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Published: 2008-02-21 05:21:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 3575; Favourites: 103; Downloads: 0
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for *WhisperingWolf 's obscure species contest! this is my new Verreaux's Sifaka character, I've loved these critters forever and the contest was just the impetus I needed for me to make a character of one. :3 her name is Mazava, it's a Malagasy word that means 'bright, light and clear'. I hope to develop her further in future!early sketches of her: [link]
EDIT
just to clarify because people are asking:
YES she is a lemur, YES she is of the type of lemur featured in the movie Dinosaur, please guys can we stop mentioning this movie and the resemblance, it gets old and I didn't even like the movie that much anyway? ;.; sorry! I wasn't even thinking about that movie when I created her, I was thinking of the old show Zoboomafoo. Zoboo is the reason I love them okay. more about Verreaux's Sifakas: [link]
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Comments: 108
thanks Pann!!
OMG EEE. indeed. David Attenborough is my hero, yes. :3
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Omg I'm so glad you like David Attenborough as well! I would feel so sorry for you guys if only us Brits had him <3
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Awesome! Love the angles and energy of the pose!
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[link] check these videos here of them in action. too awesome!
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Oh a Verreaux's sifaka. I rarely see anyone draw up these Lemurs. <3
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So cute! SOOO CUTE! I want one to take home and have dance on my computer desk D: ahhhhh. You really captured the movement and expression well here!
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thank yoo Crickets <3 She'd be only too happy to dance for you, little showoff.
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Awww, I love the name you choose for her n.n And I love her too c: She just seems like such a fun character x)
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yay thank you Moonie! I hope she will be a lot of fun. :3
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EEEE! Saw this in the recent Lemur submissions. OMGGGGGG I THINK I LOVE YOU!
You draw Sifakas SO ADORABLY! I draw Lemur constantly, but the ones I always have a hard time with are Sifakas! The Verreaux's Sifakas are one of my absolute FAVORITE Lemurs (I've got like 3 species tied as my favrites, haha!)
Not only do Lemurs look absolutely gorgeous in your style, but IT'S SO GREAT TO MEET ANOTHER LEMUR LOVER!
OKAY, YEAH, I OFFICIALLY DO LOVE YOU.
<3333333333333
MUST WATCH NOW PLS.
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Haha, funny you should call me lemurlover when this is like the first picture of one that I've put up ever xDDD But I've always been interested in the little guys! especially sifaka because well they are awesome. C:
anyways, it means a lot that somebody who draws lemurs as much as you do would praise this picture so highly! 
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Well that's exactly it- You said you've liked them for a long time, and I could tell you were pretty interested in them.. PLUS YOU TOOK THE TIME TO ACTUALLY MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY MADE IT LOOK LIKE A REAL LEMUR.
I've seen so many Lemurs with cat paws it makes me want to vomit. ):
SO IN MY BOOK, YOU ARE A LEMUR LOVER, AND SO YOU ARE PART OF THE FAMILY. 8D
Haha, WELL YOU'RE WELCOME! Like I said, you did a great job getting everything accurate.. Plus your style is beautiful, the pose is really awesome, the coloring and shading and expression.. AJDKHKSD. It's overall a wonderful pic- And you do Lemurs SO MUCH JUSTICE. I CAN'T GET OVER IT, MAN. xD <33
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xDD I can imagine! Guess some people are just too lazy to go and research anatomy and all that good stuff when they're not familiar with something, so they just half-ass through it and call it 'style'. o_x; I think that stepping out of one's comfort zone is a really important thing towards growing as an artist, so trying out different things every now and again is something that I welcome. :3 Lemurs are so darned fun to draw, I have an aye-aye character in mind that's going to be some kind of antithesis to 'Zava here!
yay lemurfamily! 
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I know it! If you draw a Dachund with Walrus-flippers THAT'S NOT STYLE. And drawing a Lemur with pawpads and claws is the exact same thing! ]: I can see you drawing the animal in the car and not knowing exactly what they look like, but before you draw an animal you should at least know what taxa. class the animal is! Primates = An animal with 5 FINGERED hands and feet, with NO pawpads or claws, and a large brain. First 2 parts are important.
