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Sylph264

@sylph264.bsky.social
173 followers 44 following 280 posts

Hello hello! I'm a creature designer and character artist. Want some of my creatures for yourself? I have a Redbubble and Patreon where you can get prints and stickers. linktr.ee/sylph264

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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Have you ever heard of a binturong? If you're like me, you might've heard them called bearcats! And despite my brain insisting they look similar to grizzled red pandas, they aren't all that closely related. #binturong #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Rubber duckie, you're the one- you make bath time so much fun! Anyone else remember Ernie's Rubber Duckie song from Sesame Street? We had a rubber duckie when I was little (and I still have it) and the song was a big hit in our house. #rubberduck #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Do you ever think much about where brightly colored aquarium fish come from? I don't often, which feels criminal having grown up with Finding Nemo. The mandarin fish hails from around Taiwan all the way south to Australia! #mandarinfish #fish #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Did you know there are plenty of perfectly chill roaches that hang about outside, and absolutely gorgeous roaches the world over? Do yourself a favor and look up the sapphire flower cockroach! #cockroach #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Obviously a Saturn dragon has to have some sort of nod to Saturn's rings, but how to accomplish it? Last time I did a Saturn dragon I went for more of a fused crest approach, but this time I decided to do something a little less on the nose. :3 #saturn #dragon #planet
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Phyllodesmium nudibranches are predatory and mimic their soft-coral prey, and some of them can use chlorophyll-carrying cells from their prey symbiotically to get extra energy from photosynthesis! #nudibranch #dragon #tinydragon
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Once upon a time the shoebill was thought to be a kind of stork, but these days it's known to be more closely related to herons, as well as pelicans! Hardly surprising with that giant beak. #shoebill #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Snowdragon! Had fun using some painting tips I've heard on the shading of this one, like using the surrounding colors in the shading itself. I'm always afraid of overdoing things like that, but I think it turned out okay this time! #snow #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
The wampus is a creature of Cherokee and American folklore. These days it seems largely depicted as a six-legged mountain lion, but many descriptions of it seem pretty vague. Glowing green or yellow eyes, shrieking, stalking... #wampus #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
At a glance you might think wombats look similar to and could even be close relatives to another marsupial like the koala, but like me, you'd be mistaken. Their evolution is thought to have diverged at least 25 million years ago! #wombat #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
At what point is a lizard already a dragon? The horned lizard is, of course, tiny, but I think if it existed in a world with dragons, I'd look at it and consider it a draconid cousin. #hornedlizard #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
...are porcupines just oversized combat guinea pigs? New world porcupines are more closely related to them than to their old world "counterparts", so maybe! XD #porcupine #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Criminal though it may be to say, I'm not actually a huge fan of most sugar cookies. Hope you all have had wonderful holidays, and if not, we're past the darkest day and we're getting more sun. Something for everyone. <3 #sugarcookie #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Iiwi is not, in fact, a typo for kiwi as I first thought when I saw the word- it's a Hawaiian honeycreeper that Wikipedia calls "a highly recognizable symbol of Hawaii." Whoops. ^^; #iiwi #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Velvet worms are a large phylum of leggy squishy guys! Despite any visual similarity, they're not closely related to caterpillars. They're predators. >:3 #velvetworm #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
I'd never seen a barn owl in my hometown before until a few weeks ago, when one decided to park itself in the road... at night... and then fly into my lane. Buddy made an abrupt meeting with my windshield despite my best efforts with the brakes. ;-; In your honor, barn owl. #barnowl #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Have you ever heard of the kaibab squirrel? Until a patron suggested it for a dragon design, I hadn't! They're from a small region on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and aren't found anywhere else. #kaibabsquirrel #squirrel #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Giraffes have been reclassified as having four distinct species instead of a bunch of subspecies, which is awesome for conservation. This dragon's inspired by the masai. :3 #giraffe #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
So my first thought when I was given the suggestion "gummy candy dragon" was gummy sharks, or maybe gummy bears... but when given the option to make a pun, I couldn't resist. Now we have a gummy wyrm and I have no regrets. XD What's your favorite gummy candy? #gummywyrm #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
The green dragontail butterfly is south and southeast Asian swallowtail butterfly sporting a beautiful glass-like section in its wings. You should look up videos of them in motion- watching those long tails move is amazing. #dragontailbutterfly #artist #dragon
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
You know, I don't remember if I first saw a red panda in person or in Zoo Tycoon 2. I'm pretty sure our local zoo doesn't have any, but we lived in a different state when I was little and I know we went to a big city zoo before we moved. Does it count if I don't remember? #redpanda #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
This isn't the first time I've done a mud dauber dragon- the first was actually a year ago in honor of the wasps finding their way into my office. A sizeable gap had developed between the wood and glass of the windows, and a repair saw a large drop in the wasp incidents. #wasp #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Some daddy long legs are spiders, but a large number of them are arachnids but aren't spiders. But... they've got eight spindly legs, what gives? WELL, they've got a single fused body part instead of a spider's separate head (cephalothorax) and abdomen. #daddylonglegs #artist #dragon #harvestmen
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
If you'd asked me what a monkey slug was a few days ago, I'd have guessed it was maybe a sea slug or a flower. It's the name for the hag moth's caterpillar! I suppose someone fancifully thought its "tentacles" looked like curling monkey limbs or tails. #monkeyslug #caterpillar #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
The textile cone snail has a probiscis that can fire a needle of venom that can be fatal even to humans. They're not the only snail that can be dangerous to humans, either! Just because something looks cool it doesn't mean you should touch it. #textileconesnail #artist #dragon
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
