The Butterflies Drink A Turtle's Tears: A Story of Lachryphagy


[INA + ENG]

Halo! Semoga kamu sehat hari ini. Hari ini aku mau cerita soal artwork ini. Suatu hari aku ketemu video yang merekam seekor kura-kura di tepi perairan. Ada beberapa kupu-kupu di sekitar matanya, tapi kura-kura itu ga tampak terganggu. Justru situasinya seolah ada simbiosis komensalisme. Dan di saat yang sama, terlihat puitis.

Hello! I wish you well today. Today I want to tell a story of this artwork. One day I found a video of a turtle by a body of water. There were a few butterflies around its eyes, yet the turtle seemed unbothered. It even seemed as if there was a commensalism symbiosis. And at the same time, looked poetic.


Setelah aku telisik lebih jauh, ternyata metabolisme kura-kura mengeluarkan kelebihan garam lewat air mata, sedangkan kupu-kupu membutuhkan garam sebagai pemenuhan kebutuhan nutrisi mereka. Peristiwa ini disebut lachryphagy. Hubungan ini termasuk simbiosis komensalisme, tapi kalau kupu-kupu menyebabkan penyakit pada mata kura-kura karena probosis mereka baru saja hinggap di tempat yang tercemar, maka hubungan mereka jadi simbiosis parasitisme. Lain hari, lain wawasan.

After I looked further into it, I found out that turtles' metabolism remove their excess sodium through their tears, while butterflies need sodium as their nutrition fulfillment. This is called lachryphagy. The relationship is considered as commensalistic symbiosis, but when the butterflies transmit diseases to the turtles' eyes because their proboscises just landed at a polluted place, then their relationship is parasitic symbiosis. Another day, another knowledge.


Selagi bikin artwork ini aku merasa ada sedikit perubahan dalam caraku bikin outline. Selain itu aku juga lebih banyak eksplor pencahayaan dan tekstur. Meski, tentu saja, masih banyak yang harus dikembangkan. Aku pakai warna biru dan ungu untuk memperjelas melankolisme artwork ini. Hijau untuk rambut si karakter karena dialah si kura-kura yang menangis. Kupu-kupunya kuberi warna merah dan biru sebagai simbol 'sebagian dari diri mereka membutuhkan si kura-kura'. Kuharap aku menyampaikannya dengan baik dan halus.

When I created this artwork I felt there was a little change in my way of making outlines. I also explored more about lighting and textures. Eventhough, of course, there is still a room for improvements. I used blue and purple to enhance the melancholism side of this artwork. Green as the character's hair because she is the crying turtle. The butterflies got red and blue as a symbol of 'a part of their body need the turtle'. I hope I delivered it properly and subtly.


Semoga kalian menikmati artwork ini, ya. Terima kasih sudah membaca sampai sejauh ini. Sampai jumpa di artwork berikutnya!

I hope you enjoy this artwork as much as I do. Thank you for reading this far. See you on the next artwork!



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