#InsertAnInvert2024

[cuttledreams-bugs]

InsertAnInvert2024

January theme: Bugs Among Us

Week 1: Firebrat! (Thermobia Domestica)

A little insect that snuggles into warm cozy spaces and munches on leaf litter, cereals, and book bindings. They have a distinctive long three tail-like appendages!

[lordsovorn]

Firebrat

A scuttly little critter for #InsertAnInvert2024 - supposed to be week 1, but better late than never

This one and three next bugs in pixel-perfect quality are already in early access for my dear members on BuyMeACoffee

[magicmetalblog]

InsertAnInvert 2024

Parasites week 4: parasitoids

long-tailed giant ichneumonid (megarhyssa macrurus)

[tarantula-wizard]

Insert An Invert Week 2: Stone Centipede (Lithobius forficatus)

I used Wigglypaint

[Image ID: An animated sketch in the form of a GIF, so that it appears to jitter or wiggle. It features the head and part of the body of a Stone Centipede. Its head comes into frame in the top left corner and part of its body is visible along the right side of the piece. It has a pink body, yellow legs, and blue antennae. There is a wavy speckled pattern in the space not taken up by the centipede. End ID.]

[wizardhecker]

Invert week 1: Japanese House Centipede

Tragically I was distracted by my bird art this week to give this the attention it deserved but I still want to keep up with the weeks anyways!

The first time I saw one of these was in undergrad and I was so transfixed by how strange it looked that I chased it down a hallway to get a picture, certain it must be some rare creature. Well. Still special to me!!

[artistsforpalestine]

cuttledreams

Bluesky Artfight

OPEN [4/4 full-color fullbody; All else unlimited]

[I am an invertebrate artist with a background in concept art and creature design. Right now my main projects are #InsertAnInvert2024 and my Bug Tarot illustration series, but I also work on character art and writing for personal projects on the side. I am also very active during Artfight.]

CAN DRAW: -Human[oids] -Furry -Mech CANNOT DRAW: -Suggestive INQUIRE: -Gore

[cuttledreams-bugs]

We finally rollin, let the catch-up begin

May: Carcinization

1: True Crab: Lollipop Crab (Ixa cylindrus)

2: False Crab: Symmetrical Hermit Crab (Pylocheles mortensenii)

3: Not Crab: Lake Baikal Amphipod (Acanthogammarus victorii)

4: Three very-not-crabs (Dendrogaster antarctica, Armilifer armillatus, Lernanthropus chrysophrys)

(Rejected Brine Shrimp drawing below the read-more)

Prompt 3 had originally been the brine shrimp, however after a lot of frustration and struggle with the painting, I finally just tossed it at the last minute and replaced it with an entirely new animal prompt.

It was probably for the better, as in my sleep deprivation I laid a very poor foundation for painting + made the inexplicable decision to go with the pink-yellow look to represent the animal instead of the more grounded translucency? It's not bad, but rubs wrong against what I want to do with these.

Behold:

I spent another entire day trying to repaint them as that before finally biting the bullet.

(Another WIP)

I've actually already got 12 more animals painted and ready to share but that still leaves 16 more to fully paint before christmas!

[magicmetalblog]

InsertAnInvert

Motion: Diver 🤘🦠🪰

grousewinged backswimmer (notonecta undulata)

[lordsovorn]

Garden Symphylan

Week 3 of #InsertAnInvert2024

[cuttledreams-bugs]

December theme: Motion

Scuttler: Antarctic midge (Belgica antarctica)

Jumper: Water springtail (Sminthurides aquaticus)

Flyer: Lined earwig (Doru taeniatum)

Diver: Grousewinged backswimmer (Notonecta undulata)

InsertanInvert2024 Challenge

And with that, the year challenge is complete- - all twelve months and 48 prompts illustrated! I wasn't sure if I'd be able to catch up before winter celebrations but glad to have been able to.

Stay tuned for a compilation of this year's work shortly!

[cuttledreams-bugs]

October Theme: Eyes

Lensless: Fuzzy Nautilus (Allonautilus scrobiculatus)

Lens eyes: Ogre-faced Spider (Deinopis spinosa)

Compound eyes: Drake Mackerel (Ephemera vulgata)

Eyeless: Feather Millipede (Brachycybe lecontii)

[cuttledreams-bugs]

🪱 #InsertAnInvert2024

Worms: Long and Limbless

Shipworm

Despite the appearance, shipworms are actually a mollusc! These bivalves have evolved to use their shells not for protection, but for boring through driftwood.

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Interested in learning more about the invertebrate animals around us? Join into the year-long InsertAnInvert event organized by Franzanth, where every week a new animal is spotlighted! Draw unique animals, read up on cool facts, or just follow the tag online to see a lot of cool artwork.

Prompt List: https://bsky.app/profile/franzanth.bsky.social/post/3khyob3xn742q

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Like my work? Visit my shop, or support me on Ko-Fi!~

[cuttledreams-bugs]

September Theme: Deep Sea

Mesopelagic: Gorgon's Head (Gorgonocephalus eucnemis)

Bathyal: Ping-Pong Tree Sponge (Chondrocladia lampadiglobus)

Abyssal: Gummy Squirrel (Psychropotes longicauda)

Hadal: Headless Chicken Monster (Enypniastes)

Fun facts under the readmore:

The Gorgon's Head is a basket sea star found in very cold oceanic environments, with bifurcating arms lined with a rubbery skin that gives them a distinct fleshy appearance. They use their arms to grab prey and pull it to their mouth!

The ping-pong sea sponge is a very cool animal. Their inflatable sacs have tiny hooks across their surface which grab prey such as tiny crustaceans. Once caught, the prey are enveloped in a membrane and eaten.

(This photo cracks me up to tears every time, I love it)

The gummy squirrel is a traveling sea cucumber who's defining feature is the tail-like appendage on its backside, which can grow to nearly the animal's entire body length in of itself.

And yet another sea cucumber, the iconic headless chicken monster is known for two things- looking like uncooked poultry, and being so translucent that its strikingly colored digestive track is visible. The way they eat is fantastic, as their mouth arms look like tiny grabby hands.

[cuttledreams-bugs]

November theme: Blobfest

Danger blob: Flower hat jelly (Olindias formosus)

Disco blob: Alarm jelly (Atolla wyvillei)

Blobchain: Cristatella mucedo

Blobbageddon: Golden star tunicate (Botryllus schlosseri)

InsertanInvert2024 Challenge

[lordsovorn]

Pauropod

Week 4 of #InsertAnInvert2024

[cuttledreams-bugs]

Underground gang rise up

July theme: Subterranean

Surface: Cave beetle (Sinotrechiama yunnanus)

2. Underground: Velvet worm (Peripatopsis alba)

3. Troglofauna: Cave pseudoscorpion (Titanobochica magna)

4. Stygofauna: Parabathynelid (Brevisomabathynella)

Bonus drawings in the read more!

Being sleepy as I am while working, I somehow managed to flip not just one but two of the species. I did not really grasp the mistake until some time away and coming back to post, at which I went "uhhhhh these don't match the categories" and rushed to repaint them lmao.

Bummer in that I was pretty happy with the drawings, but not-as-bummer because I can still share them o. o

Literally not even a cave dwelling species lmao

An easy fix for this one thankfully; this beetle is actually extremely close to the correct species Sinotrechiama yunnanus, I'd just instead referenced Giraffaphaenops clarkei, having mixed up the two species while setting up my references. (tbh looking again I shoulda made this guy even lankier going by the refs but that's okay)

I love seeing these cave beetles lined up, it's genuinely really cool