The Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository Is Live!

The Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository is live!

You can find it at: https://www.animal-photo-references.com!

A screenshot of the home page on the Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository website. It is labeled "Photos by Taxa" in black text and has a copyright notice that reads: "Artists creating derivative or transformative works without Generative AI have blanket permission to reference these photos.

All other commercial and non-commercial use of these photos - including reposting them online or reproducing them in media or academic publications - requires advance permission. "

Below the text are six images in a 3x2 grid, each captioned. In the first row a photo of a cheetah is above the word "Mammals"; an American alligator is labeled "Reptiles"; a California Condor is labeled "Birds." The second row has a dart frog labeled "Coming soon: Amphibians"; an odd-looking fish sitting under a rock labeled "Coming soon: Fish"; and a small jellyfish labeled "Coming soon: Invertebrates."

Here's how this repository works: all photos were taken by me, a human, at zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries, and other facilities with animals in human care. There is no AI involved in the photo editing or creation and there never will be. Right now there's 56 species on the site; my catalog has over 300 and I will be uploading the rest of them as fast as I can.

Artists creating derivative or transformative works (without AI) have blanket permission to use these references. Yes, even for work you're going to sell.

All other usage/reproduction requires permission, but assume I'm friendly and please do ask! That's educators, researchers, the media, people who need images for a school presentation, etc. This is just to retain copyright/control in case they're scraped/reused unethically - it doesn't meant I don't want folk to have access! So please do reach out via the contact form on the repository website, I don't bite and I'm most likely going to say yes.

Please don't repost the repository photos to your own blogs: I've created @animalphotorefs as a dedicated blog to share photos from the site, and of course I'll reblog a lot of it here! That again just helps with retaining copyright and sourcing of the images. If you really want to repost some for a specific purpose, please just ask me first!

Also, folks, this project has no funding. It's just me and my camera.

There will never be a paywall on the site - I believe resources like this absolutely must be free for everyone to access. So please, please, please support the repository if you use it. Want sneak peeks at photos, cute videos I take, or to help choose what I photograph and what gets posted first? You can do that through Patreon (and there's a free trial on the most interactive tier!) If you'd like to just drop a tip, I've also set up a Ko-Fi.

I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of the repository.

To whet your thirst for cute photos, here's an Indian rhinoceros contemplating a goose.

An Indian Rhinoceros' head is visible above the surface of deep water. It is staring directly at a Canadian goose that stands on concrete at the edge of the pool.

(Old) Wings of Fire SeaWing

A SeaWing I drew all the way back in 2019 :)

Posted using PostyBirb

172 notes View Post

dabuffchickenman

11 months ago

I really like how in artistic representations of the desert sand, Watery oasis's are related to islands and the desert dunes to waves. I wonder if that has to do with water and desert being placed we can survive but not comfortably in or indefinitely. I wonder if dragons have similar analogies for the sky, it being a terain they can exist in but not live indefinitely.

Blizzard of Sands: A Clogyrnach

Blizzards of sands in desert lands,

Blow in the daytime, stormy sands.

The desert blizzards,

Something that is heard,

Sand glisters,

Desert lands.

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dabuffchickenman

8 months ago

Man I need a project to work on that requires dragon armor.

*ignores my older abandoned animation memes*

Revamp Of Some Old Nightwing Armor Designs For My Enchanted Wof AU

revamp of some old Nightwing armor designs for my enchanted wof AU

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dabuffchickenman

1 month ago

Walk Cycle SPEED RUN¡!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh no the brain rot.

I'm not going to make it out of this one

Hopefully this will turn into an Icicle AMV when I'm done but I have no idea when I'll run out of energy here.

Almost didn't post this as it's just a WIP, but I'm not sure if I'll actually finish this and I like the body segments.

IceWings have a different body shape compared to NightWings. Hard

Tags

digital art dragon wings of fire Walk cycle wof design icewings

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dabuffchickenman

1 month ago

okay it’s come to my attention that absolutely NONE OF YOU know ANYTHING about how cutie marks work. let me say this simply. a cutie mark isn’t a job being assigned, it’s a special TALENT OR SKILL that the pony enjoys. Most of the time it has a directly transferable job for that skill, like if you enjoy baking and are super good at it WOW! baker. If you are really good at writing and telling stories, author. However, there are some cutie marks that could go multiple ways.

twilight sparkle has exceptional magic ability, so she became a scholar, but she could really do anything that required a good magic skill. same with rainbow dash, her weather controlling job isn’t directly linked to her cutie mark, but it does fit the bill for the job.

i was posed the question of what would a murderer pony’s cutie mark be and wouldn’t everyone know. NO. if somehow murder were to be a special skill, the cutie mark might be something like a knife or a shovel. other ponies might just assume you’re good a cooking or gardening. now with cutie marks like apple jacks, their family has a ‘green thumb’ kind of deal so obviously the cutie mark would be hereditary.

so, the reason i made this post. walter white pony’s cutie mark would NOT be blue crystals. it would be a CHEMISTRY FLASK.

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