Renato Santos
@dracontes.bsky.social
Portuguese. Atheist. Queer. Furry. Bachelor's in Biology, minor in Earth Sciences. Amateur at paleontology. Amateur at art. Palaeos.com custodian.
DA gallery: https://www.deviantart.com/dracontes
(He/Him; 41; Algarve, Portugal | 🏳️🌈 🇵🇹 )
DA gallery: https://www.deviantart.com/dracontes
(He/Him; 41; Algarve, Portugal | 🏳️🌈 🇵🇹 )
An interesting variation: Mongooses (including meerkats) have horizontal pupils as well.
I suppose the small size of these predators allowed larger predators to be an important selective pressure.
I suppose the small size of these predators allowed larger predators to be an important selective pressure.
February 5, 2025 at 2:48 PM
An interesting variation: Mongooses (including meerkats) have horizontal pupils as well.
I suppose the small size of these predators allowed larger predators to be an important selective pressure.
I suppose the small size of these predators allowed larger predators to be an important selective pressure.
Might as well have a look...
Yeah, I've fairly consistent with it, carrying the habit over from my last posts on Twitter. It's very convenient for sourcing images, beyond all the other useful aspects 🙂
Yeah, I've fairly consistent with it, carrying the habit over from my last posts on Twitter. It's very convenient for sourcing images, beyond all the other useful aspects 🙂
January 24, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Might as well have a look...
Yeah, I've fairly consistent with it, carrying the habit over from my last posts on Twitter. It's very convenient for sourcing images, beyond all the other useful aspects 🙂
Yeah, I've fairly consistent with it, carrying the habit over from my last posts on Twitter. It's very convenient for sourcing images, beyond all the other useful aspects 🙂
Years ago I tried, similarly, to do #art more consistently: jotting a scribble & working it as pareidolia suggests. The problem is Photoshop allows a lot of refinement & I was then neck deep in my undergrad degree.
In other news, doing this with MS Paint's calligraphy brush only was challenging.
In other news, doing this with MS Paint's calligraphy brush only was challenging.
January 16, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Years ago I tried, similarly, to do #art more consistently: jotting a scribble & working it as pareidolia suggests. The problem is Photoshop allows a lot of refinement & I was then neck deep in my undergrad degree.
In other news, doing this with MS Paint's calligraphy brush only was challenging.
In other news, doing this with MS Paint's calligraphy brush only was challenging.
Changing things up a bit to keep it interesting on MS Paint: this time with the menu's first brush.
Also committing to the bit, as it were, trying to recall as much ray-finned fish anatomy as I could. Probably not enough to make sense, but these are quicker drawings to get back on the #art horse.
Also committing to the bit, as it were, trying to recall as much ray-finned fish anatomy as I could. Probably not enough to make sense, but these are quicker drawings to get back on the #art horse.
January 15, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Changing things up a bit to keep it interesting on MS Paint: this time with the menu's first brush.
Also committing to the bit, as it were, trying to recall as much ray-finned fish anatomy as I could. Probably not enough to make sense, but these are quicker drawings to get back on the #art horse.
Also committing to the bit, as it were, trying to recall as much ray-finned fish anatomy as I could. Probably not enough to make sense, but these are quicker drawings to get back on the #art horse.
Exploring MS Paint more as far as brushes are concerned. This time, something calling back to Barlowe's Darwin IV & a perennial aesthetic fallback, Allosaurus.
Tentative takeaways:
- Layers in MS Paint are useful but not dependable
- I might just enjoy this foray into #art with limited implements
Tentative takeaways:
- Layers in MS Paint are useful but not dependable
- I might just enjoy this foray into #art with limited implements
January 14, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Exploring MS Paint more as far as brushes are concerned. This time, something calling back to Barlowe's Darwin IV & a perennial aesthetic fallback, Allosaurus.
Tentative takeaways:
- Layers in MS Paint are useful but not dependable
- I might just enjoy this foray into #art with limited implements
Tentative takeaways:
- Layers in MS Paint are useful but not dependable
- I might just enjoy this foray into #art with limited implements
The rub is MS Paint may now have layers to ease workflow but AFAIK it can't save them so it's not like I can tarry for long in laying things out being at the mercy of, among other things, power outages.