If you've noticed, Red Pandas are becoming popular animals. People are pretty good with keeping their features realistic- The little triangle tail, big nose, their markings, and the bear-like paws. Why can they put in the extra effort to get them right, but they instantly assume Lemurs are EMO-FODDER FELINES? ):
Blahblah, I could ramble for ages about this. xD I like having a good discussion about this kind of thing, though! c: THANKS FOR TALKING WITH ME! 8D
Of course, I have to agree with the fun to draw thing! Lemurs are just so animated- They all look so crazy and different, each species with their own weird quirk. They make the best characters! 8D OHHH, I'd love to see an Aye-Aye in your style! Whenever you make a pic of them, you should totally upload it! ;D I've got 2 Aye-Aye characters (3 if you include my lemur-ified version of Jack Sparrow. xD) in mind, I just haven't made proper refs for them! The problem I always have is that I have a lot of character personalities in mind, and I'll think of a species I want them to be, but then later on I'll change my mind about that species. -Headdesk-
And again, you're welcome! ^^ WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! 8D
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omg I am just so happy to be able to talk about that without being worried somebody's going to get offended, really. people need to realise that there is a difference between 'style' and 'laziness', and I think it's important especially for 'developing' artists to try drawing various things and trying out different stylistic tricks, rather than just sticking to one too early in the game. their own will eventually come and find them when they're not looking for it. *nods* the wider your influences are, the more unique your art is going to look. and for me there is no better primary source than the world around us. 
I don't really come down on people that just draw for fun and aren't looking to go into art as a career, though. but if someone is looking to go into a career in art, I think a variety of influences is absolutely vital. what employer would hire an 'artist' that could only draw one thing in one pose well and everything else like crap? o_o;
I did notice the red panda rise in popularity. Maybe it's because they're not such a leap away from cats and dogs as lemurs and other primates are, people aren't so intimidated by them? I haven't actually tried drawing one before, maybe I should. 
I could ramble and talk about this forever too, hahah. so yay. it feels good to get all this out, I don't often like to post my rants on such subjects because then I get people picking fights with me or getting offended or just completely missing my point and that annoys me even more. xD;
Aye-ayes have fascinated me since I first read about them as a child in some endangered species book or other. I think the combination of the crazed-looking face and the scaryass finger did it. I want my aye-aye to be some kind of crazy hobo thing, hahah.
aww I hope your species and character personalities line up soon! I was just checking out your gallery and my gosh I love your lemurs!
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8DD Same here! I have the worst time getting things to come out the way I want, so I tend to offend people when I don't really mean it.. 8|
I don't know what to add to that- You summed it up perfectly! I agree with you completely!
That's something I figured made a difference. But people still are sure to get the head proportion right, the thickness of the body, size of the nose, etc. right. That's a bit more 'advanced' that just making sure they have the correct body parts for their class! xD I've been wanting to draw a Red Panda sometime, too- It really shouldn't be too hard of a stretch for me, since I draw Binturongs all the time and they look really similar! It's so weird, because they're not even related, but they look a lot alike IMO! O:
When you look for Lemur in the search, it shows the most popular pics- Which are usually going to be by the most popular artists, and so it makes sense for them to be the ones with the best anatomy! xD A lot of the newest Lemur-art is where you'll notice all the non-lemur-lemurs. :/
Yesyes, I agree again! Although sometimes I'll post my rants anyway without really thinking of the concequences.. |8 YAY FOR BEING YOUNG AND MAKING MISTAKES? When it comes to the internet, I'm good at talking when I should just keep my mouth shut, AHAHAHA.. -Facepalm-
I know it! I was just talking to someone today about what all an Aye-Aye's body parts are for. It's so insane! All these crazy parts that look like they're from a bunch of different animals, but they all help the Aye-Aye do what it needs to do! O: Well, I dunno why they have longer nails (On ALL their fingers+toes) than most Lemurs do.. Maybe just to make them look extra spooky? 8D
They're so fascinating! And like I said, they make for the best characters. <3
Aww, thank you! That means a lot! <33 I've been focusing more on some of my other work (I have 2 Lemur/Madagascar Murals to design! Bah!) so I haven't had a chance to really work on my characters much.. Although I did design a Hairy-Eared Dwarf Lemur (Allocebus Trichotis) character the other night. :B
HEY, out of curiosity, how many Lemur species do you know of, so far? O:
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xD People tend to take too many things personally, especially on teh intarwebz (and I don't excuse myself from this either 
Maybe the people that first started drawing red pandas got the proportions right and all, so other people were OMGINSPIRED by them and you know how often popular artists get aped or even traced. *shrug* I've yet to see lemurs explode in popularity like the pandas did, though.
