tostoini

ramen onsen manatee

Autumn manatee - manatee with sleep mask bathing in pumpkin full of leaves, surrounded by mushrooms

The meaning of this illustration is up to you and you level of wickedness: is it a manatee quietly enjoying the pleasure of hot water and thermal steam of his herbal tea, or a really shady comment on the latest item of gossip? A sea mammal basking in a well deserved hot bath after a long day or a really devious creature luxuriating in the evil joys of chatter? You decide: a roly poly animal cozy and hygge *af*, the embodiment of a season of self-care, warmth, hot tea, foliage, pumpkin baking and walks in the nature, or the perfect gift for the friends that speak in quotes from Paris is Burning

First of all, I guess I have to explain the silly joke I made in the illustration: Neptune is the smallest between the big gas giants in our system. It's one dense giant. *ba-dum tshhh* *silence* Well, it's a blessing that I choose illustration instead of stand-up comedy. He's also the smallest of the Ice Giants, just like Loki! Also, it rains solid diamonds there! One of the nicest thing about the god Neptune name is that most languages has a water or sea god, so the name changes but the essence is the same: in Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean is something like "sea king star", in Mongolian, Neptune is called Dalain van, In modern Greek is Poseidon, in Māori is Tangaroa.

It's a spa day on Venus, and what a day: a day on Venus is longer than a year. Venus is hotter than Mercury despite being further away from the Sun. Its temperature is 462°C: the high concentration of carbon dioxide in Venus’ atmosphere produce a powerful greenhouse effect. Also, the clouds of sulfuric acid in Venus’ atmosphere make it reflective and shiny so much so that Venus is the second brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon. Hot, shrouded in clouds and with very long days: it's a spa. And where's a spa, there's a manatee chilling in there. (Or at least, it should be)

When you think about the obsession in speculative fiction with the idea of a hidden planet, a malevolent influence hosting everything evil and nefarious in the galaxy waiting in the dark to strike on an unsuspecting galaxy, that's Pluto. It's not his fault: it all started when Le Verrier predicted the existence of an undiscovered planet based on the available data. The idea of a dark planet that none can see but that can disturb the actions of other solar objects was so evocative that it quickly appeared in literature and art, for instance as Yuggoth in the Cthulhu cycle from H.P. Lovecraft. At some point Pluto was called "Planet X": is there anything more vintage science fiction that a planet named Planet X? You can theremin music.

Oh, Mars, the object of our totally unrequested attentions for the last 200 years! I was really moved by the secret message on Perseverance rover's parachute. I'm a sucker for easter eggs and I find the message itself really meaningful, given that is from a team on dedicated nerds that (I guess) love their jobs and (mostly) work for expanding the collective knowledge of humanity. Yes, I'm a softie. Since I'm not cut off for mighty, I went for silly, that's more of my area. Dare mighty silly things!

I like space both outer & personal, and there's no place where I can find the peace I need like outer space. This one is for all the introverts with the love for exploration and the infinite wonders of our universe. Are you a space lover? A manatee enthusiast? An introvert with a cheeky sense of humour? Do you know and have affection for one of those people? Then, this is for you.

The Smeg fridge of planets: Saturn! Oh Saturn, you are such a handbook example of space age design, like an egg-shaped ball chair by Eero Aarnio in the captain's quarter or a big round fridge in a diner in the desert where ufos are a common occurrence. You see rings around a planet, and bam: sci-fi.

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A manatee horoscope that works for every sign, every day for every year from now to eternity. "This is not your day!" Never expires! Just kidding, it's just a funny New Year's eve card for a person with lots of sense of humour. All twelve astrological signs with a manatee spin: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

allegory of the summery as a manatee

There's a manatee for every season! Your spirit animal for this fall: cozy and hygge *af*. This manatee illustration is perfect for a season of self-care, warmth, hot tea, foliage, pumpkin baking and walks in the nature. A funny sea animal to remind you to enjoy the season and be in the moment, celebrate it. I was inspired by the Gorillaz song, "On melancholy hill", that for me has a distinct september-melancholy sound.

Your spirit animal for every season: proud and kissed by the sun. Inspired by Botticelli's Venus, this manatee poster is the perfect illustration of self-love, self-care and and pride in yourself. Rise and shine! A funny sea animal to remind you to love and appreciate your body, celebrate it, take care of it.

This Winter Manatee was the very very silly result of an autumn spent researching Japanese woodcuts for work. So when I had to think what the allegory of winter looked like, all those portraits of Kannon, Amaterasu, and all those celestial beings wrapped in silk, so statuesque, came to mind. But instead of being wrapped in silk, this manatee is wrapped in scarves. The more, the better. The chunkier, the better. It's cold outside and our good friend the manatee is from tropical waters, winter is definitely not his season. I know what you're thinking: all these serious and iconic inspirations used to draw such silly stuff! What can I say? That's how my mind works.

Nothing says love more than two cuddly, roly-poly sea mammals. Whether it's your special one, a friend, your sister, a colleague that always have your back: you're a team. A manateam! You don't need an anniversary for that, or a given day in February.