January 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
The rub is MS Paint may now have layers to ease workflow but AFAIK it can't save them so it's not like I can tarry for long in laying things out being at the mercy of, among other things, power outages.
Did you know MS Paint has layers? I didn't until a few months or so ago.
So today I picked up an abstract scribble I saved (as one does). Duplicated/reflected layers until the overlap suggested... some sort of ruminant? Then I cleaned it up with the charcoal brush just enough for visual interest.
So today I picked up an abstract scribble I saved (as one does). Duplicated/reflected layers until the overlap suggested... some sort of ruminant? Then I cleaned it up with the charcoal brush just enough for visual interest.
January 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Did you know MS Paint has layers? I didn't until a few months or so ago.
So today I picked up an abstract scribble I saved (as one does). Duplicated/reflected layers until the overlap suggested... some sort of ruminant? Then I cleaned it up with the charcoal brush just enough for visual interest.
So today I picked up an abstract scribble I saved (as one does). Duplicated/reflected layers until the overlap suggested... some sort of ruminant? Then I cleaned it up with the charcoal brush just enough for visual interest.
Explain your username
As a longtime fan of dragons & their inspirations, I checked DeviantArt in 2004 to see if "dragon" was in use. It was. So I used my knowledge of Latin & Greek by way of taxonomy to coin a word (I wasn't aware had already been coined).
While we're at it, relevant #art of mine.
As a longtime fan of dragons & their inspirations, I checked DeviantArt in 2004 to see if "dragon" was in use. It was. So I used my knowledge of Latin & Greek by way of taxonomy to coin a word (I wasn't aware had already been coined).
While we're at it, relevant #art of mine.
January 7, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Explain your username
As a longtime fan of dragons & their inspirations, I checked DeviantArt in 2004 to see if "dragon" was in use. It was. So I used my knowledge of Latin & Greek by way of taxonomy to coin a word (I wasn't aware had already been coined).
While we're at it, relevant #art of mine.
As a longtime fan of dragons & their inspirations, I checked DeviantArt in 2004 to see if "dragon" was in use. It was. So I used my knowledge of Latin & Greek by way of taxonomy to coin a word (I wasn't aware had already been coined).
While we're at it, relevant #art of mine.
I was intrigued as I recalled sharks & rays have a reduced gill opening, the spiracle, in that position. It turns out elasmobranchs' inner ears are indeed connected to the exterior but via an endolymphatic duct/pore on the top of their heads.
(Source: www.frontiersin.org/journals/vet... )
(Source: www.frontiersin.org/journals/vet... )
January 5, 2025 at 1:01 AM
I was intrigued as I recalled sharks & rays have a reduced gill opening, the spiracle, in that position. It turns out elasmobranchs' inner ears are indeed connected to the exterior but via an endolymphatic duct/pore on the top of their heads.
(Source: www.frontiersin.org/journals/vet... )
(Source: www.frontiersin.org/journals/vet... )
Reacquainting myself with Blender 3D: how it started vs how it's going.
It's been quite the crash course which probably isn't helped by my foray being a free association exercise vaguely constrained by "dragon skull". Retopologizing such a complex shape is promising to be a slog.
It's been quite the crash course which probably isn't helped by my foray being a free association exercise vaguely constrained by "dragon skull". Retopologizing such a complex shape is promising to be a slog.
January 1, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Reacquainting myself with Blender 3D: how it started vs how it's going.
It's been quite the crash course which probably isn't helped by my foray being a free association exercise vaguely constrained by "dragon skull". Retopologizing such a complex shape is promising to be a slog.
It's been quite the crash course which probably isn't helped by my foray being a free association exercise vaguely constrained by "dragon skull". Retopologizing such a complex shape is promising to be a slog.
This (Eurasian) blackbird is definitely intense.
Back in 2009, this male had just alighted on a dead almond tree beside my home. I was on the driveway fiddling with my camera. I had to take the opportunity, gently falling back onto a dry stone wall to set myself up. The bird was nobody's fool.
Back in 2009, this male had just alighted on a dead almond tree beside my home. I was on the driveway fiddling with my camera. I had to take the opportunity, gently falling back onto a dry stone wall to set myself up. The bird was nobody's fool.
