By the time of the June 22, 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, 100 LaGG-3’s had been built. All units operating the new fighter were far from the front lines and escaped the initial onslaught. By the end of 1941, it was for a short period the most common fighter in the Soviet inventory, more numerous than either the Yak-1 or MiG-3(3). The main flaws of this plan were slow speed, heaviness and being underpowered but it has some good qualities too:

highly fire-resistant

very rugged

heavier armament than its German counterparts, the Messerschmitt Bf 109E and F

Another trait of this fighter is that it boasted one 20mm cannon firing through the propeller hub, two 7.62mm machine guns in the nose, and two 12.7mm machine guns in the wings — and all these guns were a significant contributing factor to the plane’s weight(4).

fun fact: in October 1941, a single LaGG-3 unit, the 21st Fighter Regiment more precisely, shot down 23 German aircraft while losing only seven of its own(5).

It became a a successful bomber interceptor, but despite this it couldn't compete with Bf 109, especially the F variant. It was easier to fly than the MiG-3 but it was quite unpopular among Soviet pilots who nicknamed it “Lakirovanny Garantirovanny Grob.” This was both a play on its abbreviated designation (LaGG) and a reference to its wooden construction that translated to “Guaranteed Varnished Coffin.”(6)

Other downfalls of this fighter were the fragile landing gear and quirky flight characteristics that made it have high accident rate and not recommended for inexperienced pilots. In comparison Yak-1 was more pilot-friendly. LaGG-3 production ended in 1944, but the Russians continued to fly the type for the duration of the war. It even saw action against Japanese forces in the Far East in the closing days of the war(7).

It's also interesting that the LaGG-3 was made into the superior La-5 by swapping out its water-cooled engine for a radial, when the Curtiss P-36 was developed into the superior P-40 by making the opposite swap^^

Another photo I want to share is this:

Soviet POWs

This photo taken on 30/06/1942. It comes from my grandfather's photo collection that was given to me as way to honour his memory but most of all I want to pay tribute to history. The photo was taken in Donetsk (at that time the city was called Stalino), et the start of World War II, the population of Stalino was 507,000. After the war, the population was 175,000. The invasion by Nazi Germany almost completely destroyed the city. It was occupied by German and Italian forces as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine between 16 October 1941 and 5 September 1943. Hopefully it was mostly rebuilt on a large scale after the war. These people were Soviet POWs forced to work on a warehouse, I only hope they managed to escape and avoid the worst but I highly doubt. History shall never be forgotten.

And now I want to share two of the most dark history photos I have:

Stammlager 348

 What you are seeing is a line of Soviet POWs being sent in one of the camps of Dnipropetrovsk, the photo was taken on 06/10/1941. Dnipropetrovsk was under Nazi occupation from 26 August 1941 to 25 October 1943. The city was administered as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The Holocaust in Dnipropetrovsk reduced the city's remaining Jewish population, estimates for which range from 55,000 to 30,000, to just 702. As I said this is Stalag 348 where the occupiers are estimated to have killed upwards of 30,000 Soviet POWs. Rest in peace, everyone.

Here a list of all German stalag camps: https://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/Stalag.htm

I wanted to share the history of another stalag 328 but sadly the website will be shut down the next year and I can't find the article anymore :(

Last but not least, the death march photo:

Todesmärsche in Woroschylowhrad

This photo shows a line of prisoners leaving a concentration camp in Woroschilowgrad or Voroshilovgrad, renamed on 5 November 1935 in honour of Soviet military commander and politician Kliment Voroshilov because the original name is Luhansk. The photo was taken on 25 July 1942 and I find this particularly interesting from a historical point of view since the city became a frontline city in World War II after the failure of Nazi Germany's Operation Barbarossa to capture major Soviet cities.

On July 17, 1942, Luhansk was captured by German invaders (Case Blue). At that time, an underground city committee of the party and a partisan unit were created in the city. I. M. Yakovenko, who previously worked as the second secretary of the Luhansk City Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, was approved as the secretary of the underground regional committee and city committee of the party and the commander of the partisan detachment. In the partisan detachment were the secretary of the underground regional committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party of Ukraine, N. Fesenko, and the secretary of the underground city Komsomol committee, H. Serikova. A wide network of temporary apartments is being created in Luhansk. More than 100 people were left for underground work and organizing sabotage in the city. In addition, on the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, the city committee of the party selected and sent 35 communists to other partisan units. 64 scouts were sent to the rear of the enemy.

From the first days of the occupation, underground party and Komsomol organizations began to actively operate in the city and adjacent areas. The partisan unit waged an armed struggle against the fascist occupiers in Luhansk, on the territory of Stanychno-Luhansk, Verkhnyoteplovsky, Oleksandrivsky, Novosvitlivskyi districts. Partisans made bold attacks on fascist troops, destroyed soldiers and officers, disabled enemy equipment, telephone lines, bridges, etc.

