iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

A lot of people like to gatekeep professional titles. I once had a fruitless internet argument with somebody who insisted that one cannot call themselves "an artist" unless they make a substantial income selling their work. I've been called an artist since childhood, so I wholeheartedly disagreed.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I suppose that interpretation would encompass anyone who participates in data collection or has published educational resources, including "citizen scientists" and self-taught experts, irrespective of their qualifications?

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I can relate. My background was also in arts, so I'm no stranger to imposter syndrome. I find it easier to say that I work in science rather than that I am a scientist.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Much of what I do at work is only tangentially related to what I studied at university 😅

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Am I, finally, "a scientist"? It feels less momentous than I thought it would. I'm still the same idiot I've always been. Do you call yourself a scientist? Why/why not? 3/3

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

But for scientists the distinction is less clear. Not all science grads are practicing scientists. I've now published a paper in a peer-reviewed journal. I work full-time in operational science. I collect plant & animal samples in the field and process them in the lab... 2/3

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

When I began my studies in biology I often wondered, at what point in one's career can a scientist call themselves a scientist? When a law student passes the bar, they become a lawyer. When a medical graduate registers to practice medicine, they become a doctor... 1/3 #academicsky #academia #science

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Farewell Victor 💔 Zoo Berlin's beloved bull elephant has passed away. I spent many hours observing, sketching and photographing this gentle giant when I lived in Berlin. Thank you for inspiring me, old friend. You live on in my illustrations of you.

Photograph of Victor the elephant in his enclosure at Zoo Berlin.

Watercolour and gouache illustration of Victor playing with palm fronds.

Photo of an article from Terra Mater magazine featuring my illustrations: a side view watercolour and gouache painting of Victor, alongside graphite drawings of elephant trunk anatomy, plus a world map showing elephant species distribution.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Yess!!! Can't tell you how happy I am to see you here ❤️

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Interesting find while doing fieldwork in western Sydney today. Juvenile 𝐿𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖 (common garden skink) with a forked tail. A case of tail autotomy, when the original tail is damaged but not lost? #herpetology #reptiles

Juvenile Lampropholis guichenoti (common garden skink) with a forked tail. An unusual case of tail-autotomy, when the original tail is damaged but not lost. The skink is also feeding on a winged insect, possibly an ant.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Stellar list of talented folk! Thank you

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Approaching the end of the road with Facebook. Hadn't logged in for months and I can't say it was an important part of my life.

It's a screenshot from my Facebook post, which reads:

"Hi everyone. You probably noticed that I don't really post here anymore. I'll be honest, I simply hate Facebook. Every time I log on here I just get bombarded with advertisements, false information, hateful posts, clutter and garbage from accounts I don't even follow. I am even more concerned to find that an increasing proportion of it is AI-generated slop, lapped up by AI-generated comments. This platform has entered an irreversible nosedive and I cannot bring myself to waste another minute here.

However I don't want to lose connection with you, my dear friends. I am jumping on here just to say that I am still active and doing lots of arty and sciency things in life, and that I can be found elsewhere. For the moment Bluesky seems to be the most promising platform to share this kind of content and have genuine conversations with friendly people without being flooded with ads and spam. If you have any interest, I invite you to join me and the growing sci-art community on Bluesky: (link)

My personal website will also continue to be a hub where you can send emails through the contact form and find links to all my active platforms: www.piptacla.com

Thank you for reading"

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

#sciart #art #animalart #paleoart Do hashtags hold the same relevance on this platform? Anyway. Behold, 𝐷𝑖𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑚.

Monotone digital sketches of Diprotodon optatum, an extinct Pleistocene relative of wombats. A sketch of the skull is displayed beside a facial reconstruction with mouth open, showcasing the prominent chisel-like incisors.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Another much-needed feature: ability to customise notification settings. I've switched on priority notifications but I'd enjoy more tailored options.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Wait, there *is* private messaging on bsky??? Someone message me so I can try it out 😂

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Good morning bsky 🦋 Feeling optimistic about this platform, I've already discovered such an amazing community in such a short time. Although coming from IG, I do miss the following features: - Private messaging - Ability to edit posts - Gallery view of old posts, similar to IG grid or FB folders

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Thanks for telling me about that, very handy feature

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Thank you so much Michael! So happy to find you've joined here too

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Maquenda!!!! So glad you're here too ❤️

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Thank you! Happy to have discovered you here

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

I love that this platform makes it easy to do so

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

So far I feel a great sense of community and it's way more interesting than Threads. I'm excited to see where this goes

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Thank you! I've just fallen in love with your work, so happy to have discovered you here. I can't remember if our paths crossed on Instagram before, but I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for your posts here

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Well done. My heart wants to do the same, but I hesitate to cut off family and old friends I have no other means of contacting.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

This is such a great habit for all artists. I recently organised my work by years and I re-discovered so many pieces I'd forgotten about. It's been so useful knowing where everything is.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

I was so happy to see you're on here too!

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Introductory post! My name is Pip and I'm a field scientist/natural history illustrator. I am primarily a traditional artist (watercolour, gouache and pencil), however I also paint digitally. My favourite things to draw are anatomical studies of mammals, both living and extinct.

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Pip Tacla • Animal Artist @piptacla.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Finally caved in and joined you all here. After years of feeling burnt out on social media, I dreaded the thought of having another account to maintain. But each day I feel less attachment to those other platforms. What is there to lose? I'm hopeful for more genuine connection and less advertising.

A monotone illustration of a swimming echidna with skeleton view overlaid on top. The artwork was made with a combination of graphite pencil and digital media. Rough preliminary sketches and alternate thumbnail poses can be seen in the background.

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