December 24, 2024 at 2:52 AM
This (Eurasian) blackbird is definitely intense.
Back in 2009, this male had just alighted on a dead almond tree beside my home. I was on the driveway fiddling with my camera. I had to take the opportunity, gently falling back onto a dry stone wall to set myself up. The bird was nobody's fool.
Back in 2009, this male had just alighted on a dead almond tree beside my home. I was on the driveway fiddling with my camera. I had to take the opportunity, gently falling back onto a dry stone wall to set myself up. The bird was nobody's fool.
A result from those first forays into digital simulation of traditional art: an ArtRage painting of my monogram as a metal sculpture in my favorite colors (and red).
At some point I should figure out how it really works in 3D, to have something ready for this newfangled age of printing objects.
At some point I should figure out how it really works in 3D, to have something ready for this newfangled age of printing objects.
December 22, 2024 at 8:53 PM
A result from those first forays into digital simulation of traditional art: an ArtRage painting of my monogram as a metal sculpture in my favorite colors (and red).
At some point I should figure out how it really works in 3D, to have something ready for this newfangled age of printing objects.
At some point I should figure out how it really works in 3D, to have something ready for this newfangled age of printing objects.
Let's see...
- 1st from 2004: sort of digital mixed media, MS Paint + Microsoft Photo Editor with computer mouse on college computer.
- 2nd from 2020: Photoshop CS3 with Wacom tablet on my computer.
Yeah, I haven't done much in the way of art, except maybe photography, since the pandemic started.
- 1st from 2004: sort of digital mixed media, MS Paint + Microsoft Photo Editor with computer mouse on college computer.
- 2nd from 2020: Photoshop CS3 with Wacom tablet on my computer.
Yeah, I haven't done much in the way of art, except maybe photography, since the pandemic started.
December 22, 2024 at 4:53 PM
Let's see...
- 1st from 2004: sort of digital mixed media, MS Paint + Microsoft Photo Editor with computer mouse on college computer.
- 2nd from 2020: Photoshop CS3 with Wacom tablet on my computer.
Yeah, I haven't done much in the way of art, except maybe photography, since the pandemic started.
- 1st from 2004: sort of digital mixed media, MS Paint + Microsoft Photo Editor with computer mouse on college computer.
- 2nd from 2020: Photoshop CS3 with Wacom tablet on my computer.
Yeah, I haven't done much in the way of art, except maybe photography, since the pandemic started.
While my comment on the (lacking) due diligence of those sharing the sculpture still stands, I obliged my idle curiosity on the Internet Archive and found patient zero as it were.
/sigh/
I guess there _was_ a failure of communication.
/sigh/
I guess there _was_ a failure of communication.
![Screencapture of the October 4 2012 Internet Archive capture of a National Geographic Daily News article (link: https://web.archive.org/web/20121004143921/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121003-new-dinosaur-species-fanged-sereno-science/ ). It reads:
Title: "New Fanged Dwarf Dinosaur Found—"Would Be Nice Pet"
Summary: "Odd, spiky dinosaur likely used self-sharpening teeth for self-defense."
[Photo of a bust sculpture of Heterodontosaurus, a small ornithischian dinosaur. It's an animal with a boxy head, a small beak and a menacing pair of lower canine teeth. Quills cover the back of its head and neck as an unruly mane. A human hand holds the lower jaw of the sculpture as if gently holding the head of the animal it represents in place.]
Photo caption (underlined in red): "Artificial skin and quills flesh out a cast of a skull from Pegomastax africanus ("thick jaw from Africa"). [This caption is in fact wrong as to the animal represented: it's Heterodontosaurus.]
Photograph courtesy Tyler Keillor"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qqndwsy3pix4d4gm37b2waug/bafkreifsrmhdhr2ayrxz4rw7a3iajxez275nncu2a45mll25njqitec7ri@jpeg)
December 21, 2024 at 1:03 AM
While my comment on the (lacking) due diligence of those sharing the sculpture still stands, I obliged my idle curiosity on the Internet Archive and found patient zero as it were.
/sigh/
I guess there _was_ a failure of communication.
/sigh/
I guess there _was_ a failure of communication.