On September 15, 1942, German nazis discovered and surrounded a partisan detachment near the village of Pankivka. In an unequal battle, fighting to the last drop of blood, I.M. Yakovenko, squad leader P.P. Shevchenko, Komsomol member Yu. Oleksintsev and others died. But as a result of a fierce battle, the partisans managed to break through the enemy ring, and those who remained continued to fight against the occupiers, disrupting their measures, destroying enemy soldiers and officers, and equipment. A group of underground Komsomol members led by N. Fesenko was active in the city. This group included H. Serykova, H. Shvedkova, V. Tretyakevich, pioneer V. Pyatorkin and many others. They carried out the assignment of the underground city party committee, distributed leaflets and anti-fascist literature. On the task of the underground regional committee of the party, N. Fesenko and G. Serykov, through V. Tretyakevich, established a connection with the party-Komsomol underground of Krasnodon, with the "Young Guard" organization.

One of the forms of struggle of city workers against the occupiers was the sabotage of their military, economic and other activities. Workers evaded work in every possible way, hid their true specialties, and if they were forced to work, they damaged machines and prevented the start-up of industrial enterprises. The Nazis did not manage to restore the work of any city enterprise. On February 14 1943, Luhansk was liberated from the German invaders (Operation Gallop).

Nazis murdered 8,000 civilians, including women, children and the elderly. More than 10,000 Luhansk residents, mostly young people, were forcibly taken to hard labor in nazi Germany. So this photography depicts one of the hot spots moments of the conflicts where we see these poor people being forced to leave a concentration camp to be transferred to other locations since Soviet forces were likely to gain ground. May those soul rest in peace. Sorry for everything.

And now as last photo to conclude this first photographic journal an Iron Cross Class 2 I bought on E-Bay from a German seller:

Das Eisernes Kreuz ist ursprünglich eine preußische Kriegsauszeichnung und wurde am 10. März 1813 von König Friedrich Wilhelm III. für Auszeichnung im Befreiungskrieg gegen die Napoleonische Fremdherrschaft gestiftet. Ich habe das bei bei einem deutschen Verkäufer auf Ebay gekauft. Jedes Mal, wenn ich es ansehe, zolle ich der Person Tribut, die in einem blutrünstigen Krieg namens „Erster Weltkrieg“ gestorben ist.

(Yes, I am practicing a bit of German since I am studying it)

Ok, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this looooong reading and if the T rating is not enough due to the nature of the post, let me know in the comment and I will change to M. Bye and stay awesome!

References and footnotes:

(1) https://hangar47.com/lavochkin-gorbunov-gudkov-lagg-3/

(2) ibidem

(3) ibidem

(4) https://hangar47.com/lavochkin-gorbunov-gudkov-lagg-3/

(5) ibidem

(6) ibidem

(7) ibidem

Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War Volume One: Single-Engined Fighters - Yefim Gordon and Dmitri Khazanov - ISBN 1-85780-083-4

LaGG & Lavochkin Aces of World War 2 - George Mellinger - ISBN 1-84176-609-7

Hello people, how are you? I hope you are all fine. In these days, despite some rough stuff irl, I am feeling quite creative and motivated on the artistic side due to the many collabs I am participating. Right now I finished sending my works for the OC's by night collab and Alien collab + Contest, but I would like to share a small sneak peek for the Brazil Day Art Contest:

It has been ages since last time I drew a snake, it was back in 2016 when I still had DA and I started a series about snakes of Florida. You can see that I tend to start with the head, a quick circle to build it and then the line of the back as way to draw the rest of the body. I know scales are the most challenging part due to the geometric angles they tend to have from different perspectives. This won't be the only entry I will do for the contest because I want to explore many aspects of Brazil from the mythological, cultural and anthropological point of view. It will be a collection of different draws and this will give me occasion to draw people of different cultures. Brazil, as you know, is a melting pot of cultures, many elements of Brazilian mythology are shared by the traditions of other countries, especially its South American neighbors and Portugal. My work wants to focus (or aims at it) on this rather than adding fictional characters in a Brazilian context (I won't rule out I might add a work featuring at least one fictional or OC but I feel more motivated to work on the cultural aspects).

I have already started colouring the first draw of this collection and it will be my very first caricature posted online of an important historical figure of Brazilian history. But I also wanted to start sketching the second work and share it here with you. I won't tell you the context of this snake though, you will know more once the entire collection is finished. I still have a month to reach my goal and ofc I will continue the Homer collab (I love it but I also need to vary the drawing subjects in order to not feel overwhelmed by the same topic).

Ok I will leave you know, I'm back to drawing. Bye!

I usually don't celebrate the increase of people who decide to follow this silly account but I couldn't resist to make this to celebrate the sacred number:

Some of my OCs looking at the result with...different reactions XD

On a more serious note I want to thank you all people who decided to follow me and see what I make. Thank you! Today was a stressful day but this number and the discovery here of a dear friend I met on DA really made my day. In these days I will continue the collabs and contests I am in. I am also thinking about posting these journals photos I take of nature (mostly birds, insects and reptiles) in which I will provide some nerdy stuff about the subject depicted there. No personal info about the location though, I like to maintain a bit of privacy.