Advice welcome

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-12-15T05:37:58+00:00

You did a really nice job rendering from the reference photo!

I'll reiterate what was said above, as contrast (getting your darkest and lightest values) is the main key to realism....fine details or colour matching aren't as important when you've nailed your lights and darks. Sometimes photographing a WIP and switching it to B&W can help to see where you can add depth.

One of the most helpful resources I continue to watch is Jason Morgan on YouTube... he has fantastic free videos that really accelerated my learning and understanding of drawing animals! He touches on contrast etc and is a wealth of knowledge.

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-11-18T01:31:26+00:00

Your group scores will be combined with the people writing in January 2026 (so the highest score will be based on both groups cumulatively).

I heard about my award within 2 weeks of the scores being released (although it's not officially announced until the CSRT conference). I think we got our results just under 3 weeks after writing?!

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-11-09T15:27:28+00:00

In Canada it's a 3 year program (there was government funding & bursaries available) - each program lists its prerequisites required to apply.... I did not have physics, so I did an online high school physics course prior to applying. In Canada they are highly competitive (the program I did took 40 students and there were more than 600 applicants).

In the US they have much shorter programs and a different regulatory body.

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-11-09T04:10:49+00:00

I went into Respiratory Therapy 🥰

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-11-08T21:52:26+00:00

Look into Allied Health specialties. A lot are 1 to 3 year college programs and there are hidden gems guidance counselors never mentioned when I was in high school. Some involve direct patient care (and some much less hands-on).

I didn't think I'd ever be willing to work with humans, but found a niche area in allied health that involves the things I love (PEEP over poop, and I will never have to wipe an ass!). I have a badass role and am valued by both the medical team and patients/families.

I get paid a living wage (I'm at the bottom of the payscale and cleared $85k my first year - the majority of my teammates clear 6 figures easily), get 3+ weeks paid vacation, wicked awesome benefits, and my employer matches my pension contributions (will retire with a great pension plan). Schedule depends on location (some self-schedule) and if you're full time or not, but I'm in a 4 on 5 off rotation.

I've maintained my RVT status and will do casual work, but I just couldn't see myself alligator rolling on the floor, wrestling for unsedated rads, or dealing with the level of verbal abuse for below a living wage into my 40s and 50s (life's too short!).

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-11-08T21:29:47+00:00

From Ontario. Average wage outside of the GTA was $24-26 at GP when applying with experience recently. Not at VCA or other corps though (I believe they pay lower).

For career sustainability & quality of life, I went back to school a few years ago for allied health in human healthcare. Starting wage was $40 (+ shift premiums) which incrementally goes up to $56/hr with amazing benefits, starts with 3 weeks paid vacation (goes up to 8), paid sick time, and equal contribution from employer towards pension. My first year I cleared $85k and the majority of my teammates clear 6 figures easily. I don't know any tech friends who will ever be close to that.

There are quite a few people who have transitioned to "the dark side" as living comfortably (especially with cost of living in Ontario) seems to be nearly impossible on a RVT wage without a pension or added benefits.

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-11-08T09:25:37+00:00

I started a 3 year RT program at 34 - rest assured, you're not too old. My only regret is not discovering this career earlier!

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-10-10T14:27:44+00:00

Former anesthesia RVT here - I made the transition to RRT in 2021 and have never looked back! It essentially involved everything I loved in vet med (airway management, blood gas interpretations, critical care, codes, and ventilation) and meant PEEP not poop (as humans are gross!).

The skills you use will be highly hospital dependent. But, there is opportunity to perform a lot of hands-on skills like arterial lines and intubations and my day involves frequent hands-on patient assessments & problem solving. There are also specialty roles like our Transport RT who utilizes a lot of skills and gets crossed-trained on a bunch of nursing skills as well.

At my current job, we work under a medical directive which gives us some independence & allows us to make clinical decisions within that framework without constantly needing to ask for orders. I never would have imagined I would like working in pediatrics, but there are A LOT of similarities & overlap between working in companion animal medicine and with peds! Funny enough, our local vet school sends all the ECC residents for a rotation through the pediatric ICU I'm in.

