Hello Newgrounds and its people, I hope you are spending serene holidays these days. I know I have already written a recap on my profile and you can read it here: 1st Year on Newgrounds: recap

but here I would like to review this 2024 as whole so both here and outside NG because I would like to reflect on this year that is about to end in few days.

Photography

Some of you already know by my previous shutter-bug chronicles blogs that I developed a passion for photography. A passion that was born in September 2023 thanks to a dear University friend who offered to take me to Sardinia. This passion grew over the year, my favourite subjects are birds, reptiles, insects, spiders, nature in general. I hope one day to photograph wild endemic mammals too (now I only photographed a nutria), but I know it's more difficult than with birds because they are more elusive. I know that in "my" area there are many small rodents like common voles, Eurasian harvest mice, yellow-necked mice, short-tailed field voles, wooden mice, brown rats, black rats etc. then there are red foxes, common hares, roe deer, boars and ultimately even wolves. I will share here some of the shots I loved the most during this year:

-January

This is one of my favourite photos I took of this 'lil "bastard". I called him simply because he was the most difficult subject to photograph because he is so elusive and quick (I love these birds). He is not that different from wild Tamago in Tankmas ADVENTure XD you have to approach very slowly and not let him to see you or else he will fly away. Even blue tits, great tits, hooded crows, Eurasian jays and common redstarts were easier to photograph, lol. This is not the very first photo I took of this species though. The very first was in November 13th, 2023 and fun fact about that first pic: my TV was playing "Un bel di vedremo" while I managed to capture this bird in my camera. The music unironically fit perfectly the situation, lol.

-February

I just love how bright and vivid colours are and how they stand out the colours of my vegetable garden. They visit often my garden during winter time and I love feeding them.

-May

If you look carefully and with a bright screen you can see AR3664. So if you see a purple-violet trail-like hue, congratulations that's an aurora borealis I could see and photograph for the first time of my life. One of the largest sunspot groups in recent history is crossing the Sun right now and I have to thank Link4universe, an amazing Youtuber I follow, if I could not only get notified of this gem but also to witness it where I live and take some pics. I never imaged I could see an aurora. As you know auroras are the result of disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Major disturbances result from enhancements in the speed of the solar wind from coronal holes and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These disturbances alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma. These particles, mainly electrons and protons, precipitate into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere). The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emit light of varying colour and complexity. The shape I could see was a mix of glow and arc, it was beautiful almost terrifying and sublime to me since I never saw one in real life and where I live they usually are not visible.

Auroras can have many colours from green, red, yellow, blue to ultraviolet and infrared. The one that got photographed in Italy were all reddish purple-violet. The colour red occurs at highest altitudes. Excited atomic oxygen emits at 630 nm; low concentration of atoms and lower sensitivity of eyes at this wavelength make this color visible only under more intense solar activity. The low number of oxygen atoms and their gradually diminishing concentration is responsible for the faint appearance of the top parts of the "curtains". Scarlet, crimson, and carmine are the most often-seen hues of red for the auroras. Auroras can make noise too. Aurora noise, similar to a crackling noise, begins about 70 m above Earth's surface and is caused by charged particles in an inversion layer of the atmosphere formed during a cold night. The charged particles discharge when particles from the Sun hit the inversion layer, creating the noise. Exposure time of this photo 30s.

-June

These two are my favourite photos not only of June month but of all 2024, especially the juvenile hooded crow. That day (it was June 5th) I went visiting a park of a city near where I live to have opportunity to take some bird pics and other stuff. I know that area is visited by hooded crow, my favourite bird species of the area where I live. Sadly they are pretty shy and it's difficult to take good quality photo but in this area they are quite common and I love listening to their contact calls to locate them and know what they are up. When I was walking I noticed a crow head and I immediately stopped not to disturb him/her but the bird didn't fly away and soon I realized he/she was a juvenile hooded crow. First time of my life I could see one and take several pics of him/her. Parents were perching on a tree near the area the little crow was in. I could listen to one of his/her parent's call, they were probably telling him/her not to go too far from where they could watch him/her. I discretely took several pics and then took a different turn because I didn't want to disturb or stress both the juvenile and parents. Just because I love photography it doesn't mean I have the right to annoy animals if they don't want to be disturbed. Respect is one of lessons true photography one learns. I don't consider myself a true photographer, I have a lot to learn in terms of technique but many times I see some people annoy animals or put themselves at risk just for a photo.

After I returned in the area I didn't see him/her anymore but I could immediately listen to his/her call. It looked like to me that he/she was practicing his/her calling skills because I didn't hear the typical voice they make when they are fed (at this stage they can still beg for food) and I couldn't notice that first notes of the call barely resembled that of a crow but then the following ones sounded more crow-like.

