Emil L’Amour

@vireosy.bsky.social

30s ⟡ nonbinary ⟡ they/them ⟡ PNW ⟡ Hobby artist and nature enthusiast with a love for fantasy, water, and palæontology. #art

I'm REALLY behind on posting art! Here are my contributions to this year's Polar Lights zine which is absolutely wonderful & full of art from folks who are absolutely epic.❤️❤️❤️ ⚠️🦭UPDATE: sadly, since I finished the infocomic about them, bearded seals are now classed as Endangered by the ICUN. 😵‍💫

A digital painting of a mountainous arctic vista in Tombstone Territorial Park; it is dominated by alpenglow hues of purple and orange with a moody grey sky in the background.Page 1 of an infocomic about bearded seals reading:

Behold! The bearded seal! The biggest seal in the arctic! (Not to be confused with walruses, which, while related to seals, are not considered seals themselves.)

(A bearded seal on an ice flow says "'sup." in greeting to the viewer.)

Taxonomic name: Erignathus barbatus
ICUN Status: Near Threatened (correction: they are now classed as Endangered.)
Weight: 261/363 kg or 575/800 lbs

Bearded seals are named for their voluminous whiskers. 

Male bearded seals attract their bearded ladies by singing! Their otherworldly songs can be heard as far away as 20 km/12.4 miles. Males also sing to defend their territories.

(A male bearded seal sings "Ooooooooo...." to which a female on an iceflow responds "I'm STILL not interested, Harold." Poor Harold is sad about this.Page 2 of my bearded seal infocomic reads:

Unlike most seal pups, which may take weeks to even months to approach the water much less swim in it, bearded seal pups can swim within mere hours of birth, and they are weaned after only 24 days!

(A glaring mama bearded seal floats between her baby pup in the water and a heavily disappointed polar bear on an iceflow, exclaiming "Take that, stupid bear! My baby ain't no helpless snack!")

Bearded seals are also faster swimmers than polar bears.

Except for moms with pups, bearded seals are solitary, and sleep either lounging on ice flows or fliating vertically in the water like a buoy... which probably creeps out other arctic wildlife.

(Two arctic foxes perched on an iceflow look super leery of a nearby floating bearded seal. One of the foxes wonders "Is... is it asleep?!" to which the other fox replies "I can't tell!"

In another panel we see the bearded seal's peaceful, apparently sleeping face. In the bext, he winks and sticks out his tongue, proving that he was pranking the poor foxes all along.)

Fin!

folks when we find a guy who's saying a bunch of dumbass shit can we get back to blocking them instead of screenshotting them and talking about their dumbass shit? these losers are not worth our time & when we let them waste it we insult the revolution

Happy World Environment Day ❄️ We raised US$495.12 this fundraising period and have donated US$500 to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition! I’m so grateful and proud to run this project. Thank you all for your support. 🩵 #polar_zine

Graphic with blurred art of a leaping orca and overlaid text in bold. "Final donation US$500." Bottom flush left, "Polar Lights 4: Eventide. Thank you!" The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition logo is centered, then flush right are the Tumblr and Itch.io logos with the username "PolarLightsZine". Credit caption "Art by Emil L'Amour @vireosy".