To file under "minor indulgence" (No, don't look at my build log!) the Townscaper browser demo, oskarstalberg.com/Townscaper/ , by @oskarstalberg.bsky.social .
Here's something I whipped up just now, trying to make good use of both the space I'm given and the lighting slider.
Here's something I whipped up just now, trying to make good use of both the space I'm given and the lighting slider.
December 18, 2024 at 6:37 AM
To file under "minor indulgence" (No, don't look at my build log!) the Townscaper browser demo, oskarstalberg.com/Townscaper/ , by @oskarstalberg.bsky.social .
Here's something I whipped up just now, trying to make good use of both the space I'm given and the lighting slider.
Here's something I whipped up just now, trying to make good use of both the space I'm given and the lighting slider.
Today I learned there's a species that's younger than me: A parthenogenetic crayfish that popped up as a result of pet trade. Like its Louisiana cousin, the marbled crayfish is bit of a menace to ecosystems worldwide.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbled...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbled...
![Screenshot of the taxobox for the marbled crayfish Wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbled_crayfish , showing among other things the very short temporal range of this species expressed as very small decimal number. There's also a photo of the animal in question. It reads:
"Marbled crayfish
Temporal range: 0.000029–0 Ma"
[A geological time scale with letters standing in for each period. At the very right end a thin line over top indicates the range of this species, made explicit in the current chronology below. If you do the math the number above the scale needs to be updated to 0.000036.]
"1988 – present"
[A photo of a marbled crayfish in an aquarium. It's a crustacean similar to a lobster. The body is split into an ovoid cephalothorax at the front and an articulated abdomen at the back. The cephalothorax combines the head and mid-body under a carapace and bears the legs some of which have the ends modified into pincers, the front pair grown fairly large in comparison. The abdomen tapers to the end giving the impression of a thick tail, bearing a horizontal fin-like telson at the end. It's light brown-green in color with dark mottling.]
Caption: "Adult marmorkrebs"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qqndwsy3pix4d4gm37b2waug/bafkreif3fdxvgyyyjvrbwa7dooftrh5sbrt3wk6ht77dyb6fxjc5pix6qi@jpeg)
December 16, 2024 at 7:18 PM
Today I learned there's a species that's younger than me: A parthenogenetic crayfish that popped up as a result of pet trade. Like its Louisiana cousin, the marbled crayfish is bit of a menace to ecosystems worldwide.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbled...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbled...
It's as if the Universe decided to hand me confirmation that European Portuguese is _niche_ & via Google Translate of all things.
Wow, Google... At least label the other Portuguese option with "Brazil", a fine dialect, so it's more clearly disambiguated from where the language started.
Wow, Google... At least label the other Portuguese option with "Brazil", a fine dialect, so it's more clearly disambiguated from where the language started.
December 15, 2024 at 11:23 PM
It's as if the Universe decided to hand me confirmation that European Portuguese is _niche_ & via Google Translate of all things.
Wow, Google... At least label the other Portuguese option with "Brazil", a fine dialect, so it's more clearly disambiguated from where the language started.
Wow, Google... At least label the other Portuguese option with "Brazil", a fine dialect, so it's more clearly disambiguated from where the language started.
I can add to that list well-illustrated non-fiction books: the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness series, among many others making such subjects similarly accessible/digestible, was important in fomenting/supporting my interest in Science.
While we're here, my very worn 1st copy of Eyewitness: Dinosaur.
While we're here, my very worn 1st copy of Eyewitness: Dinosaur.
December 14, 2024 at 9:15 PM
I can add to that list well-illustrated non-fiction books: the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness series, among many others making such subjects similarly accessible/digestible, was important in fomenting/supporting my interest in Science.
While we're here, my very worn 1st copy of Eyewitness: Dinosaur.
While we're here, my very worn 1st copy of Eyewitness: Dinosaur.
I do have to point out this is a tame brown bear. You can see a furrow on the neck fur from a collar & a metal ring on the back of the neck for the leash. I'd wager this was a video done for shits and giggles and probably from Russia where somehow keeping tame bears is more likely than you'd think.
December 13, 2024 at 1:57 AM
I do have to point out this is a tame brown bear. You can see a furrow on the neck fur from a collar & a metal ring on the back of the neck for the leash. I'd wager this was a video done for shits and giggles and probably from Russia where somehow keeping tame bears is more likely than you'd think.
