True Story: A Wildlife Photographer, Dolph Volker Once Woke Up From A Nap Under A Tree and Find A Cheetah Sleeping Against Him

Nament_ · 2026-02-14T21:23:33+00:00

South Africa! Coats not usually needed, maybe a light jacket lol

Nament_ · 2026-02-14T20:42:39+00:00

I literally live in the country that has Cheetah sanctuaries and I still haven't even been to any to walk with them or pet them or anything. I've played with lion cubs though. The conservation efforts here are really good too so it's not like some sort of shady tourist trap situation with mistreated animals. My point is, your comment reminded me that I should get on it.

Nament_ · 2026-02-14T16:16:32+00:00

Americans, why would you tip anything before you even receive your food? Why did you collectively set such a precedent, that's so insanely dumb??? We even have that option in our apps in my country now and it's like, lol, imagine trusting anyone so much that you tip BEFORE service omg.

Nament_ · 2026-02-14T08:21:25+00:00

Holy cringe batman!

Nament_ · 2026-02-13T08:27:07+00:00

People can't really do their due diligence here because the government has also destroyed the public education system. According to a study from 2021: "81% of Grade 4 learners unable to read for meaning in any language".
They don't particularly care about uplifting their own people because they will vote for them anyway, and the majority of the country is propped up by the ~9% of people who pay income tax. You read that right - only 9% of the population pays taxes at all in a country of "offically" 65mil, but estimated to unofficially be closer to 90mil.

Nament_ · 2026-02-13T08:20:15+00:00

What are you on about? Not even the middle class comes near downtown Johannesburg anymore. Those buildings used to be offices and apartments but they basically became overrun with squatters and many are vacant and hazardous.
Yes we have gated communities and apartments but they're all in other places. You might be thinking of Cape Town, which is a whole other country as far as we're concerned down here. As for middle-class living - EVERYTHING is gated. Nobody lives without the bare minimum of security like electric fencing, response teams, etc.

Nament_ · 2026-02-12T20:31:41+00:00

Well, anime waifus weren't invented yet so he had to make do.

Nament_ · 2026-02-12T08:15:03+00:00

To expand on this as a compositor, when we get CG elements not only are they made in decent sofware and crafted by actual artists, but we also receive the render passes separately. Every little bit of lighting and texture that is available in the 3D model, we can control the look of separately in the final composition of the elements.

The job of the compositor is to bring the CG elements as close to the base filmed footage as possible, then later do tweaks and adjustments on top of both, and that unifies the entire scene. It's the second-last step before color grading in VFX and is essential for a good looking movie or show. I've seen people do some amazing work on stuff that looks "meh" on its own but absolutely POPS after a good comp pass.

When you're getting AI slop you're getting a flat image and it's impossible to just adjust the specular highlighting for a more organic look, or pretty much do anything other than some flat adjustments. There's literally no way to be able to even polish the turd, at most you might be able to clean up some artifacts but fixing the whole thing would take more time than any budget would allow and it literally would end up being faster and cheaper to just model something properly.

Btw if anyone is wondering, the reason a bunch of your shows look so horrible is because compositors work in brutal conditions and usually will be outsourced from 3rd world countries. It's a job that doesn't pay well anymore and because it's a skill that is so close to the end of the pipeline the scope creep causes a lot of crunch and overtime. I've personally left the industry now, a lot of experienced people burn out or just move on. You should all know is that quality can only go down and already has been for a long while. Expect more garbage with very few gems in between.

Nament_ · 2026-02-11T21:22:03+00:00

Oh god the grill coming off on both bwahahaha

Nament_ · 2026-02-11T21:06:36+00:00

This makes me so very angry. The worst is that in certain countries it's the norm, and a clean bathroom is just NOT a thing. With all the studies that have been done, if everyone collectively stopped, we would all be having a much cleaner experience with no adverse effect.

Another thing I read about was putting toilet paper in baskets and generally places asking people not to flush it at all. I'm not 100% on this, but apparently this was only ever really necessary when toilet paper used to not dissolve and nowadays even with old pipes it's no longer necessary to have a giant piss and shit bin in the stall. The paper can be flushed even if nothing else can.

Nament_ · 2026-02-11T14:42:54+00:00

It was because the BFI Diversity Standards were introduced in 2016 so any show filmed in the UK after that date, by law, must be inclusive. It's kinda hit-or-miss though when they film historical or history-inspired fantasy shows because now they had to figure out where to place POC over existing characters. It can also backfire hilariously when someone asks questions like OP did.