The second photo is this lovely lil fella I met during my walk in the park, an Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus). This is also the first reptile photo I post here, yayyyy :D The lizard was very chill while sunbathing (horrible pun I know XD) so I took opportunity to take a pic of him. He didn't feel annoyed or bothered by my presence, but I wanted to take only two pics because I wanted to leave him alone while warming up.

The snout–vent length of P. siculus is 150–250 mm on average. P. siculus is characterized by a green or brown back with a white or green belly. There is variation in length and color diversity due to the many subspecies and populations of P. siculus. The trademark of this species is the characteristic of having many subspecies within its large range. Studies evidence how rapidly P. siculus subspecies can become distinguishable from larger populations given geographic isolation. A 2008 study detailed distinct morphological and behavioral changes in a P. siculus population indicative of "rapid evolution":

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas.....0417112433.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/2008042.....evolution.html

If you want to know the many subspecies it has here a link:

https://web.archive.org/web/2008061.....acertids2s.htm

It has so many subspecies that Henle and Klaver (1986) described 52 subspecies of P. siculus. Podnar et al (2005) described 6 groupings of P. siculus in the species' native range: Sicula clade (Southwestern Calabria, Sardinia, and Sicily), Monesterace clade (Istrian coast), Catanzaro clade ( central Calabria), Suzac clade (islands in southern and central Dalmatia), Tuscany clade (Western Italy) and finally Campestris-sicula clade (Northern Italy and the Adriatic Islands).

The species can develop different dorsal patterns (campestris, calabresiae, intermediate 1, intermediate 2, reticulated, concolor etc.) and morphs, for example Podarcis siculus klemmeri is a blue morph found exclusively on the small island of Licosa (province of Salerno, Campania). Take a look a this morph:

https://www.zoochat.com/community/m.....emmeri.466971/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:.....89-1d-left.png

Another pic I loved of this month was this:

Last time I saw these birds I was still in high school. They are by far the most difficult to spot and photograph because how rarely I see them, mostly because the area is already occupied by other birds and they don't like foreign birds. The European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) is a small passerine bird in the finch family that is native to Europe, North Africa and western and central Asia. The subspecies of the European goldfinch are divided into two major groups. These intergrade at their boundary, so the groups are not recognized as distinct species despite their readily distinguishable plumage. Subspecies in the carduelis (black-crowned) group occupy the western part of the range and have black crowns; subspecies in the caniceps (grey-headed) group occupy the eastern part of the range and have grey heads. The bird is 12–13 cm long with a wingspan of 21–25 cm and a weight of 14 to 19 g. The sexes are broadly similar, with a red face, black and white head, warm brown upper parts, white underparts with buff flanks and breast patches, and black and yellow wings. The bird's preferred food is small seeds such as those from thistles (the Latin name is from Carduus, a genus of thistles), cornflowers, and teasels, but insects are also taken when feeding young. It also regularly visits bird feeders in winter. In the winter, European goldfinches group together to form flocks of up to 40, occasionally more. Insects, including bugs, moths, beetles and flies, form a smaller part of a goldfinch’s diet, particularly during early spring and in the breeding season. Spiders and larvae are also eaten.

Males have on average, more extensive red on the head, black nasal hairs and lesser coverts that are black or brown black, sometimes narrowly tipped brown. While females are described as having, on average, less extensive red on the head, grey or blackish grey nasal hairs and lesser coverts that are broadly tipped brown although occasionally as narrowly as some males. From: https://two-in-a-bush.blogspot.com/.....hic-study.html

I suggest to give it a read as it's extremely interesting and shows limits of this type of sexing. Juveniles have a plain head and a greyer back but are unmistakable due to the yellow wing stripe. Birds in central Asia (the caniceps group) have a plain grey head behind the red face, lacking the black and white head pattern of European and western Asian birds. The nest is built entirely by the female and is generally completed within a week. The male accompanies the female, but does not contribute. Common nesting spots for goldfinches are usually found tucked in between branches of a bush or tree, particularly fruit trees. Nests are built up to 6 m off the ground, with higher nests occasionally used. Eggs measure around 17 mm by 13 mm and are shades of pale blue-white to grey-violet, spotted with purple-reddish brown markings. The clutch consists of between 4 and 6 eggs, which are incubated for 13 to 15 days by the female alone. At least one brood is raised each year, often two, and sometimes as many as three. Goldfinches do not usually mate for life, but they are seasonally monogamous, and stay together throughout the breeding season, raising their young together before going their separate ways. Pairs form in late winter, and it’s unlikely that the same pair will reunite and raise young together again. European goldfinches are commonly kept and bred in captivity around the world because of their distinctive appearance and pleasant song. I personally highly disagree trapping a wild animal to keep as a pet just because it elicits you an egoistical attachment to positive sensory stimuli (pretty look and pleasant call). Leave them alone. In Great Britain during the 19th century, many thousands of European goldfinches were trapped each year to be sold as cage birds. One of the earliest campaigns of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was directed against this trade. Wildlife conservation attempts to limit bird trapping and the destruction of the open space habitats of European goldfinches.