A floating manatee design

Just you average allegories of the four seasons as a manatees: winter, spring, summer and autumn. Winter is wrapped in scarves, spring is bold and surrounded of flowers, summer is floating in the pristine waters with a big purple and yellow buoy, a cute costume with a pattern of watermelon slices, a big pair of sunglasses and a little white hat to avoid sunburn, and autumn is having a relaxing bath using a pumpkin as a tub.

A perfect gift for the budding naturalist in the house, a fan of sir David Attemborough, Blue Planet, Planet Earth and everything else the BBC Natural History Unit ever produced.

The official manatee's seal of approval is here! Useful it for everything you love and support: amazing people, causes, books, favourite foods. There's two meanings for me in this image: one is that the Lamentino himself is carrying a torch for you. A Lamentino will always be on your side. And the other is an act of self-assertion, something like "Yes, I am terrific and I'm ready to set the world on fire!". Beat your impostor syndrome with a powerful ally! This manatee poster is the perfect illustration of self-love, self-care and and pride in yourself. Rise and shine!

Plants are friends, now that we spend so much time in our houses more than ever! A nice maranta leuconeura or maranta tricolor, something to bring a little nature inside our home and feed our inner crazy plant lady.

Hatched by two chicks!

Fight, flight or freeze? What's your style when anxiety arise? I'm a (not that much proud) member of Thanatosis Club: we don't fight! We don't flight! We just freeze! It's a big club, there's us, the opossums (playing possum, they say), the hog-nosed snake, the common swift, the leaf frogs and many, many others...

Colorful fox illustration "Let's dance". A dancing fox in Ziggy Stardust-inspired attire. What happens when you mix Glow, aerobics lessons in videotape from the Eighties and the most daring costumes from sported by David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust? A glam dancing fox. That's what happens. Let's dance Put on your red shoes and dance the blues Let's dance To the song they're playin' on the radio Let's sway While color lights up your face Let's sway Sway through the crowd to an empty space.

Same, avocado seed, same. We all were that avocado seed at some point, seeing the world outside and thinking: nope, not going to bother sprouting. And at the same time, we all had that avocado seed in water that is going to drive us crazy by stubbornly avoiding to put up leaves.

Who are these mysterious duo of black cats? Why does they have letters for you? Are these love letters? It's a mystery? It's a spell? It's a message? It's your familiars? Are you a witch? Who knows. A classic sight, cats peering out of windows. This one was inspired by the "old Milano" I lived in, a classic yellow milano building. I one have one black cat, though.

Get down from the table! How many time did you say those words to your cat? And does they bother to listen to you? Of course not. A classic scene of a cat chilling on the kitchen table, a scene of domestic serenity. Cats doing their cat things.

Marimos give me so much peace. I want to be round and green and gently rolled in a ball by the waves in a lake, like a marimo. Scientists call them Cladophora ball, a rare growth form of Aegagropila linnaei - a species of green algae - in which the algae grow into large green balls with a velvety appearance.

This for me is an object that says grandma's house like nothing else: this classic Arcopal seventies design with flowers and optical decors in red, orange, brown and blue. I wanted to give homage to this reassuring classic of every Italian kitchen with a little pattern, homely and comfy.

Animals we didn't know that existed, and now we do: big and small creatures that were not “a thing” until 2017. The Vangunu giant rat or Uromys vika is a giant arboreal rodent and our spirit animal for July. She was discovered in the island of Vangunu in the Solomon Islands in 2015, after years of searching based on local stories and nibbled coconuts. And that's exactly how I would like to spend my life, sipping coconuts on a tropical island.

Malmostóso adj. [comp. of mal (bad) and mostoso (in the meaning of "juicy")]. - It is a regional word from the lombard dialect that, but entered the common language. Literally it means "That makes or gives little sauce", and hence, referring to a person, sulky, surly, intractable, rude, grumpy.

Colorful pattern featuring my original illustration "Birds of a feather flock together". A woodland bird (a robin, maybe?) in a silly daisy hat on a yellow circle background with confetti memphis pattern.

No! Leave the plant alone! Leave the vase alone! Don't you dare! Stop it! How many time did you say those words to your cat or cats? And does they bother to listen to you? Of course not. A classic scene of a cats trying to knocking down a vase, a scene of domestic serenity. Cats doing their cat things.

Friend or food? In Ancient Greece a Gorgoneion (a stone head, engraving, or drawing of a Gorgon face, often with snakes protruding wildly and the tongue sticking out between her fangs) frequently was used as an apotropaic symbol and placed on doors, walls, floors, coins, shields, breastplates, and tombstones in the hopes of warding off evil. I think it's time we reclaim Medusa as the feminist icon she is. #vasettinervosetti

Colorful pattern in bold yellow magenta and baby blue featuring my illustration of a Cothyloriza Tubercolata, one of the strangest jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea. They're also called fried egg jellyfish, for obvious reasons. The vaporware jellyfish of the mediterranean.

It's not a bad idea to be nice to foxes if you can, and given everything they are capable of, you probably would rather have them on your side. They say that kitsune can make themselves appear to be humans, usually with mischief in mind, but if you want to be sure that the person you're talking to is not a fox in disguise, look for the tail! Reflections in a mirror or pool of water may show a tail, because young foxes are less experienced and may have trouble concealing their tails. Shadows may also reveal the true shape of the fox. The marriages of foxes are said to account for two natural phenomena: one is kitsune-bi, or will o' the wisp.