The white-petaled skeleton flower turns transparent on contact with water, earning its name. This isn't my first skeleton flower dragon- but the last was almost four and a half years ago and was one of my first daily designs. Wild to see how my art has changed since. #skeletonflower #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Whether by odd mimicry or animated by a wizard with an affinity for summer sundries, this species of dragon has taken on the visage of... a flamingo pool floatie. It's said there are subspecies appearing as alligators, turtles, dolphins, and more. #floatie #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
I found a really satisfying picture of grilled cheese halves being pulled apart that ended up the inspiration for this dragon and all the goopy cheese strung across it. I might've had a grilled cheese while working on this design. xD #grilledcheese #artist #dragon
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Bateleur eagles spend a considerable amount of time thermoregulating by facing the sun with their wings spread, and they also use ants as a free cleaning and pest control service. Proper dandies. #eagle #dragon #bateleur #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
The green hairstreak is a lovely little butterfly that comes in subtle, pale yellow-greens and green-blues, combinations that I personally really enjoy. I could've sworn I'd seen one before, but I can't find a map of their range in the US. #hairstreak #butterfly #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Butterflies get the good rep, but moths really come in so many beautiful colors and patterns and they're fluffy. The green tiger moth is found in Peru. There's a few species and all of them have woefully little information available on any of them. #dragon #moth #artist #greentigermoth
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
The golden tortoise beetle is a golden beetle that could live in my backyard, not that I've had the pleasure of seeing one. XD For this one I didn't quite do a direct take on the beetle, but tried to combine the beetle, some more tortoise-like elements, and the dragon. #dragon #beetle #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Have you ever heard of romanesco broccoli? It's a cultivar of cauliflower and it comes in a a cool spiral shape, a natural almost-fractal, and it joins cauliflower and broccoli in being an enlarged and edible flower bud of the species Brassica oleracea. #broccoli #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
There are six species of feather-horned beetles and apparently none have been very well studied, but only males have the big fancy antenna and they're used (somehow) to pick up female pheromones. However that works, it looks awfully fancy. #beetle #featherhornedbeetle #artist #dragon
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Guarana Antarctica is a soda made with a fruit from the Amazon, also called guarana. To hear people describe it it sounds somewhat citrusy and is a pretty mildly flavored drink, but I've never had it myself. Have any of you had it before? What's it like? #dragon #artist #guarana #soda
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Guarana is both a fruit native to the Amazon basin and common in Brazil, and also a soda made with the fruit. I'd never heard of it until a friend who'd lived in Brazil for gave me a recipe for Brazilian stroganoff and said I *had* to have guarana with it. #guarana #soda #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Tardigrades are resilient micro-animals known as "water bears" or "moss piglets", but I'll have you know I came up with better nicknames while working on this dragon. Legged Jabba the Hutt. Corpulent caterpillar with a peashooter face. The great chungus. #tardigrade #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
I'm not entirely sure why they might call the flamingo leafwing butterfly a flamingo leafwing. Some pictures of them made the orange on the dorsal side of their wings flash pink, but I can't tell if those have been edited or not. xD #butterfly #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Sables are a species of marten, little mammals that look kinda like ferrets! They have very soft fur that was highly valued as part of fur trade for a long time. #marten #sable #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Did you know tumbleweeds are more than just set dressing for Westerns? Like dandelion seed fluff, they're a part of a plant used to disperse seeds. And like dandelions, they capture the hearts of minds of the people, but instead of wishes, they grant ambience. #tumbleweed #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
This is only tangentially relevant to mac n cheese, but did you know the US government stores massive amounts of cheese underground? I thought this was common knowledge for years because I grew up near some cheese storage and I've even visited it. #cheese #macncheese #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Have you heard of the wooly devil? It's a new plant recently discovered in Big Bend national park in the US! It's distinct enough it's even been given its own genus in the daisy family. Its scientific name Ovicula biradiata basically means two-petaled tiny sheep. #woolydevil #plant #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Hiya! If you like what I do and want to support me, please consider joining my Patreon to support my work. <3 Check out the link in my bio by the end of the day March 7th to get these exclusive prints and stickers! #patreon #stickers #prints #dragon #artist #anatomicalheart #valentines
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
I love gentle grays and white as a palette on animals and morning skies- it makes them look so soft to the touch. #dragon #japanesewagtail #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Pink waxcap is also known as ballerina waxcap, and it's a very pretty little mushroom that starts out a typical cone shape but flattens as it ages. Sometimes the cap will split, leaving its pieces curled to expose its frilled gills. Reminds me of an axolotl! #waxcap #funguary #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Magnolias are stupid trees. They'll put out buds on the first 40 degree day and freeze off when the temperatures drop the next day. They'll do this every above-freezing day all winter until it doesn't drop back below freezing and they get the chance to actually bloom. XD #magnolia #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Golden spindles is a lovely fungus belonging to a group sometimes known as coral fungi. What I really want to know is who I can blame for this particular specimen not being named fry fungus. Those are clearly undercover french fries. #funguary #goldenspindles #fungus #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
In part as an inside joke, one of my friends and patrons requested an anatomical heart dragon for this month of Valentine's. XD In a game we played, there's a group called Dusters who sign their letters with anatomical hearts. They're such nerds, I love them. #dragon #heart #valentines #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Collared earthstar is a cute little fungus that reminds me of giant cloves- a big bulb surrounded by little "petals". They're found worldwide and they have a history of being used in traditional medicines in both North America and China. :3 #funguary #fungus #collaredearthstar #dragon #artist
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Sylph264 @sylph264.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Hiya! If you like what I do and want to support me, please consider joining my Patreon to support my work. <3 Check out the link in my bio by the end of the day February 7th to get these exclusive prints and stickers! #patreon #stickers #prints #dragon #artist #superbstarling #bird
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