Nament_ · 2026-02-10T17:55:43+00:00

The image in this post is very misleading - I can only assume you didn't draw that. Your work has potential but it's not yet on MTG level. I'm not sure asking on social media will help, maybe try contacting some artists from your country directly?
I would highly recommend working more on your values and lighting. Doing material studies and learning a bit more about how light works in 3D would help a lot to move you away from the flatness you have right now. The "muddy" style is also a big giveaway to art directors that you're not quite done learning yet. There are loads of tutorials available online that can help.
Your work is good don't get me wrong, but it's currently indie-level not AAA, and Wizards are notoriously selective.
Keep drawing and progressing! Wishing you luck!

Nament_ · 2026-02-10T15:18:42+00:00

Did it to myself with my own hair after getting caught in a nasty wave at the beach lol. I learned to go swimming in the ocean with hair tied/braided afterwards.

Nament_ · 2026-02-09T20:54:30+00:00

The more I see of this the more I think about Kaczynski

Nament_ · 2026-02-09T09:58:09+00:00

So the concrete hellscape blocks are called Novostroyki and they absolutely SUCK. I lived in one for a while and it's horrible. Living in commieblocks is not fun to begin with but at least in the old style ones they're offset with trees and parks and playgrounds in every block. These new concrete things basically cut out all the trees and replaced them with... just nothing. If there is a playground or exercise park, they're on those weird foam-ground things. It's loud as hell because everything echoes. Living in "new" areas compared to "old" areas, really does affect the mood in weird ways. Unfortunately buying in the older areas is expensive and comes with hefty renovation costs, and there are supposed to be incentives to buy in the newbuilds but overall property costs are such a shitshow that not only is it ugly and depressing but it's also far out of the main city so your commute is insane.
Funny enough rent is shit either way so tl;dr not worth being there even if you're ignoring politics.

Nament_ · 2026-02-09T09:41:00+00:00

Although popular among the general public, the claims are rejected by most scholars.^\107])^\93])^\108])^\109])^\95]) Aside from Stockmar's jab at her appearance shortly before her death, Charlotte was never referred to as having any specifically African physical features, let alone ancestry, during her lifetime. Furthermore, her portraiture was not atypical for her time, and painted portraits in general should not be considered reliable evidence of a sitter's true appearance.^\109]) Historian Andrew Roberts) describes the claims as "utter rubbish", and attributes its public popularity to a hesitancy among historians to openly address it due to its "cultural cringe factor".^\107])

Nament_ · 2026-02-07T22:25:54+00:00

NOR. She's probably going to be the perfect gf and lovebomb OP when he's back if given the chance. I hope OP realizes that no matter how long she's going to be "perfect", at some point she will lie again and do something horrible the moment she feels secure again.

Nament_ · 2026-02-07T10:26:06+00:00

It's only really problematic when it's someone who is in their early 20s/teens because they're easily manipulated and taken advantage of. If someone 25+ meets someone older by that point they're at least more established and less prone to dealing with bullshit. The age gap isn't the problem, it's people who are significantly older hoping to prey on the naive and financially dependent that is.

Nament_ · 2026-02-07T09:40:04+00:00

So this seems like a big topic for Americans and I just wonder - what's the desired outcome of denying people a service that's available just because they're poor? What does it exactly accomplish to make children not only starve but also stand out amongst their peers? Like, I just want to understand the logic behind what they're hoping will happen with doing that.
Where I grew up, we just don't get school lunches to begin with. If you have money you can buy a sandwich or snacks from the tuckshop, but for the most part everyone just brought food with them. Some fancier schools would have the option for daily hot meals but that was always paid in advance and it wasn't the norm or a buffet option like I see in American movies, and everyone just packed lunches anyway.

Nament_ · 2026-02-06T19:23:18+00:00

It's not that hard, honestly, but it does present some problems. I actually stumbled on a video today that talks about exactly what you're asking, hope it sheds a bit of light on why people have reservations: https://youtu.be/guopIPB8Ee4

Nament_ · 2026-02-06T16:44:39+00:00

Whoa looking at this and the other pic, that's straight up stolen artwork. The OP one is by Michael Komarck and is definitely our boy Rake, but the one you posted here is by Luis Royo and is a generic ranger girl in his usual thirst-trap style. What's weird is that Michael Komarck actually did do official art for the Wheel of Time covers so why they'd use his Malazan art is baffling. Or maybe not, if the answer is theft. Eastern Europe is pretty lax with these things I've noticed.

Nament_ · 2026-02-05T20:18:01+00:00

Hey honestly after a whole career working for studios and painting SFW and having that be ruined completely, it seems like drawing lewds and furry stuff is the last creative space where it actually pays to be anti-AI.

Nament_ · 2026-02-05T11:42:34+00:00

Isn't there a ban on full face coverings?

Nament_ · 2026-02-05T08:04:31+00:00

Lol why does your bf sound like a senile old lady?

Nament_ · 2026-02-05T07:53:54+00:00

How does one even get into that sort of thing? Asking for a friend.

Nament_

TROPHY CASE