Yay for obscuremammals! I'm from Southeast Asia so I've actually been contemplating making a host of characters of wild animals from that region for such a while! Tapirs and babirusa and slow lorises, oh my. I've already got a pangolin character somewhere in my scraps, she needs a ref. x.x;
Aye-ayes are so darned creepy cool it's awesome. I really do want to draw one being all crazed and offbeat and such. fwee. Be an antithesis to Mazava. :3
Let's see: ringtails (duh), common brown, black and white ruffed, mouse, indri indri, and like ten kinds of sifaka I found while researching them to make 'Zava. xD I liked the look of the silky sifaka though, omg. I need to draw one being all floofy. o.o
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IT'S SO TRUE! 8[
That's entirely possible- The first person who I really saw draw Red Pandas was *Kitty-lynn , and she's pretty stinkin' popular. She got their anatomy right, and after she drew it within like A WEEK I saw dozens of other people drawing them. It was pretty crazy. xD
Wow, you're from Asia? That's so awesome. 8O I wish I was from somewhere cool. ): Asia has so many cool animals! Eww except for babirusa- I hate pigs. D< Pigs and apes are the only two animals I pretty much can't stand. I dislike monkeys, too, but there are a few monkeys I can almost stand.. Pangolins and Tapirs are awesome, though! EEE AND LORISES! Lorises are so cute! <3
Probably my favorite animal from southeast animal are BINTURONGS! OHMYGODDD SO MUCH LOVE! One of my top favorite animals, after Lemurs of course. xD Bintus, Tree Kangaroos of any kind, and actually just about any Marsupial are my favorites after the Lemurs. <3
I've got characters in mind of a LOT of animals, but they're kind of taking a back-seat to my Lemurs. :/ Dunno, I've been talking to people about Bintus a lot recently, it's making me want to go draw one! XD
I know it! Totally one of the weirdest animals in the world. Which is what's so great about them! <3
Ohhh you know more than a lot of other people! xD Ohh, then you saw all the Sifakas? Did you hear about Tsinjoarivo's Diademed sifakas? They're basically like the normal diademed, only with more black on them. :B You know, I've really been wanting to make Sifaka characters for a long time now, I just haven't come up with a design or personality that I think would fit with a Sifaka.. I guess I'm just a perfectionist with them because I love them so much, haha. XD
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I love Kittylynn's art!! I guess it's natural that they would take off after that, she draws things generally so cute and floofy looking. :3 I guess it is good that people had a GOOD reference to go off if they had to go ape another popular artist at all!
You see, in Asia we generally wish that we could live somewhere cool like the United States (except me apparently, because I'm easily content and a homebody like that) -- so yeah, it IS all about perspective I think. xD Ah well, see there aren't really any animals that I dislike or hate. I'm one of those weird flowerchild type folk that thinks everything in nature is BEAUTIFUL AND INSPIRING hahah. I am silly. :B I see a crazylooking beastie and am all OMG I WANT TO DRAW. Yay for binturong and tree kangaroos, and all those lovely other mammals that nobody knows about because everyone is busy crapping their pants over wolves. (I'll probably be killed for saying that but WHATEVER. ;3)
HAHAH well yeah, I've always been fascinated by documentaries about Madagascar. Generally any place that has its own unique animal population is fair game for me!
Diademed are really pretty! I might have come across that one but there weren't a lot of pictures. D: I hope you DO make sifaka characters because I would love to see that. I mean hey, doing a little sketchy page of experiments wouldn't hurt!
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Yepyep! She does a pretty good job at keeping Red Pandas anatomy correct, so if they're going to copy ANYONE when drawing them, I'm glad it's her! xD
Haha, that's true! :B It's just an unknown place, so naturally people are curious about what it's like!
I don't really HATE them. To the point where I want them all dead, or would kill one if I saw it. Nothing like that. I just don't want to have anything to do with them.
I dislike apes and monkeys for the simple fact that they hate ME. They've enjoyed torturing me since the first time I got up close to one. No, the higher primates and I don't get along.. Pigs just do terrible things, and are overall unappealing animals to me. I've heard and seen what they are capable of- And things I have a fear or dislike of tend to hate me, so I'll just keep myself away from a risk like that and try to avoid pigs of any kind. x'D
Nither of the animal's behavior in the wild or anything really amazes or inspires me- Pigs are generally either being vicious or boring, apes do the most disgusting things and aren't very nice.
