Difflugia are amoebas that live in shells they build using materials gathered from their surroundings. Difflugia can be easy to overlook in the microscope until your eye is trained to notice the particular shapes and patterns that differentiate living things from debris, even when the living things are hiding in structures made from that same debris.

I recorded a time lapse of this drawing, which took about 19 hours in total, surprisingly not the longest one! I think that title still belongs to the nematode, which was over 30 hours, but I stopped keeping track a while ago, so I can't be sure about that. Unfortunately, the original video was blocked on YouTube because of the background music. I had permission from the artist and provided credit, but copyright rules suddenly became much more strict and that wasn't good enough anymore, so the video was taken down. I'm not sure where the original video is now, so I downloaded it from my old YouTube channel and removed the audio, then reuploaded it with no background music. The quality is low and the end was cut off, but at least it gives you an idea of how my drawing process looks.

At some point I'd like to make a new full process video, but since my drawings usually take several weeks if not months, it's not a small task to record the process from start to finish and assemble it into something watchable. So a better one is probably coming in the future, but not anytime soon.

You can see the video here.

If you like this artwork, you can order a print of it here or support me on Ko-fi. For inquiries about DIY prints, licensing, commissions, collaborations or just to share enthusiasm about microbes, please email post@mikroliv.no, or send a message on Instagram. I love hearing from you!