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Description
Starring Makoa and an endangered sunflower sea star.

I am fascinated by sea star wasting disease. It's the most deadly and prolific disease affecting marine life that we know of, and it has decimated certain communities of sea stars in recent years. The origins of the disease are still mysterious, but like many things it probably has to do with changing sea temperatures due to climate change. When afflicted by the disease, sea stars across species grow soft and limp, with white lesions, and their legs "walk away," breaking from their body and sometimes even wandering on their own for short periods. Eventually the sea star dies.

I thought this was an odd thing to picture with a sunflower sea star in particular... It reminds me of that children's game where you pluck the petals off a flower and say "he loves me, he loves me not" but decidedly darker. I think even jolly Makoa would worry at this kind of scene.

When healthy, sunflower sea stars are huge, sometimes even reaching a meter long, and clustered with many arms, around 16-24. They're really good at keeping sea urchins in check, so an additional effect of the sunflowers dwindling is that too many sea urchins have taken their place. This is a big problem off the coast of California where sea urchins are chomping up kelp forests.

The ocean is fragile, but there's always hope and people working hard to protect these lovely things. I think Makoa would hold out for that hope as well.

In terms of the art... Can you tell I've never done backgrounds before? LOL It was a challenge to try to meet the prompt requirements that way, but I really enjoyed it. The end result has its weaknesses, but I learned a lot!

[ AP SCORING ]

Base Score: 5 AP (Flat Color Illustration)
+5 AP (Full Body)
+10 AP (Simple/Vignette Background)
+5 AP (Personal Work Bonus)
+20 AP (NPC Bonus)
+5 AP (Marine Biome Event Bonus)
+5 AP (Mini Prompt Bonus)
Total AP = 55

Description
Starring Makoa and an endangered sunflower sea star.

I am fascinated by sea star wasting disease. It's the most deadly and prolific disease affecting marine life that we know of, and it has decimated certain communities of sea stars in recent years. The origins of the disease are still mysterious, but like many things it probably has to do with changing sea temperatures due to climate change. When afflicted by the disease, sea stars across species grow soft and limp, with white lesions, and their legs "walk away," breaking from their body and sometimes even wandering on their own for short periods. Eventually the sea star dies.

I thought this was an odd thing to picture with a sunflower sea star in particular... It reminds me of that children's game where you pluck the petals off a flower and say "he loves me, he loves me not" but decidedly darker. I think even jolly Makoa would worry at this kind of scene.

When healthy, sunflower sea stars are huge, sometimes even reaching a meter long, and clustered with many arms, around 16-24. They're really good at keeping sea urchins in check, so an additional effect of the sunflowers dwindling is that too many sea urchins have taken their place. This is a big problem off the coast of California where sea urchins are chomping up kelp forests.

The ocean is fragile, but there's always hope and people working hard to protect these lovely things. I think Makoa would hold out for that hope as well.

In terms of the art... Can you tell I've never done backgrounds before? LOL It was a challenge to try to meet the prompt requirements that way, but I really enjoyed it. The end result has its weaknesses, but I learned a lot!

[ AP SCORING ]

Base Score: 5 AP (Flat Color Illustration)
+5 AP (Full Body)
+10 AP (Simple/Vignette Background)
+5 AP (Personal Work Bonus)
+20 AP (NPC Bonus)
+5 AP (Marine Biome Event Bonus)
+5 AP (Mini Prompt Bonus)
Total AP = 55