#projectkarya

[projectkarya]

So I was browsing Reddit, as one does, and good ol' r/SpeculativeEvolution hit me with this post by u/_Soft_Kiwi_:

Which got me to thinking of gnomes in general; in particular, though, interpretations that depict them as assistant workers within the household (e.g. hobgoblins/tomte)...:

...as well as some interpretations of house elves/gnomes that depict them as having tails with tufts on them, e.g. nisse from Netflix's Hilda and I swear I've seen older interpretations as well with tails:

Which, in the spirit of Project KARYA, of course, got me thinking, "what IRL creature could potentially serve as the basis for such a species on Karya?"

Introducing, Tarsiers:

Tarsier - Wikipedia

As their own branch of the primate family tree, tarsiers first appeared around 45 million years ago, and fossils of extinct species have been found in regions across Europe, Asia, and even North America. Considering this, it would be easy to make spec evo a lineage that would come to be less dependent on the trees, maybe become more bipedal and saltatorial (movement by hopping), and even have one or two species becoming comfortable with the presence of sophonts to the point of inhabiting their dwellings. They would come to serve as pest control as well as "tidying up" scraps and what would otherwise be considered garbage (either to eat for themselves or to add to nests for decoration purposes).

Will sketch a potential ancestor design and post when it's finished!

[projectkarya]

More size charts coming within the next few hours! Dino nerds, you're gonna love some of these ones ;3

Here's a sneak peek of sorts, by showing the last common ancestors of the upcoming clades:

[projectkarya]

Working on the next creature art (ft. Eudraco pyrophorus, the spark dragon). I love how cute my animals end up becoming, despite some of them being apex predators of their environments. How some just seem to have have absolutely no brain cells

[projectkarya]

A size chart - but for plants!

Archaeopyrgosidae

Last Common Ancestor: Lepidodendron karyaensis Key:

A = Disciasodendron erosus, the serrated twin-capped towerling; one of five species of Disciasodendron.

B = Pyrsodendron erectus the straightened torcher; one of three species of Pyrsodendron.

C = Salicoidopteris argentatus, the silvery willofern; one of six species of Salicoidopteris.

[projectkarya]

I'm really proud of the direction my art style is progressing, and I can't wait to continue drawing more! While I work on the piece from the Tridactylocheiridae poll, I'll start making more polls for future pieces, starting with the following:

Which therrynichid genus would you like to see fully illustrated?

A - Hatchhunds

B - Shas

C - Ammits

D - Hippogryphs

E - Gryphons

Voting ended onMay 26

[projectkarya]

Operation "Getting Off My Ass And Make SOMETHING By Making Size Charts For Previous Clades" is a go!

((sorry for the lull of Project KARYA content, haven't been in the brain space to work on the current Gobbi's Lesson. I hope this is an acceptable compromise!))

A comparative size chart for various genera within the kingdom Vivibullae ("living bubbles"), descended from a unique lineage of multicellular eukaryotes. It is sometimes considered a sister clade to Animalia. Pictured for a sense of size are the silhouettes belonging to sampled species of extant genera of Vivibullae:

Terrabulla dumetora (A), the brambubble

Oroaphrus oroaphrus (B), the montane bubble

Palustrabulla vulgera (C), the common swamp bubble

Aquabulla borealia (D), the northern lake bubble

Oceanophrus oceanophrus (E), the common ocean bubble

Notosaphrus notosaphrus (F), the common southern bubble

Marebulla vulgaris occidentalis (G), the western sea bubble

Irisaphrus irisaphrus (H), the rainbow bubble

Profundobullus magnus (I), the great abyssal bubble

[projectkarya]

Which aquavenatoregid should I illustrate in greater detail first?

A = Leviathans; genus Cetiasaura (silhouette = common leviathan)

B = Wavehunters; genus Lepidocetioides (silhouette = Iyotian wavehunter)

C = Wanis; genus Hydropitherus (silhouette = umiwani)

D = Wanis; genus Hydropitherus (silhouette = kombwani

E = Nissies; genus Potamophisaurus (silhouette = Tchamenl's nissie)

F = Nissies; genus Potamophisaurus (silhouette = Gadarian nissie)

Remaining time: 1 day 16 hours

[projectkarya]

"I...NOT...A-NI-MAL!"

The first recorded words spoken by lesser dragons, during an instance of attempted extermination of one such individual in northern Iyos.

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Lesser dragons (Eudraco sapiens) is a species of Karyic non-avian dinosaur, whose genus is descended from an animal analogous to Earth's Scansoriopteryx. They are the smallest species of "true" dragons on Karya, with a maximum wingspan of typically no more than 10 meters, and a full body length, excluding tail feathers, of about 2.5 meters. Fully mature specimens possess short (appx. 0.3 meter) horns on top of their skulls, above the eye sockets; large eye spots on their wings from birth generally grow darker with age, and are possessed by both males and females of the species, functioning as a part of intraspecific communications. While unable to produce the anomalous oral projections by other Eudraco species - what are otherwise referred to as "breath attacks" - some individual E. sapiens are capable of not just mimicking speech, but understanding simple syntax; more recent research has revealed that they have rather high levels of cognition, not quite to the degree of modern sophonts but on par with some "demi-sophont" species such as kobolds.

This hasn't prevented them from being just as historically hunted as the non-vocal species in their genus, and although lesser dragons are currently the most populous species of Eudraco, it is still considered critically endangered.

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Finally done making this piece! On to the next art based on the public votes from before; hopefully I make these faster now that I kind of have a rhythm going, and (fingers crossed) the fifth Gobbi's Lesson will be finished by the end of June!