READ THIS POST FOR A SUMMARY AND CONTENT WARNINGS. THIS BLOG IS INTENDED FOR A MATURE AUDIENCE.
Welcome to @shellsiege! This is a marine biology-centric setting somewhere between speculative biology and just anthro society. It is mostly slice-of-life with a focus on biology and my characters (there may be obvious favoritism).
PLEASE CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS UNDER THE CUT BEFORE ENGAGING.
RESOURCES
Sheezy | Comic Fury | Character Tag | Website
Side Blog: @deepseadeadzone
This blog is primarily an art blog. The content focuses on character art, speculative biology, worldbuilding, creature design, marine biology and cephalopods, as primary themes. Full comics will not be posted here, however covers, miscellaneous art and short comics might.
The stories are mainly in webcomic form. The chapters are not posted in chronological order. You can read them in any order in the Comic Fury archive, or check the website for a chronological guide to the existing ones.
Most images on this blog have image descriptions within Tumblr's alt text function. Comic Fury also has image descriptions using the transcript field (WIP). Toyhouse, Sheezy and the website do not have image descriptions.
Some of the full comics have dedicated text alternatives here: Link.
This blog is meant for a mature audience and I would not recommend minors to follow the blog. A lot of the stories and characters involve heavy topics either subtextually or directly.
The blog doesn't have a schedule or standardized posting times (I post whenever I want), but operates under Eastern European Time.
A list of tags that will be used on this blog:
#gallery | For any art.
#comics | Short comics or art sequences.
#library | Writing and short stories of any kind!
#mailbox | Answers to asks.
#lore | For posts about worldbuilding.
#shellspeak | Miscellaneous ramblings.
#obsolete | Posts that aren't canon-aligning anymore, for any reason.
Tags might be changed over time or there might be additions to the list. Characters will be tagged by their names under the "oc" classification (#oc: name). In the case of comics or series of any kind, they may have unique tag names of their own to help follow the story.
Content and Trigger Warnings
To begin with - VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. There's actually a whole myriad of topics that most people might rather not see.
As said earlier, the art on this blog is intended for an adult audience. The stories, characters and setting occasionally or sometimes LARGELY feature sensitive topics. Additionally, there may be suggestive or sexual content (though generally nothing explicit).
GENERAL TRYPOPHOBIA WARNING. Cephalopods along with a lot of other marine life are very... well, you know what they look like. I hope.
Prevalent sensitive topics:
Substance use and abuse (alcohol, weed, hard drugs)
Various types of physical and emotional abuse
Self-harm & suicidal ideation
General violence, injury and character death
Disordered eating
Although major depictions of these themes will generally be tagged, if you are particularly sensitive to any one topic, I would tread carefully. These may not be tagged on other sites.
Other topics (NOT TAGGED or usually not tagged):
Cannibalism (mainly mentions of predation)
General drug use, smoking, alcohol etc.
Implied self-harm (prevalent)
Ableism, bigotry and fatphobia
Medical themes, hospitalization etc.
Themes of mental health i.e. depression, derealization etc.
Character death
Car accidents
Child abuse and neglect
The aforementioned topics vary in frequency and relevance but will generally not be tagged. This list may not be comprehensive. There's bound to be things I missed, and it might be updated over time.
List of Content Warning Tags
#tw drugs | for depictions of drug abuse, NOT general drug use
#tw abuse | direct depictions of abuse
#tw self harm | physical self-harm (healed scars will NOT be tagged)
#tw suicide | implied or depicted suicide
#tw violence | injury and hard physical violence
#tw death | depicted character death (not including mentions)
#tw ed | direct mentions or depictions of disordered eating
#tw | general catch-all
#nsfw | suggestive or adult themes catch-all
Because of the sheer prevalence of different forms of content tags, I will only be using the ones in this list - if someone is an expert and knows better ones, I take suggestions.
ALSO NOTE that not every instance featuring any one of these topics will be tagged. Examples include light drug use (not including hard drugs), healed scars, and mentions or non-graphic discussion of any one topic. This list likely doesn't cover every single thing it could, and more may be added over time.
If you are badly affected by seeing any of these topics even indirectly, I recommend not engaging.
After a week of doing basically nothing but drawing... the next comic is done!
COMIC
TEXT
This one takes place in 2018, following Peppy as she ends up getting swept into an unexpected adventure after Engel drags her out into the city to "grab some ice cream".
hello! i just read through all of shellsiege that was posted to comicfury and i'm hooked. omg, i just love this comic so much!!! what amazing character design and story! and all of the characters feel so compelling as well, i'd have a hard time even picking a favorite!
also, i took both the character and species quiz so i thought i'd also include that. i got poppy and the common octofolk, which both fit pretty well i feel :)
Hi!!! Thank you so much!! I'm so happy to hear that, and also happy to say that what's posted right now is just scratching the surface (and also sad to say that the upload schedule is in shambles because i cannot pick up the pen to save my life lol. BUT MORE IS COMING!)
Also thank you for this ask and all the comments on Comic Fury -- very few people take the time to comment and I always get really excited when people do. Thanks for reading and letting me know your thoughts and I hope you'll like the future stuff too!
