[Art] Ant as Totem - Pre-colouring.

[moonvoice]

Ant as Totem
Another redo for the Australian Animal Oracle Deck.

Keywords:

Stockpiling. Preparing for the future. Caring about our children. Storage. Hoarding. Nourishing future generations. Challenging others. Hard work. Planning ahead. Doing what is right. Teamwork. Determination. Storing energy. Causes.

See the full totem essay here. (And the original illustration).

Comments

[ariestess]

That stipling work is just crazy! shatterpath thinks this looks very womb-like. And once she said it, I could see it, too...

[donnalotus]

Ooooh <3 Much love!

Oh those ants!

[leecetheartist]

From the look of it these look like the sort of Sergeant (Major) ant - huge red and black guys? that were at the Australian Disc Golf Championships. More like 4 star General ant if you ask me!

It was amazing how many times a disc would land right in the middle of one of their nests. Many fine examples of the 'express putt' were made. It's amazing how fast you can play when you've got 3 inch ants swarming around your ankles!

The below is included as respectful humour both to moonvoice and the ants.

Sergeant Ant

keywords: Disc attracting nests. Detection of bare flesh. Swarming. Psychopathic defense of nests. Alertness. Aggression. Fascination of overseas visitors. Excitement. Distraction. Yow. Ouch. Getitoffme.

Re: Oh those ants!

[moonvoice]

It's kind of an eclectic mix of the Myrmecia family which includes inch ants / bull ants / those sorts of ants. Those bastards are nasty! Highest incidence of anaphylaxis out of all the ant species, and they're all found in Australia.

Stupid aggressive bastards. Lol.

Yow. Ouch. Getitoffme. -> My favourite part. :D

Re: Oh those ants!

[leecetheartist]

:-)

[silverjackal]

I really like how varied this is -- the gradations in the spirals and stippling, the strong line work on the ants, how *glossy* you've made them seem even in black and white... Though I must admit to some trepidation at the sight of those jaws!

[moonvoice]

They're bull ants / inch ants, only found in Australia. They are nasty. The ones that are 'inch ants' are of course an inch long, and sometimes it feels like most of that is pincers! Additionally, they are notoriously aggressive, and have great eyesight. If you walk past a nest, you generally get many running towards you to let you know that they want you to bugger off. With bites.

Plus their bites hurt. They cause a lot of anaphylactic shock in Australia, as far as ant bites go. D:

[white_rabbit]

Ohh, these are the fellas that bit Allie in 'Every Day Awake', eh? Reading the keywords, kind of fitting for their place in the story. :)