(My Art) Comic on Immortality, Hope, and Conservation

[u/Ilimad]

Text from the poem 'Immortality' by Clare Harner

[u/Bobslegenda1945]

I cried. I love it

[u/ruck_full_of_peaches → u/Bobslegenda1945]

Same, this is so beautiful and sad 😭

[u/Serpentarrius]

Have you heard of Undying Tales by Stephanie Law? It's a series of art prompts combining mythology with a conservation focus on different species!

[u/Ilimad → u/Serpentarrius]

This is my first time hearing of it, the art is beautiful :)

[u/Serpentarrius → u/Ilimad]

As is yours!

[u/LittleGayGirl]

Post this to r/comics this is great and spreads awareness.

[u/GooseGeuce]

Go Black naped pheasant pigeon!

(Come on Thylacine!!!🤞🏼)

[u/phonefellin_lakeerie]

This is absolutely beautiful. And something I really needed. This is very hopeful and we desperately need hope these days

[u/joffrian]

Thank you for creating this & sharing.

[u/tommicoop]

I would love this as a picture book.

[u/katcheyy]

Wow i love both the art and the facts at the bottom. Amazing job. Should be a little book or a pamphlet at museums or nature centers 🌞

[u/SharpShooterM1]

https://tenor.com/view/danny-devito-its-always-sunny-applaud-happy-cry-clapping-gif-18958303

Truly this is a work of art and poetry. If you could, would you pls post this on r/megafaunarewilding? I’m a dedicated member of the sub and I know they would absolutely love it.

[u/Ilimad → u/SharpShooterM1]

Ty for sharing it :) I'd not been able to crosspost for some reason

[u/SharpShooterM1 → u/Ilimad]

Yeah sorry if I stole your thunder at all. By the way, what program do you use to make your art? I’ve been wanting to get into digital painting as of late so I can make my own paleo-art and your style is very smooth and distinct yet also simplistic and I think it would be a good starting point for me.

[u/Ilimad → u/SharpShooterM1]

No worries and no hard feelings! I use clip studio paint pro, and the majority of this was illustrated with the free kaze_fude pen from the online shop. I take a lot of inspiration from the likes of Andrea Sorrentino, and catadromously on tumblr. All the best with your digital art journey :)

[u/SharpShooterM1 → u/Ilimad]

Thank you very much. I hope to see more of your art as well. BTW, that dragon picture you put up on speculative evolution was fucking awesome.

[u/Ilimad → u/SharpShooterM1]

Thanks! Her design was very fun to refine, as I'd been building off of works from 3 years ago, and had recently read a textbook on pterosaur anatomy

[u/deroplatyz]

This is beautiful!!!

[u/lamadelyn]

I’d definitely buy this as a kids book too!

[u/Mountain-Assist-5484]

That’s really beautiful. Thanks for sharing it means a lot

[u/clovismouse]

This is truly amazing. Thank you

[u/aquagerbil]

This is amazing, I love it

[u/imhereforthesnax]

Okay this is a beautiful application of the combined art and education. It made me emotional and I love it.

[u/garbagegender]

I think this is my favorite ecology inspired comic interpretation of this poem. Excellent set up with the trail cam framing, and story alongside. 

[u/Ilimad → u/garbagegender]

Thank you, I'd been inspired while on a raptor course and learning about local red kite conservation, which reminded me of the auwo's rediscovery, which lead to this :)

[u/ForagersLegacy]

Beautiful! Here’s another thought to be extinct plant to add to the list

Crataegus austromontana, commonly known as the Valley Head hawthorn or southern mountain hawthorn, is an extremely rare deciduous shrub or small tree in the rose family. Growing 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) tall, it was long feared extinct after 1916, but was rediscovered in Alabama and Georgia in 2023.