BUT I DIGRESS.
XD THAT HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I'VE EVER HEARD. If anyone kills you for saying that, I'll kill them right back, BECAUSE IT'S NOT ONLY TRUE BUT IT'S PURE GOLDDDDD. <333
They call Madagascar the 8th continent, and it really IS so unique and diverse that it very well could be classified as such! 80% of the species on Madagascar are endemic to the island, which is a pretty impressive number! I mean there are like 500+ species of spiders ALONE (which is one reason why I don't really want to go to Madagascar. ARACHNOPHOBIA 2 THA MAX), and 85 currently recognized Lemur species! SO AWESOMEEEE! <33
If you ever want photos of a particular species of Lemur, let me know! I've got a lot of photos of most of the species- Literally 5,000+ photos, total. O: I save pretty much every Lemur photo I ever find to use as references later. When designing characters, working on paintings, etc. xD
Now you've got me wanting to go draw some Sifakas! Hopefully I can make something that looks decent- For whatever reason, Sifakas always look horrible in my style! I can never draw that fluffy face the way I want. D': I'll give it a try, though! <3
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Definitely! If people HAVE to copy a particular artist wholesale I'd rather they copy an artist who does research rather than copy someone who copies off Disney or whatevercartoon. Then it becomes a copy of a copy and imho something gets lost there. :\
Hey, I'm just one of those weirdos that doesn't dislike any animal. :B and srsly I am the only one I know. xDDD I think it's because I am friends with people that like all different animals so when they talk about them it's like OOOOH I UNDERSTANDZ UR POINT OF VIEW. Great apes used to freak me out and I'd still be nervous and hesitant to meet one in real life, but I've learned to appreciate them more. Pigs - I dunno I've met pigs and heard tons of stories about pigs from people that keep them and they always seemed like such appealing creatures to me, though I'd still rather not have one around the house! I know they're capable of some pretty scary things but that never put me off any other animal. I tend to just mark such stuff down to nature. Babirusa... I guess whatever freaks me out also fascinates me in some weird way! TEETH THRU THE NOSE. o.O; damn they're gross-looking but I still want to draw one. hah.
xDD I've said stuff like that before, but out of earshot so I won't get trampled upon. U KNO ITZ TROO THO. Honestly though I think it's the same thing again - many of the popular artists draw wolves and huskies, and people tend to ape them. Honestly I don't think it's so much the wolves themselves as that these people make them seem cool or whatever. And when they draw a character that is or another breed it looks basically the same with different ears, or something like that. Being somebody that prizes getting the look of different dog breeds DISTINCT and RIGHT, that really annoys me. Again, the line between so-called style (really I have come to hate that word because it's used so often as an excuse) and laziness to REFERENCE and get details recognisable.
AWESOME, you may well become a highly prized reference. xD AND DRAW SIFAKA. *HYPNOSIS* like a doodlepage type thing -- I find that somehow I always draw things better when there's no pressure to get them perfect! plus I want to see. :3 Your other lemurs look great to me, how bad could it be?
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this is so lively and fun!
reminds me that I need to get on to my obscure-animal challenge
haven't even done the first one! D:
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thank you!
aww D: hahah I have too many of those challenges on my plate to even think of taking up another one. x_x;
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I really love the soft background. It's enough to give location, but subtle and doesn't take away from the character.
And I haven't seen Dinosaur but heard it kinda sucked.
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I think it's worth watching once at least. It's not a particularly memorable movie, but it was quite all right. the 3D animation was really well done.
thank you!
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Very awesome Swift!!
Thanks so much again for entering, and this is a very good entry
I love the pose and expression, those hands and feet are fabby ^^
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No problem at all ^^
And thanks! It was all thanks to that had the initial idea, she was so kind to let me use the idea in a contest
I'm so happy it turned out to be so popular!
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AAWW I remember that show!
I love the movement of the fur, and something about the limbs and their positions really amuse me =3
That face is a
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that show was awesome!!
<3 thank you so much!
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YouΒ΄re welcome.
