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namu-the-orca — Matia's wandering family

#113 #119 #121 #41 #77 #94 #calypso #cousteau #endangered #joy #killer #matia #mega #orca #orcinus #population #resident #salish #salmon #sea #southern #whale #whales #windsong #l113 #l119 #l121 #l41 #l94 #l77 #l
Published: 2016-04-14 05:01:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 6546; Favourites: 325; Downloads: 0
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Description References: photos from various sources for markings reference, including photos by Hysazu - many thanks! www.joostvanuffelen.com/sites/… inspired Matia's pose

Commission for EarthEmerald


The Southern resident killer whales number less than a hundred. With the baby boom of 2015 that brought this endangered population five welcome new members, the number now sits at 83. Edit: make that 82. L-95 Nigel has just been found dead earlier this month. Eighty-three members of one, big, extended family that roams the Salish sea and beyond. They are perhaps better known by their separate pod names: J-, K-, and L-pod, each in turn made up of different matrilines. On this painting are the remaining members of the L-12 matriline. Once lead by L-12 Alexis, who sadly passed away in the winter of 2011/2012, its members now solely consist of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren she left behind. The L-12 matriline has always been a close-knit group that took its own course away from the rest of the L-pod, and they continue to do so today. They tend to go further south than the others usually do, and never wander far from each other. Although not shown on the painting L-25 Ocean sun often travels with them, having outlived her direct family.

Swimming in front is L-77, Matia. She's a very pretty whale with wonderfully wavy cheek markings on the right side of her face, and on the left a very striking open saddle that appears to bear a solid black stripe. Born in 1987 she is almost thirty years old, and has had two calves. Unfortunately the first died quickly, but the second is still part of the family: she is L-119 Joy, and can be seen in the background as the leftmost whale. Behind Joy is Matia's big brother Mega, L-41. An apt name, for the 39-year-old bull is the largest whale of all the Southern residents. He was born one year after formal studies began, and so researchers have seen him grow from a baby into the mighty whale he is today. Swimming with a calf by her side is L-94 Calypso, Matia's eight year younger sister. The sisters share a very similar open saddle, both sporting the strange stripe-like black marking. Calypso is a mother to one of the babyboom calves: born in 2015, one-year-old L-121 Windsong stays close to her flank. On Calypso's right side swims her older daughter L-113 Cousteau who is now seven years old. By watching her mother care for Windsong she may be learning for the day when she will hopefully have a calf of her own.

The Southern residents do not have it easy, and face many human threats that challenge their survival. They are the only population of Killer whales to be listed as Endangered in US waters. Pollution of the ocean and a lack of salmon (their near sole food item) to hunt are the main issues. Learn more and see what you can do to help here: www.whaleresearch.com/#!orca-c… and here: www.wildsalmon.org/

Photos were not easy to come by for everyone but I have made my best efforts to paint everyone as lifelike as possible, down to the shapes of their faces and the nicks in their dorsal fins. For Matia specifically her eyepatch, saddlepatch, flukes, lip mark and the anterior part of her flank patch are all true to life. The rest of her flank and the exact markings going down from the corner of her mouth to her pectoral fin unfortunately had to be guessed.
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Comments: 62

namu-the-orca In reply to ??? [2018-10-29 13:34:04 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, they're struggling these days. Though their numbers have always gone up and down, and have been lower than they are right now. But the current salmon and pollution situation is certainly worrying.

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FoalFire [2016-09-14 23:16:59 +0000 UTC]

The art work and information about the peice is amazing I love it so!
Very talented and very patient to have put this together

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namu-the-orca In reply to FoalFire [2016-09-17 08:09:02 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! Also really glad you like the story to go along with it. For me it really adds a lot to know these whales are real

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FoalFire In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-09-18 06:06:18 +0000 UTC]

It does. I feel it helps me become more attached to the subjects in the art peice and to know what is going on then just "oh hey look at the orcas" cuz now they have a name and a backstory and its really amazing.

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MissYellowArt [2016-08-28 14:21:10 +0000 UTC]

oh my I LOVE IT! lOOKS SO REAL you are super talented 

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namu-the-orca In reply to MissYellowArt [2016-08-29 12:17:38 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I still love this piece very much, so I'm glad that others also continue to like it

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MissYellowArt In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-08-30 21:05:55 +0000 UTC]

 ur welcome! 

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Aquila200 [2016-07-17 10:55:42 +0000 UTC]

Thsi is absolutely stunning! I love the sense of the ocean depths, and how real the Orcas look!