As a coda, classic MTG flavor text 😉
December 13, 2024 at 12:28 AM
As a coda, classic MTG flavor text 😉
I obliged my morbid curiosity and...
/sigh/
I'm reminded of commentary that a-not-insubstantial amount of online debate between progressives & conservatives, devolves into the conservatives slippery-sloping into increasingly extreme scenarios to straw man (& likely disgust) the progressives.
/sigh/
I'm reminded of commentary that a-not-insubstantial amount of online debate between progressives & conservatives, devolves into the conservatives slippery-sloping into increasingly extreme scenarios to straw man (& likely disgust) the progressives.
December 12, 2024 at 6:08 PM
I obliged my morbid curiosity and...
/sigh/
I'm reminded of commentary that a-not-insubstantial amount of online debate between progressives & conservatives, devolves into the conservatives slippery-sloping into increasingly extreme scenarios to straw man (& likely disgust) the progressives.
/sigh/
I'm reminded of commentary that a-not-insubstantial amount of online debate between progressives & conservatives, devolves into the conservatives slippery-sloping into increasingly extreme scenarios to straw man (& likely disgust) the progressives.
Assuming it's at most a transparent PNG that's needed, how much of a start in the right direction is this?
I'd like to give it a noisy, uneven inking effect but I'm using Krita, software I haven't used all that much. Should it be tilted?
I'd like to give it a noisy, uneven inking effect but I'm using Krita, software I haven't used all that much. Should it be tilted?
December 10, 2024 at 8:08 PM
Assuming it's at most a transparent PNG that's needed, how much of a start in the right direction is this?
I'd like to give it a noisy, uneven inking effect but I'm using Krita, software I haven't used all that much. Should it be tilted?
I'd like to give it a noisy, uneven inking effect but I'm using Krita, software I haven't used all that much. Should it be tilted?
I think at that time here in Portugal, we still (mercifully) had... these things which are called "mira técnica" here and I can't find the English name for.
Infomercials soon arrived to that slot though. I do remember the ads for song compilations at more reasonable hours.
Infomercials soon arrived to that slot though. I do remember the ads for song compilations at more reasonable hours.
December 10, 2024 at 2:16 AM
I think at that time here in Portugal, we still (mercifully) had... these things which are called "mira técnica" here and I can't find the English name for.
Infomercials soon arrived to that slot though. I do remember the ads for song compilations at more reasonable hours.
Infomercials soon arrived to that slot though. I do remember the ads for song compilations at more reasonable hours.
Over a decade hence, I sooner remember scenes from Dragon Ball Z, since, over 20 years ago, the Portuguese broadcaster re-ran each episode back-to-back, so I watched each several times.
In other words, this frankly Americanized retelling _so_ doesn't have re-watch value, I don't remember any of it.
In other words, this frankly Americanized retelling _so_ doesn't have re-watch value, I don't remember any of it.
December 9, 2024 at 2:08 PM
Over a decade hence, I sooner remember scenes from Dragon Ball Z, since, over 20 years ago, the Portuguese broadcaster re-ran each episode back-to-back, so I watched each several times.
In other words, this frankly Americanized retelling _so_ doesn't have re-watch value, I don't remember any of it.
In other words, this frankly Americanized retelling _so_ doesn't have re-watch value, I don't remember any of it.
A handshake across the eons and the ages.
To reiterate:
- Paleontologists deal with fossils of ancient (non-technological) life in general.
- Archeologists deal (so far) with humans (in the wider sense) when their activities result in material remains (art, tools).
To reiterate:
- Paleontologists deal with fossils of ancient (non-technological) life in general.
- Archeologists deal (so far) with humans (in the wider sense) when their activities result in material remains (art, tools).
December 8, 2024 at 6:48 PM
A handshake across the eons and the ages.
To reiterate:
- Paleontologists deal with fossils of ancient (non-technological) life in general.
- Archeologists deal (so far) with humans (in the wider sense) when their activities result in material remains (art, tools).
To reiterate:
- Paleontologists deal with fossils of ancient (non-technological) life in general.
- Archeologists deal (so far) with humans (in the wider sense) when their activities result in material remains (art, tools).