Striped octofolk are highly social octofolk from the Western Continent. They are pretty easy to distinguish by their ornamental body patterns; unique for each individual! Similar in behavior to the gloomy octofolk from the Eastern Continent (although with less throwing things), these octofolk are highly social and naturally congregate. As they prefer habitats with rubble and mud substrates, dens are often constructed from mud in close proximity to each other.
Size matters for these inkfolk - though not that much, as they are some of the smallest inkfolk around with the smaller subtype commonly capping under 1,3 meters. No, you might notice that these octofolk have larger crown suckers than most other inkfolk, and that'd be because they play a large part in sexual selection! Striped octofolk pretty much exclusively mate face-to-face and as such the act of tentacle kissing (translator's note: tangling of the crown tentacles) is a much more crucial aspect of finding love. Consequently, the suckers on the crown are more sensitive and developed than in most other octofolk. It's also worth noting that these octofolk are commonly noted to be monogamous, which is uncommon among seafolk (and inkfolk in particular).
The dana squidfolk is the largest squidfolk and possibly the largest terrestrial cephalopod. These squidfolk are peculiar predators that are perhaps most easily distinguished by their "headlights"; two large photophores atop two of their crown tentacles. These tentacles also possess eyelid-like organs to conceal them at will, but when in use, the light emitted can be blindingly bright and used equally to disorient prey and to communicate with conspecifics.
The dana is somewhat similar in appearance to the devil squidfolk, another large seafolk-eating predator that may also be seen in mountainous and abyssal environments. Distinguishing the two is quite simple in the end; the dana has a much sturdier body than the streamlined devil, a much larger mantle, and most definitely larger fins. The crown tentacles and the proportions of the limbs are also clear identifiers; the limbs and crown of the dana are very short and sturdy. An easy method of identification is by comparing the suction cups of these squidfolk; the devil squid have suckers lined with sharp, chitinous teeth, while the dana has a single, curved, retractable hook on each digit. Though, ideally you'd never be close enough to either one to make use of this expertise. Of course, the dana is unique among squidfolk for not having facial tentacles. These are present in juveniles, but are lost with age.
Most squidfolk are quite social, but the dana not so much. They are known to tolerate their own kind upon encounter, but not readily shoal in the same way other squid do; the social habits of modern-day dana are thought to have originated from integration to shoaling societies rather than a natural drive.
She actually isn't -- like, statistically, she's quite a bit larger than the average 3-4 year old squidfolk. (And that ratio will only increase over time...)
What she IS, though, is affected by the Standing Next to Peppy Effect
she has the uncontested effect to make everybody who stands next to her look like a bug. (If you make Grape stand next to Engel, she just looks normal.)
Many cnidarians found on land are sessile filter feeders or ambush predators, using their tentacles to capture prey. Due to their sessile nature, they tend to disperse via broadcast spawning and depend on other organisms and the wind to do so. Some cnidarians, however, utilize aerial medusae to live out the end of their lifespan and ensure that their eggs go far and wide. Air jellies are a prominent example of this, with subadult and adult stages which drift through the air currents.
Krill are small crustaceans that make up a massive percentage of biomass both in water and in the air. They are tiny, some species even microscopic. In spite of their small size, krill are a crucial part of ecosystems and are a main source of food to tons of aerial predators, and they are largely filter feeders themselves, helping to clear the air of pollen. Krill often swarm in the evenings and during the night.
Like many skyfish, krill are thought to have taken to the skies straight from the ocean, skipping any intermediate land stage. This is speculated to have been a predator-evasion strategy, later turned into a viable feeding strategy as aeroplankton levels increased. It may be because of this that most continental krill still have aquatic larvae, providing food to freshwater pockets. Many krill broadcast spawn and scatter their eggs from high in the air column, which has allowed them to disperse and spread worldwide.
(This post is sponsored by Hormone Replacement Therapy)
Sexual dimorphism is pretty vague in inkfolk... while the above image can be referenced across basically all species, you'll find it's not really clear-cut applicable for most. The size differences in particular tend to be most prominent in octofolk, whereas squidfolk generally have less size dimorphism (and no papillae, so those can't be used for reference, either). The colors and patterns in the crown tentacles continue to be the most reputable way to tell apart gender at a glance, but even still the display of patterns is largely cultural and down to self-expression, so it's hardly foolproof. And at the end of the day, size and other traits on an individual level are largely determined by genetics...
Periodical reminder that i read all tags and i really appreciate them! which i would assume to be obvious but nothing is obvious in this world anymore. there isn't really a way to tell people you read their tags other than this.
These octofolk have a card up their sleeve; they can see in pitch darkness and stay active even in temperatures near freezing. They also don't necessarily need eyesight to find their prey, but rather scan for benthic prey using their cirri as they travel. The webs of these octofolk can be retracted or flared out as part of displays or temperature regulation; during cold weather, the cape is typically rolled up. Unlike other octofolk, finned octofolk lack chromatophores and can't change color - and they also lack a radula, which makes their speech sound a little funny (this is referred to as a "cirrate accent").