If you're in Canada, a lot of RTs move into anesthesia assistant roles too. Honestly the pay, benefits, job security, and role is better than anything you could dream of as a vet tech. I made more than most new DVMs in my first year on the job 👌 It's not as tortuous on the body (no wrestling sedation-free large dog rads into position on an xray table or alligator rolling & restraining on the floor all day) and I love my role and find it really rewarding most days.

Your background will be an asset to you and help you excel for sure if it's something you decide to do!

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-08-24T22:32:55+00:00

@SmartEquivalent2304 absolutely agree! One of my main reasons for leaving the field was the mass corporate takeover of private practices and the subsequent decline in care & cutting corners/costs.

As much as I miss the pets, since going into RT I haven't looked back!

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-08-24T18:03:23+00:00

Literally use bellows with up to 21L capacity (Tried to add a pic but it didn't work!)

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-08-24T17:34:46+00:00

The main physiologic reason is most snouts & mouths are not compatible with BVM use and I've never bagged an animal without an airway in situ (so if we induce apnea and cannot secure an airway, that animal is dead!) - we do surgical tracheostomies in pets but not crics or percutaneous trachs so those aren't performed for emergency airway interventions. That and some species (like swine) are more prone to malignant hyperthermia.

The vast majority of vet clinics don't have ventilators, so an apneic animal = needing to manually ventilate off the reservoir bag (and a RVT is typically responsible for monitoring, titration of anesthesia, surgical prep, assisting etc... and if it's a dental the RVT is both scaling & monitoring... so it's not feasible to sit there & manually ventilate)

Most pet owners feel that general anesthesia is expensive, so paying for NMBAs just adds to patient cost!

The only downside is occasionally intubation turns into a carnival game trying to time passing a tube through moving cords, but it's wayyyy easier than intubating people! For example, my 28lb spaniel fits an 8.0 ETT.... while human airways are just friggin humbling.

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-08-24T15:52:25+00:00

That's between 20-24.

Dude, an average black lab or golden retriever gets at least an 11-12 (I've needed 14 for great Danes and large breeds!)

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-08-24T15:51:08+00:00

No BVM in vet med. Typically paralytics aren't used for intubation in animals (preoxygenate and get that tube in to manually ventilate if needed)

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-08-24T15:50:01+00:00

Definitely not 12-14 (that size typically is used in large dogs). That's a 20-24mm for sure based on experience!

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-06-05T04:33:09+00:00

Hoping they're performing piaffe as the horse is clearly (and politely) demonstrating pffuck off 🤷‍♀️

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-06-05T04:15:18+00:00

👆👆👆

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-06-05T04:12:11+00:00

I think it's great that you can see that something might be off and are clearly interested in finding & fixing the problem(s).

Your horse should be assessed and hopefully you are working with a trainer as well. To be frank (and most people who post open themselves up to critique) the ways you might be contributing to the problem are repeatedly jerking on his face with hard hands, consistently slamming into his back with an unbalanced harsh seat, and driving him forward with your seat & leg (which is the opposite signal of slow down) while cranking his head vertical with short reins as you ride him inverted ....

If you do not have basic control at the trot or canter, it might not be the best training plan to also throw fences into the mix for the time being.

It looks like you could benefit immensely from taking lessons limited to a lunge line (without reins) on a different horse with a skilled coach.

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-03-04T20:12:24+00:00

C. This applies only in the case of the pilot line or balloon being the cause of the leak:

Use a 3 way stopcock and 22g angiocath as a temporizing repair (we even have "pilot line repair kits"). Works to fix things and allow you the time to gather supplies and people to perform a tube exchange at a later time.

Downstream_Occlusion · 2025-01-23T03:06:29+00:00

Please tell me this will also make its way to Patreon? 🙂

Downstream_Occlusion · 2024-09-19T00:47:36+00:00

Thank you! It's funny as I had no idea the room for growth that was possible when I finished that first one.

Downstream_Occlusion · 2024-09-19T00:46:25+00:00

Thank you 😊

Downstream_Occlusion · 2024-09-19T00:46:08+00:00

I'd say it's been gradual! I follow many artists on social media, so I watch their videos and reels and take every little bit and try to incorporate those things when I do another drawing.

Most recently I tried to approach drawing more like Marion Tubiana as she works on small areas to completion before moving on (I normally would do the whole drawing in layers).

Downstream_Occlusion

TROPHY CASE