Beautiful Things and Night Mother [Fluttershy and Luna Art]

[Duster Dawnhorse 248]

First off, the polished piece.

My contribution for Ashley Nichol's charity artbook; Friendship is Wild! 100% of the proceeds go to WildAid, an organization dedicated to stopping poaching and the trade in poached animal parts such as ivory and shark fins. It's a wonderful cause I support whole-heartedly. Click here to preorder your book!

Being a huge bug lover I decided to focus on a facet of wildlife conservation that often gets overlooked; illegal insect trade for pets, pinned specimens, and even living jewelry (they glue gems and chains to live beetles as brooches, it's disgusting.) Some butterflies can fetch up to $5,000 dollars a piece, so it's a very lucrative illegal market. Every butterfly featured on here is endangered or a CITES I species (endangered to the point that any trade is illegal.) The only exception is the Monarch Butterfly on her flanks, which sadly is being considered for the endangered species list this year.

Cutie mark: Palos Verdes Blue, Monarch, Bhutan Glory
Left wing: Queen Alexandra Birdwing, Luzon Peacock Swallowtail
Right wing: Rajah Brooke Birdwing, Ceylon Rose

 

And close-up of the butt butterflies.

 

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And unpolished work. I'll be fixing this up tomorrow but for now have some preemptive episode art. I am psychic.

[LunarEclipse1 22]

They look amazing! Keep up the good work!

[Applejohn 108]

It looks so good all the small details on the butterflies! And how the mane flows on the back of her head! Everything is so perfect about this. Amazing work!

[Duster Dawnhorse 248]

Thanks guys! I think I'm gonna have to paint more bugs eventually, it's pretty fun.

[Plume 922]

Considering buying the book, not just because I love the cause and animals, but seriously I would buy it just for this piece of art.

[Shadow Beam 1,179]

Wonderful work. It's not only great because of the art on itself, but because of the effort and meticulous detail you put into this piece.

I really hope the situation gets better for the poor things, most people barely even care for what can be caught on sight at once, they don't appreciate the wholeness of their enviroment.