#i'm sorry sea this description doesn't do you any justice

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Hratgrog

This week's installment is once again coming kind of late in the evening -- and a bit less wordy than usual -- because I just got back from the ICMS conference at Kalamazoo last night and have been running around doing stuff all day. So, sorry about that.

Anyway, also worth noting that a surprising number of people have indicated that they know this one.

If you aren't sure what this is about, you can find an explanation and previous posts at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

You can also find the entry people are working from here:

If you want to participate in the next installment, you can find the entries posted under the tag maniculum bestiaryposting. Also, to make it easier on y'all, here's the current one:

Anyway, art below the cut in the order it was posted:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) took the description of the animal's behavior and designed a bird who could feasibly fit that -- if you want the details on what birds went into this and why, they're in the linked post. I particularly like the iridescent effect on the feathers.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) also drew a bird, but went in a different direction with the references, eschewing them entirely on the grounds that the monks probably didn't have any references on hand. I think the "colour of a wild sea" comes out well here.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) decided to resolve the issue of the wings being sapphire but also "sheathed in silver" by making the Hratgrog a beetle with silver elytra, which I think is quite clever. Again, the colors are very good in my opinion -- and as usual, you should check the linked post for an explanation of the design.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has, as per usual, done some amazing medieval stylization. I find this landscape really pleasant, birds aside. The design of the creature is also really solid, and you can find an interesting description of why it looks the way it does in the linked post. I would particularly draw attention to the interpretation of how this bird "does not live by theft", which you will have to click the link to find out.

@strixcattus (link to post here) gives us a bird that appears to be waving to us. Again, I like the coloration here; the many lines really add to the effect. Clicking the linked post will get you Strixcattus's modern interpretation of this animal, which includes a brief explanation of why it's necessary to specify that this bird does not eat corpses.

All right, to the Aberdeen Bestiary:

Or, rather, a dove.

(The distinction drawn between dove and pigeon in modern English is not formalized or universal, but the translation I'm using says "dove".)

The description for this page in the digitized manuscript notes:

This rather plain lifeless bird does not do justice to the luscious pictorial descriptions devoted to the dove on ff.26-30r. However, raking light reveals a lustrous silvered quality to the paint.

Since the description goes on so long -- like I said, I was excerpting bits of physical description from a lengthy sermon on symbolism -- there are actually multiple illustrations. It looks like there were originally four, but two have been cut out of the manuscript. The other surviving one is as follows:

That would be the Hratgrog on the left -- the bird on the right is its antagonist, the hawk. No word on why this one doesn't get any coloration.

Anyway... how do I end this one?

Go forth and contemplate the pigeon. It's what the bestiary author would want.

[bayrut]

what are ur thoughts about tumblr user seasurfacefullofclouds1

i loooooove sea @seasurfacefullofclouds1 so much for so many reasons and i could never formulate them properly but here we go

she is the reason why i’m still a louie, and why lots of us are still louies. she gets so much hate yet she is always polite to anons and never bitter

she’s so smart i love her so much

she’s so kind and thoughtful and if i’m having a bad day i know i can message her and she’ll listen and give good advice or if she doesn’t have advice about the situation she’ll send me funny tweets or posts or tell me a story? like idk she’s just so sweet

i love reading her thoughts about industry and stuff like that i think they’re very interesting

when she followed me i almost screamed, and also i was so shy because in my mind she is one of the Three Big Louies and also i thought rip my blog is a mess she will hate it and unfollow a day later (like you know how i post just random stuff not even louis sometimes) and yeah she didnt unfollow and also i messaged her once to say hi and i felt awkward about it because she’s sea and i was a tiny blog but she was so kind and sweet and tbh she’s like my fandom mom i love her

she occasionally makes edits and they’re very cute and i can’t find a link rn but if she sends me one i can link it! 

she is so smart irl

she has so many useful links and masterposts in her pinned posts and the pages on her blog??? a queen

i think she deserves the best in life, for real. 

although she is amazing, she does have a few flaws, for example, she thinks louis’ nipples are too small, she prefers louke over louli, etc

also, sea doesn’t know this but i love coming up with theories about her (harmless ones, usually just with my a couple of friends, like sanju and lee).. i once sent her an anonymous ask that says ‘are you louis? i think i connected the dots’ but now i know better. she isn’t louis, she is oli. she basically confirmed it by saying she has ginger hair. i’ve connected the dots

yeah so sorry this reply is a bit short and doesn’t cover all the points but please know that i love sea a lot, i owe her a lot fandom wise, and if she ever needs me to fight people for her i definitely would 

send me urls on anon so i can give u my opinion on them