Flora and Fauna Unit

The Wild Diversity of Marine Worms

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From the Flora and Fauna Unit

I found this fascinating collection of worm photographs deep in the depths of Behance. They're taken by Russian photographer Alexander Semenov who specializes in underwater photography.

These things spark my imagination but also give me major creeps. I'm not quite sure if these rainbow skinned freaks will guide me to Valhalla or crawl into my ears and eat my brain. So...they're perfect.

More here: LINK​

Semenov's portfolio: LINK

-Jake​

Blue Rhino Studios

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From the Flora and Fauna Unit

I've been to my fair share of museums around the country. I make sure to visit one in every city I stay at for more than a day. One of my first art jobs what working at a natural history museum helping to design some exhibits. I got to paint some life sized models the museum ordered from some studio, do a couple of wall murals, and I even got to do some rock sculpting for one of the exhibits.

All this to say that nothing I've seen or worked on even comes close to the masterpieces coming out of the Blue Rhino Studio. The fidelity of their sculptures is just next level.

See tons more of their projects over on the website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Fascinating hour+ long interview with Tim Quady, President at Blue Rhino: LINK​

Comprehensive video and commentary of their life sized model of SUE: LINK​

-Jake

The Epimeriidae Aliens

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From the Flora and Fauna Unit

I keep finding images of these little suckers popping up in Pinterest and Twitter. They're not alien life or mutated lab experiments, these are little shrimp cousins that live in oceans and lakes. One of these is from Lake Baikal, the oldest lake on earth. Creepy and cool, I do take a little comfort knowing they're very small.

To me these look like inspiration for monsters in a future comic I'll be working on.

You can read more about them here: LINK​

Or this New Scientist article: LINK​

And here's a cool paper on how one of their legs evolved into wings in insects: LINK

-Jake

The Ancient and the Wise

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From the Flora and Fauna Unit

Photographer Beth Moon has been documenting the lives of the sacred and ancient Baobab trees of Madagascar since 2006. When she heard that one ancient tree had died she had to return to see it for herself and preserve its death through her photography.

The tree was named Tsitakakoike, meaning “the tree where one cannot hear the cry from the other side." It was about 1400 years old and locals say it was the home of their ancestor's spirits.

She shares her experience in this simply captivating slideshow/video experience: LINK​

-Jake

Deep Sea Aquatic Aliens

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From the Flora and Fauna Unit

The MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) recently posted this 10 minute video of creatures they found swimming around Monterey Bay. I know it gets said a lot that we don't have to go to space to find aliens, they're right here in our oceans, but boy howdy it is so true. These things defy the expected and tread into truly bizarre, majestic, and downright frightening territory.

File this away next time you need to come up with an interesting creature for your sci-fi comic.

Video here: LINK​

-Jake

Alien Plants

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From the Flora and Fauna Unit

Ceramic artist Kaori KURIHARA makes these incredible other worldly fruit designs. They look like something you might find on Venus, if the planet could support life.

If you've ever worked with ceramics you'll know that to get your clay to do this without cracking or breaking is impossible. The craftsmanship on these is god-like. I don't know how she does it.

That aside, I just think they look so cool and makes me want to come up with better designs for the flora in my sci-fi comics.

Kaori KURIHARA's Instagram: LINK (TONS more images)

Website: LINK

-Jake

Emu Foot

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From the Department of Creative Bank Accounting, Flora and Fauna Unit

Our neighbor has an emu they inherited from someone who couldn't take care of him any more. He's about 18 years old, and they call him Kevin. One day I was feeding him grapes and he snagged my ring finger instead of the grape. Took a bunch of skin off of it as I jerked it away from his maw. Don't mess with Kevin.

My favorite thing about this guy is watching his graceful walk. His feet and claws are massive, yet he moves nimbly around like a ballet dancer. Found these cool photos of an emu foot. Living dinosaurs, I tell you.

-Jake