Fun fact: if European goldfinches are kept with domestic canaries, they tend to lose their native song and call in favour of their cagemates' songs.

-November

A beautiful black cat that visited my garden. I love black cats, they are my favourite cats.

-Curious phenomena

The first pic is easily explainable: it's ballooning. It is a process by which spiders, and some other small invertebrates, move through the air by releasing one or more gossamer threads to catch the wind, causing them to become airborne at the mercy of air currents and electric fields. A 2018 study concluded that electric fields provide enough force to lift spiders in the air, and possibly elicit ballooning behavior:

Electric Fields Elicit Ballooning in Spiders

This is primarily used by spiderlings to disperse; however, larger individuals have been observed doing so as well. The spider climbs to a high point and takes a stance with its abdomen to the sky, releasing fine silk threads from its spinneret until it becomes aloft. Journeys achieved vary from a few metres to hundreds of kilometers. Even atmospheric samples collected from balloons at five kilometers altitude and ships mid-ocean have reported spider landings. Ballooning can be dangerous (due to predators, and due to the unpredictable nature of long-distance ballooning, which may bring individuals to an unfavorable environment). Species such as Erigone atra, Cyclosa turbinata, as well as in spider mites (Tetranychidae) and 31 species of lepidoptera, distributed in 8 suborders, display this behaviour. First time I witnessed this phenomenon. In other areas fields were covered with a blanket of spider web, giving the feeling a delicate snow fell down.

The second photo was taken at the beginning of this month and it was the first I saw a huge flock of pigeons. The funny thing is the symmetry in which they positioned themselves. I have another pic with fewer pigeons but you can see how aligned they were on the roof. This photo shows other pigeons who came later. Pigeons are social creatures and tend to flock together, especially during the winter months. Large flocks provide warmth and safety, as pigeons huddle together to share body heat and conserve energy. They create a "warm bubble" around them to keep them warm and this is fantastic because it shows the versatility of this cool species.

-Christmas Gift

This is a gift (various meat scraps) I gave to magpies who visit my garden during Christmas day. I love feeding birds of "my" area especially during winter time. I offer nuts, seeds, grains to other birds in order to help them a bit with cold temperatures. A spell of very low temperature in winter can result in high mortality among small passerines and this is why I try to help them a bit. After listening to magpies over and over I can distinguish each individual by their voice and I know the typical call they make when they see food that catches their interest. It's a call aimed at warning other magpies (familiar ones) of potential food and during winter they prefer meat over plant-based foods.

Academic Life

On the university side, 2024 was a year full of satisfactions in terms of exams because I managed to pass most of them. Now only three exams before I end my journey even if it will take some time because Spanish was a waste of time and changing for Russian only occurred in November. What matters is getting the degree with formed skills and this university is giving me such cool skills that will be used for future jobs. Spanish was the only taint of this year because this language isn't for me. I prefer to study a harder language that gives me challenges but I enjoy it rather something similar to my second mother tongue but I can't fully like. Besides this I enjoyed this other university year, courses I enjoyed the most were Comparative Literatures, German Literature III and Germanic Philology. I plan to present a dissertation about Scandinavian literature and aspects of cultural anthropology with German Philology teacher since I would like to explore lesser know aspects. Why Scandinavian literature? Because it shows more aspects of Scandinavian culture and society than Anglo-Saxon literature that was made by warrior class for warrior class, so ignoring the rest of society. Now I am focusing on Russian language because I prefer to have a target-oriented mind on simple goals. Let's see what 2025 will give me.

Personal Life

This year was overall decent for the most part due to academic life and experience on NG. But on a more personal level there were some things that tainted a bit this year and it started from September where an someone started throwing litter and cigarette butts in my garden. This is an individual that my father knows because he is a visitor of the bar my father hangs out. It is not a mentally stable person, he comes from a dysfunctional family, has a brother who screams every time he goes for a walk disturbing both people and animals, and has problems with alcohol. People like that can interpret everyone others do or say as a personal attack, and because my father has this tendency to speak with everyone something must have upset this person. So he started for a month and a half throwing litter in my garden. I hate everyone who pollutes the environment, especially if you throw cigarettes then you are in my naughty list (Christmas pun :P). We filmed every night and finally caught him. My father spoke to him and now things seem sorted out BUT I didn't forget nor forgive. I hate this person with a burning passion for what he did towards my garden who smelled like cigarette even after he stopped, plus you polluted a piece of environment and Nature. Another element that is giving me some worries are some family problems but studying and browsing here on NG has a therapeutic effect on me.