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namu-the-orca In reply to Aquila200 [2016-08-24 14:17:29 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much! I'm real pleased with how the depth effect worked out in here as well

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Aquila200 In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-08-25 14:29:54 +0000 UTC]

You're very welcome! The depth effect worked beautifully!

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DrowElfMorwen [2016-06-21 12:19:50 +0000 UTC]

Just gorgeoussssss!!

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namu-the-orca In reply to DrowElfMorwen [2016-08-24 14:17:14 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!!

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AuldBlue [2016-06-10 02:25:01 +0000 UTC]

;a; Beautiful! I love the sense of depth. ^^
The light texture of the background really agrees with me. :'> I should do more with my own. The water looks so inviting turquoise. :u
For some reason I quite enjoy the 3d outline, and the frontal orca is lovely and sharp.^^
Wonderful works as always! : )

:'V I have run out of lovely things to spew, so I will enjoy ogling a while more. x)

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namu-the-orca In reply to AuldBlue [2016-08-24 14:20:50 +0000 UTC]

Thank you ;A; No worries, whatever lovely things you have to spew, I adore reading them

Ugh, this is one of those pieces I can look back on a year later and still love to death. It was just so much fun to work on, and all the orcas in the background just completely agreed to being painted which was a wonderful change from usual business.
Ahh and that sense of depth - I'm so happy with how that turned out. I think having no lineart for the background whales really contributed there. Yass the textures! It's just a little touch of Photoshop's built in 'add noise' filter, which can really work wonders with some paintings.

Thanks again Oiji

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AuldBlue In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-11-12 02:42:17 +0000 UTC]

Welcome! u3u haha :'DD Ditto!

VDADSFDbgfgsg Ahhh, that feeling, and woo! It's wonderful when everything wants to work with you. ;u; Rare.
Ohh, man it REALLY does help to go line-less. XD I've done some playing about with those factors myself. A bit difficult to do in a lined comic. :'D
bgdsgfs so lovely. ;u;

<3

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Moomin0101 [2016-04-17 15:11:03 +0000 UTC]

This is incredible! Matia and Mega are two of may favourite Southern Residents and you captured them absolutely beautifully. I tried colouring some of my sketches of them after scanning them in and I gave up halfway through, props to you for having the patience to colour a piece this big in such stunning detail  

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namu-the-orca In reply to Moomin0101 [2016-04-23 10:27:41 +0000 UTC]

Oh that's so cool to hear! I didn't know much about Matia or her family before I started, but they are both amazing whales indeed. Thank you very much, I'm glad you like the way I painted them Painting does take long sometimes, but it's a shame you stopped halfway through! If you ever do finish them up I'd love to see them

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Altair75 [2016-04-16 07:08:09 +0000 UTC]

Truly lifelike! The chromatic aberration and the sense of depth, they're just awesome! Great work!  

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namu-the-orca In reply to Altair75 [2016-04-16 13:48:56 +0000 UTC]

I'm stoked you actually noticed the chromatic aberration It's such a subtle thing in the finished product, but it can add so much even if you don't actively notice it. Thanks you! 

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Altair75 In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-04-16 15:21:38 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome.  

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CalvinOrca25 [2016-04-16 03:06:30 +0000 UTC]

thats so cool

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namu-the-orca In reply to CalvinOrca25 [2016-04-16 13:49:03 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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CalvinOrca25 In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-04-16 14:36:18 +0000 UTC]

yw

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Pepperlife [2016-04-14 23:30:33 +0000 UTC]

Thats super gorgous

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namu-the-orca In reply to Pepperlife [2016-04-16 13:49:09 +0000 UTC]

Glad to hear you think so!

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BlueRavenfire [2016-04-14 21:40:19 +0000 UTC]

really great pic

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namu-the-orca In reply to BlueRavenfire [2016-04-16 13:49:14 +0000 UTC]

Thank you

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BlueRavenfire In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-04-16 21:29:49 +0000 UTC]

you're welcome

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Bandarai [2016-04-14 18:02:52 +0000 UTC]

Really beautiful! I love the level of detail here, with all of the orcas. The depth looks great as well, with each one looking a different distance away from the other. Also the colours. Those deep blue hues. Wow. Everything is just spot on!

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namu-the-orca In reply to Bandarai [2016-04-16 13:51:31 +0000 UTC]

Ahh you almost always comment on my work and you always have such wonderful things to say - I really appreciate it I'm really glad you enjoy this one, I had a lot of fun painting the background orcas especially. After working with lineart on Matia it was pretty freeing to 'freestyle' the rest of the family Originally the colours were going to be a lot lighter, but early on I opted for much darker hues - which in hindsight I'm happy about!

