lycomorpha

[lycomorpha]

funniest part of those papers where they sent lichens to be exposed to the vacuum of space is that they just found them on the ground in a really harsh habitat and put them on the ride of a lifetime. imagine growing on a rock in the alps for 70 years and this happens to you

[lycomorpha]

A drain with a view ^_^

[lycomorpha]

For no particular reason please enjoy these moths. Peppered moth, & green carpets. Almost warm enough to get mothing again here. Looking forward to seeing more good moth friends again soon 💖🦋

[lycomorpha]

Fencepost lichen garden 💚

[lycomorpha]

A minute listening to the sea, in case anyone needs it.

[lycomorpha]

Thasos, AC Odyssey

Playing Odyssey again for video game botany reasons. Might end up pelting you with photomode stuff as well as moths. This game is so preeeeettttyyy!

[lycomorpha]

It's about that time of year when I come out of Tumblr hibernation and start pelting you with moth pics. Sooo...

Micro moths are underrated, this my hill. (OK, one of my hills… I confess have a lot of moth and drawing related hills.)

I think this is a ragwort bell (Epiblema costipunctana)? Not great at micro ID but to be honest; mostly IDGAF about ID because it's still an A+ good moth friend, and I just like meeting good moth friends.

[lycomorpha]

Working on some zines and handmade books about earth pigments for an event, & also need to practice camo moths for some work next month... So I sketched a little trans pride paint moth over homemade paint - vivianite, red ochre + chalk, & slate + chalk.

Earth pigments connect artists of the past, present, & future like an unbroken brush stroke across history. These pigments have been with humans for as long as we've existed. Trans & non-binary people, queer people, whatever we've called ourselves or been called... Those of us who don't fit into our socially expected boxes, we have always existed too. We do and will continue to exist alongside these colours.

That's a bit heavy for a tiny fkn moth, I know 🙃... As soon as I'm thinking about earth pigments it's hard not to think about how things stretch across time, tho. 🤷

[lycomorpha]

I'd really like it if the UK government wasn't so focused on destroying supports for chronically ill & disabled people right now. I wish the non-disabled UK population would give what our own government is doing *even a tiny fraction* of the attention it gives to anything that rancid tangerine wankspangled dicklimpet across the pond does.

But you know. Have a moth, because when all else fails, at least we can look at moths and feel joy.

I think this one was a buff ermine. Only a few weeks until I can get my moth trap out again, and start welcoming visitors for a short stay in the cardboard egg tray hotel.

[lycomorpha]

Well, I've been lurking not posting for a while because *waves hands* life. But I need to confess that Melasnous & me finished our BG3-themed issue of the Journal of Video Game Botany, about dragon egg mushrooms, fire, & wanting to make out with Karlach. & I made a whole Underdark themed paint set.

For the zine we roll-played as our characters; Mel, a mathematically gifted bard with the voice of a dying goose, and Evernia, a perpetually horny druid with a compulsive looting problem. We hatched an ill-fated plan to woo Karlach using dragon egg mushrooms. And consider whether levitating underwater is the same thing as swimming. And call the delightful owlbear cub Beaky McFeathers, because we can.

I made the paint set to match the alchemy minerals and fungi found in the underdark, because that's my favourite place and I wish I could live there, quite frankly. First time I've set myself such a specific paint-making challenge, but it worked! Anyway, you can find these things here.

OK I feel better for getting that out of my system, and doing the obligatory artist self promotion. Thank u. I will get back under my rock.

[lycomorpha]

Good moth friend alert: spotted today, a super-fuzzy pale brindled beauty (I think) on nice lichen. My 1st moth of 2025!

That is all, please go about your evening, thank u.

[lycomorpha]

HOW DO YOU DRAW SO FAST OMGGGG

I worked really hard on it tbh haha. A few years back I went through a long period of intense perfectionism where I slowed down to a crawl (like five comic pages in 4 months). I finally decided that that wasn't working for me, and so I started implementing my motto: shitty is better than incomplete!

Basically it's about the idea that it's more important to me to get the ideas and stories out there than it is for them to be perfect. I have a lot of stories I want to tell, and there's only so much time for me to tell them. It helps to remind myself of this as much as possible!

As for technical tricks, I do a few things that really help:

Draw a lot! Practice is truly one of the number one ways to improve speed, as annoying as it is to accept

I don't zoom in too far

I only use 1 brush at 1-2 sizes for inking (outside of specialized stuff like stippling)

I put hard limits on a lot of stuff--how much shading I do (if any), or what shape my comic panels are (only squares, no diagonals or weird shapes), for example

My characters (comic characters especially) all have pretty simple designs and outfits

I write down every idea for an illustration that I have, even if I'm not ready to tackle it yet. That way when I have a chance to sit down, I've got a whole list ready to go and I'm not waffling around in the concept stage

Finally, I've learned to accept my imperfections as a neat part of my art! It's not easy, and I slip back into bad habits sometimes, but I try my best to see every misplaced mark or color that bleeds outside the line as proof that a human hand made this. I don't spend a lot of time correcting mistakes or painstakingly trying not to make them.

Here's an example from Hello Sunshine, where if looks fine from far away, but if you zoom in a bunch, you can see all kinds of little "mistakes." gaps in the ink and color, the line of Alex's ear doesn't match up, very sketchy linework where their faces meet, haha.

But then when you zoom out even a little bit, you a) don't notice those things nearly as much, and b) I think it gives it a kind of traditional charm. Just because you CAN use ctrl-z doesn't mean you HAVE to.

Anyway I hope that helps!!

[lycomorpha]

Behold the majestic floof of this canary-shouldered thorn moth and let your Monday be that little bit more bearable.

The food plants of this ridiculously fluffy species are birches, goat willow, and alders; to help look after it please look after local trees. If you're in the UK like me, please report any damage to urban trees your council.

Thank you from the Moth Promotional Board ✨🦋✨

[lycomorpha]

When people do big eyes, why is it called puppy-dog eyes and not adorable-hawkmoth eyes?

Moths have the best big round eyes, I will not be taking questions. 💖🦋

Happy holidays from the Moth Promotional Board 🦋✨

[lycomorpha]

A good stick! :3

I went to Glen Shira last week - it's a special place for lichens. Every tree was clad in a bewildering array of colours and textures.

[lycomorpha]

Well, I've been lurking not posting for a while because *waves hands* life. But I need to confess that Melasnous & me finished our BG3-themed issue of the Journal of Video Game Botany, about dragon egg mushrooms, fire, & wanting to make out with Karlach. & I made a whole Underdark themed paint set.

For the zine we roll-played as our characters; Mel, a mathematically gifted bard with the voice of a dying goose, and Evernia, a perpetually horny druid with a compulsive looting problem. We hatched an ill-fated plan to woo Karlach using dragon egg mushrooms. And consider whether levitating underwater is the same thing as swimming. And call the delightful owlbear cub Beaky McFeathers, because we can.

I made the paint set to match the alchemy minerals and fungi found in the underdark, because that's my favourite place and I wish I could live there, quite frankly. First time I've set myself such a specific paint-making challenge, but it worked! Anyway, you can find these things here.

OK I feel better for getting that out of my system, and doing the obligatory artist self promotion. Thank u. I will get back under my rock.

[lycomorpha]

A minute listening to the sea, in case anyone needs it.