And I take this opportunity to thank Newgrounds and the people I interacted with if my Christmas was one of the most serene Christmas I ever had in ages. Most of them were tranquil at best, but this one had the kind of serenity and creativity I search for during this period. I want to personally thank ChronoNG  if I had the mental energy to keep drawing during Christmas after the previous bad day I had with my family. I know it may be small and even insignificant but his will to see what I was about to draw gave me the strength to draw not one but two artworks that day so from the bottom of my heart thank you!

Another thing that made me happy during Christmas was the surge of new fans who decided to follow me, thank you! I didn't expect such nice Christmas gift here^^ I am deeply honoured to be followed by so many cool artists (even people with a larger following base than me, it never happened on other sites like DA or FA) and this shows how the community can build strong bonds through Art whether it's voice acting, music, art, games or flash movies. You are all fantastic, keep being awesome and may have serene Christmas/winter holidays!

I want to take advantage of this part to promote again the journal made by SheepSLAPS, even if you can't help her, just a spread can help too.

Newgrounds

2024 on Newgrounds was great in every aspect even though my activity surged during mid July after I finished most third year exams. The first thing that made it great was the huge number of collabs I participated, here the folder about them:

This is not the first time I participate in collabs, my very first was on DeviantART back in 2015 and it was Pokemon-themed collab about flying Pokemon racing together. But after this and other two collabs on DA, I didn't contribute to any future collab. Until I joined NG...and it was the best choice ever because I could push my limits further and experiment new things that helped me to gradually come out my comfort zones. I think my biggest achievement, that I plan to continue pursuing, was creating and painting backgrounds and environments for my subjects. And this will lead me to learn more about them especially when it comes to textures. In my last artwork (it will be my last artwork for this year too):

I've noticed that I still have to work a lot on rocks and their textures. I know the artwork is meant to be simple with a simple graphic but this doesn't change the fact that I aim at more realistic-looking rocks. This applies to grass, forestscapes etc.

Another important noteworthy thing for my artistic skills growth, that happened in this year, was the creation of an art thread:

Shang's art cave [art thread]

This is not an art-dump thread, I don't aim at this and I don't like showcasing my stuff this way, it's superficial and I want to give a more in depth look at how I learn and draw. I already have my gallery with even my personal playlist where people can navigate easily what I make (fanarts, personal works or OCs) since the infinite scrolling can make them lost in a sea of artworks if I reach big numbers (this is the only thing I criticize: why not adding the option to choose between infinite scrolling and pages?). In this thread I try to talk about the learning process about my artistic creation, I try to study myself while studying art so it has a meta-artistic nature this thread. I also like to criticize my own artworks (in future I will do it) and I would like to hear some constructive criticism and feedback but don't feel obliged to comment. If you want that's fine, it don't want that's fine too. With time this thread will expand more and more but I prefer baby-steps so for now you will see boring 2 point perspective exercises. I hope to help others with my thread so it's not entirely egoistical^^'

Another small accomplishment in this year was drawing robot characters:

These are the first three fanarts where robotic characters appear and I am liking the idea of drawing something that is completely out of my comfort zone like robots. I hope to practice more for the next year Robot Day. If we consider the Wanted! - Pixel Art Collab I am participating then the number of works featuring robots increases to four robot characters drawn this year.

The only two things that made me sad were:

-not being able to attend Pico Day meetup (I hope one day to be able to see in person the many amazing people that make this site so awesome) not even the one in Dublin. It would be nice a NG event in continental Europe, I would go immediately if conditions are favourable.

-not being able to draw something for Pico Day because I was busy af with exams

Despite these two things I do really hope 2025 will blast off and on a personal level it already started since I have already sent my entry for the first 2025 collab (Petri Pals Collab) I will participate, you must be scouted to participate though. Thanks to that entry I learnt the importance of symmetry in pixel art when drawing frontal facing subjects and I could experiment with colours too.

Resolutions

Frankly I don't have any except for two:

-real life

Getting HPV vaccine. Yes, I keep forgetting because of university life and other stuff that keep me busy and forgetful.

-NG life

Getting better at pixel art

Final Thoughts

Ok, I have nothing more to add to this extremely long journal and I will thank everyone who will reach the end of this walltext XD

I wish you serene New Year and may all your dreams come true!