I like your sign, John S. must be great
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I believe that quote in particular was taken from his book, Travels With Charley, about travelling with his pet poodle. -> [link]
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This just gave me an instant smile XD I adore the pose so much and that face is so adorable!! <33 Nice work c:
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*hears the "I like to Move it Move it" song from Madagascar* 
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[link] check out these videos of them and you'll see how they got their name. :3
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OH MY GOSH! lol They are so stinkin' cute! XD
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Ehehe! I love it! Looks so happy and goofy. I LOVED Zooboomafu when I was younger. If I ever see it on I sit and watch it. XD
I've never seen Dinosaur. o:
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Zoboo was the greatest!! I loved that show too. :3
worth watching once, I think. I'm not a huge fan, but it wasn't a terrible movie either. I also thought the 3D animation was done really well, but some people are biased against 3D, so. xD
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XD Maybe I'll watch it sometime.
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Picture in general:
Full of fun fun fun! Happiness and vitality <3 I love the motion and her pose, these guys are very cute and I think you emphasise this and add your own "Swift-Magic" to it.
I DO NOT see the dinosaur link, in my opinion they are totally different and from what I remember had more grey on them. This incesant need people have to discredit and link ORIGINAL art to existing pieces boils my bacon and makes me very defensive. This is not comercial/disney its original and raw. THIS is art.
It is a wonderful image hun, it clearly shows your love for this lil creature and I think it is a fantastic contribution to the contest and I hope you do very well. <3
Colour:
The blue grey colour used in the shading gives the fur a VERY whiteness, I personally might have gone with a brown shade to warm her fur, but then that would be my choice. The background is lovely, but I feel detracts a little from her brightness - again just my opinion on the colour here, you know I love your work explicitly <333 I personally would have wanted her to look like a shiney dancing star bursting from a rich green forest, a little beacon of glimmering happiness in an otherwise daunting forest? But then I like to have a whole range of meaning behind my pictures. This is only an opinion hun, you mentioned a little addit of colour info to stuff that I like, and this, I really do <3
Remember, in All Dogs Go To Heaven, the song, "You can't keep a good dog, dow ow ow ow own, no you can't keep a good dog down." <3 These irksome comments should be given a does of Charlie logic
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aww hunny, I appreciate what you say about originality, but the people are quite right. the lemurs in Dinosaur do indeed appear to be Sifaka: [link] [link] [link] So even though you - and I - did not connect the two, it is perfectly reasonable for other people to make the connection. I just thought I'd mention that the connection does exist so that people can stop pointing out what I have already been made aware of! xD
<333 you're too sweet. I don't know if you know how much I really appreciate what you say every time you do.
thank you for the colour advice!! thing is that the contest due date is next week and I really just wanted to get it over and done with ASAP so that I could enter. x_x; also these pictures here: [link] what I used for reference so I think the scenery probably contributed to the colours scheme. xD but I know Madagascar has some pretty gorgeous forests so I will have to look those up and see if I can't include that look somehow! I want it to look like the location as well, you know?
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Omgosh, that second image on the wildmadagascar.org site! What a funny dude <3
I can see where you got that bright sandy colour from indeed.
Is composition what I was refering to then? *lol* I have no real idea about the technical side of art..I just draw and try to make it look good
I guess with the reference to the dancing bit, my brain leads me down the Madagascar film path. They used such bright colours for that movie (and awesome voice talent for King Julien <333) that bright colours is what I liked about this one too. Madagascar to me is a very bright colourful place. Not that I've been there, I guess its more of an impression <3 I'm glad something in that comment made sense however - The last thing I wanted was for you to take it the wrong way, text can be so misleading at times.
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Did you see the videos on that site of them dancing? so cute! <3
to be honest I have no great affection for the Madagascar animated movie itself, though I did enjoy the design style and colours a great deal. I watched documentaries on Madagascar long before that movie came out and most of that focused on the drier parts of the island, like the spiny forests and the baobab trees, so I already sort of had this impression in my head already. and you know me - always more interested in the real thing than a movie interpretation! xD check these gorgeous pictures out: [link]
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I have a similar mentality in regards to the film, just my most vivid knowledge of the country
Those are some beautiful images Swift, truely, ah I see the image that was sort of festering...this one.. Masoala Peninusla very beautiful. But I do see where your coming from. <3
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xD
I used to want to go to Madagascar! maybe someday I'll get the chance. it seems so beautiful, and there are LEMURS and other things. :3
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I used to love that show! Craft brothers rule! 8D
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