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EarthEmerald [2016-04-14 17:44:46 +0000 UTC]

Thank you again ^_^

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namu-the-orca In reply to EarthEmerald [2016-04-16 13:51:45 +0000 UTC]

Thank you too, for such a wonderful piece to paint!

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EarthEmerald In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-04-16 13:52:24 +0000 UTC]

Glad enjoyed doing it

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88bullets [2016-04-14 16:05:18 +0000 UTC]

Lovely, I love the detail poured into this piece. Between the information you've written about them and how fascinating that is to the amazing realism of this piece.

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namu-the-orca In reply to 88bullets [2016-04-16 13:54:47 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! With a family in as much peril as the Southern Residents I felt I had to write up some of their story here. Plus, it adds so much for others to know the whales in the painting are real, out there, each with their complicated histories and familial relationships. I always find it fascinating to research them

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88bullets In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-04-16 17:13:31 +0000 UTC]

Amazing, I find it really fascinating to read!
Thank you for putting together such a comprehensive compilation of facts and interesting deets about this amazing creatures. I learn something new every time I look at your stunning art. It's eye candy and informative!  

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namu-the-orca In reply to 88bullets [2016-04-23 11:31:15 +0000 UTC]

No problem at all, I love doing it! And it makes me very happy when people take the time to read, and get to learn something new

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88bullets In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-04-24 19:49:32 +0000 UTC]

♡ That's great! ٩( ´ᆺ`)۶ 

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Rockypockypuff [2016-04-14 10:46:06 +0000 UTC]

I'm in love.

However, L-77 Matia and L-72 Racer have quite the alike saddle patches, no?

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namu-the-orca In reply to Rockypockypuff [2016-04-16 13:53:41 +0000 UTC]

Well darned they do! When I looked for pictures of Matia for the very first time it was actually a photo of Racer's saddlepatch that drew me in and convinced me to draw Matia from the left side - luckily Matia's saddlepatch is almost as unique. I didn't know who that saddlepatch belonged to, only noticed it differed from that on confirmed Matia photos, so thanks for telling me! But Racer's is gorgeous, especially since she has that stripe on both sides (both Matia and Calypso have more solid saddles on the right side).

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Rockypockypuff In reply to namu-the-orca [2016-04-17 11:02:24 +0000 UTC]

I'm gonna be honest, I thought it was Racer before I saw the title and red the discrption

It's cool how they can be so alike, yet there's subtle differences

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namu-the-orca In reply to Rockypockypuff [2016-04-23 11:30:39 +0000 UTC]

I wonder if maybe Matia and Racer have some familial connection from way back? Maybe through a shared mom or dad several generations back. It could explain the appearing of the odd stripe in this family. L12 Alexis did not have it, but I think Matia and Calypso's mom L11 Squirty did have it on one side? Either way it'd be interesting to know if odd markings like this run in families!

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-04-14 09:10:14 +0000 UTC]

I really like these killer whale individuals art you're sometimes making. Their life stories are so fascinating. Also a really interesting sadle-pattern this one has.

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namu-the-orca In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2016-04-16 13:56:41 +0000 UTC]

Me too! I've never done one on my own accord though, it's probably because I am not as well acquainted with the pacific northeast killer whales as the people who commission these pieces from me. I wouldn't know where to start with picking a whale to paint! I always learn so many new things while researching their lives and relationships for the descriptions/stories. It's fascinating indeed. And she definitely does! I also love how both she and her sister share that same marking.

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SuicidalWanderingS18 [2016-04-14 07:33:08 +0000 UTC]

Les orques j'adore! ! Vraiment très très belle la photo merci!

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Aegis-L In reply to SuicidalWanderingS18 [2016-04-14 17:07:45 +0000 UTC]

C'est un dessin Mais c'est vrai que Namu-The-Orca a un sacré coup de crayon

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SuicidalWanderingS18 In reply to Aegis-L [2016-04-14 17:21:29 +0000 UTC]

Oups pardon  

Quelle nulle je suis LOL ! Oui Namu-The-Orca à vraiment assuré grave !!! Respect !

SuicidalWanderingSoul18

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namu-the-orca In reply to SuicidalWanderingS18 [2016-04-16 13:57:36 +0000 UTC]

I don't speak French well enough to reply in it, but I did understand your comments and I wanted to say thank you! It's indeed a painting and not a photo, but I'm flattered you thought it was

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Carmenslover [2016-04-14 07:30:08 +0000 UTC]

Keep the silence in the ocean,
Make good friends without emotions

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namu-the-orca In reply to Carmenslover [2016-04-16 13:57:53 +0000 UTC]

That's some very sound advice ♥

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