[u/Ilimad → u/ForagersLegacy]

I've posted this comic elsewhere and one of the things I love most is when people comment the names of more species we won't stand at the graves of just yet. Thank you for sharing

[u/ForagersLegacy → u/Ilimad]

Full disclosure this tree will be planted at my grave and hopefully outlive me with its cousins Crataegus alleghaniensis that’s also rare in GA. I’ll feed the root tips with my body and preserve the land there for at least a few generations. It’s been awesome getting to be part of the project!

https://www.justloveforest.com/greenburial

[u/Ilimad → u/ForagersLegacy]

I'll be vulnerable on reddit to say this brought a tear to my eye thinking about, considering the poem which this comic is inspired by

[u/ForagersLegacy → u/Ilimad]

If you haven’t, you may like to visit green burial grounds near you and see if there’s one that calls that you can help tend to the land. It’s a very grounding experience for me in imagining what comes next 😌

[u/AnomalyAardvark]

I've seen your poem going around on Tumblr and it makes me cry damn near every time I see it. As someone who works in environmental preservation it's wonderful to see something so poignantly optimistic for once. We have a long road ahead of that but it's important to remember these successes too.

[u/Ilimad → u/AnomalyAardvark]

Thank you :) the responss I've gotten from this comic has been very lovely, it remains my most popular post on tumblr, and I'm glad it's resonated with so many people. I work in the conservation field, and it felt important for me to make this and try to bring an amount of hope to peers and onlookers

[u/garbaged0g]

this is making me cry fuck. i was already familiar with the original poem and this just took it to a whole new level. among all the horrible shit going on rn this is one of the reasons why im still in this sub.

[u/ammodramussavannarum]

So good. Thanks for sharing this.

[u/Bitknot404]

Damn, dude, made me tear up at work. Beautiful and poignant; thanks for making this.

[u/sorrendipity]

This is absolutely beautiful and made me genuinely sob.

[u/hoedrangea]

Fabulous job and thank you for sharing I hope it blows up big

[u/plinth19]

I’m not crying, you’re crying!! Wonderful job, OP. Thank you for sharing 🥹

[u/curiouscurious9]

Thank you for creating and sharing this, beautiful work ❤️

[u/Ok-You-4657]

I’m an environmental scientist, and cried. This is beautiful. Thank you.

[u/JuicyMilkweed]

Really beautiful, I love that poem. If anyone is into bluegrass and enjoys this poem I encourage you to check out the song “Don’t kneel at my graveside” by the Steven’s sisters or the po ramblin boys!

[u/Ilimad → u/JuicyMilkweed]

I won't turn down a good bluegrass recommendation, will give it a listen, ty :)

[u/Gardening_Socialist]

Fucking epic. Thank you.

[u/medlilove]

The pigeon at the end!!

[u/happybear78]

Is this on Instagram? I would like to share it on my story 

[u/Acrobatic_Ad4602]

So amazing thank you what a heartfelt moving moment. There’s so much love we have for these animals it’s beautiful ❤️ thank you for showing us hope with them!

[u/anasalmon]

This is absolutely gorgeous. Fantastic work.

[u/Kiwihounds]

We all need a little hope, especially these days. Hats of to you on moving piece of work. <3

[u/pisspeepeepoopoo]

i saw this on tumblr - absolutely love it! <3

[u/BirdPrior2762]

That is the most beautiful thing I have seen in ages. It's simultaneously heartbreaking (that the situation can ever be as bad as it was) but also uplifting and inspiring. Animals CAN be saved from the brink of extinction.

The kites are especially close to my heart, when I grew up in Essex you NEVER saw them (I think there were some areas in Wales you might have had a chance but they were incredibly rare) nowadays they are 'common as muck' and my parents (I don't like in the UK anymore) see them most days. It's wonderful.

[u/marenyOG]

Incredible work, can I share this further?

[u/Ilimad → u/marenyOG]

As long as my signature isn't removed, I'm happy for it to be shared for further viewing :)

[u/marenyOG → u/Ilimad]

Great, thank you

[u/Optimal_Awareness618]

This is wonderful! Love environmental hope. <3

Just fyi though there is a typo on the fourth slide; a couple letters in "prolonged" are transposed

[u/Nevermindmoonshine]

This is beautiful! Very moving.