Jer Thorp

This season, say it with radiolarians.

❤️🎁🎄

form 3 printer with a finished radiolarian hanging from the build plate inside it's orange case

Jesse holds a fresh radiolarian sculpture print still in its support structure

We print the Radiolarian sculptures using our Formlabs Form 3 3D-printer. Each takes 6 to 14 hours to print. They are now for sale in our shop: n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/shop/search_...

four radiolaria sculptures sitting on a black surface

Radiolaria are microscopic unicellular sea creatures that create skeletons from silica. Their skeletons are among the most beautiful and complex natural microstructures, resembling elaborate filigree. blog post: n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/blog/?p=9861

Let’s talk for a moment about the problematic labor politics of Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Order the 36x36" print or poster of my Of A Feather visualization and you'll get an astoundingly detailed print.

10,151 feathers, each representing a single bird species, with colors extracted from Wikipedia.

(A good gift for data-y and birdy friends!)

www.jerthorp.me/product-page...

🪶

I want someone to make a Merlin app but it's just Mark Catesby's descriptions of birds from 1732.

"This Bird, by its ungrateful brawling Noise, seems at Variance and displeased with all others" is a great field mark

potatoes have descended on new york city peent

send this post to your friends who love cocks open.substack.com/pub/ryanmand...

LOOK AT THIS BIRD

ebird.org/species/norc...

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Mandala-shaped visualization of colorful feathers

Order the 36x36" print or poster of my Of A Feather visualization and you'll get an astoundingly detailed print.

10,151 feathers, each representing a single bird species, with colors extracted from Wikipedia.

(A good gift for data-y and birdy friends!)

www.jerthorp.me/product-page...

🪶

Placemats decorated with colorful bird feathers

Placematsdecorated with colorful bird feathers

Someone requested Of A Feather placemats so... now there are Of A Feather placemats.

Four groups of birds:

Trochilidae (Hummingbirds)
Psittaciformes (Parrots)
Piciformes (Woodpeckers, toucans + barbets)
Galliformes (Turkeys, grouse, chickens, landfowl)

www.jerthorp.me/product-page...

In 2 week's I'll be co-leading a trip to Raja Ampat w/ my friend & SCUBA superhero Luke Manson.

This trip is going to be really interesting as we're going to focus on the fabulous wildlife both above & below water.

We'll be aboard a private 4 cabin catamaran.

With internet! So there should be 📷

Apps are open for our spring session of the Cross-Reference Coalition! We're exploring Search & Discovery! "Our journey will encompass the history of exploration + cartography, legacies of inquiry, tools of discovery, theories of curiosity, and counter-algorithmic means of 'finding things out.'"

Of A Feather This is a story about dead birds in drawers, xkcd, natural language processing and feathers. It's about color, quixotic pursuits and art made from data. It starts in a parking lot. It's December, 20...

I wrote about my new birds+data project, Of A Feather:

A poster for comics studies classes, Big letters at top read: Comics Studies @ SFSU! read, make, study, play Spring 2026 Comics Courses CMX304 HUM304/LS304 Making Comics 1 MW 2-3:15 N. Sousanis INTRODUCTION TO THE HANDS-ON MAKING OF COMICS. FOCUS ON IN-CLASS EXERCISES AND SMALL PROJECTS IN MAKING COMICS ALONGSIDE ANALYSIS OF COMICS. PROMOTES UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN COMICS AND DISCOVER WORKING METHODS THAT BEST WORK FOR THEM. CMX604 HUM604/LS604 Advanced Comics Making M 4-6:45 N. Sousanis BUILDS ON THE MAKING AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS COVERED IN LS 304/CMX 304. PROJECT-BASED COURSE FOR DEVELOPING SKILLS IN COMMUNICATING THROUGH COMIC FORM, CULMINATING IN THE PRODUCTION OF A SIGNIFICANT WORK READY FOR PUBLICATION. CMX540 Topics in Comics Studies: Superheroes MW 11-12:15 N. Sousanis INTRODUCTION TO THE SUPERHERO GENRE. FOCUS CULTURAL, GENDERED, AND OTHER CRITICAL FORMS OF EVALUATION OF THE SUPERHERO BOTH IN COMICS AND OTHER LITERARY MEDIUMS. Bonus Comics-Related Courses: CWL/JS 480 European Jewish Writers TTh 11-12:15 Kitty Millet SURVEY OF THE WORKS OF MODERN JEWISH WRITERS THROUGHOUT EUROPE BETWEEN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES. THE INFLUENCE OF THE JEWISH ENLIGHTENMENT ON MODERN JEWISH LITERATURE. (THIS COURSE IS OFFERED AS JS 480 AND CWL 480.) CINE 443 Drawing for Animation F 9:30-12:15 Ben Ridgway EXPLORE DRAWING TECHNIQUES FOR ANIMATION INCLUDING GESTURE AND MOVEMENT, KINETIC VOLUME, AND ABSTRACTION OF MOTION. ICOROLLARY TO CMX MINORI For all courses, info on the COMICS STUDIES MINOR: https:///iberalstudies.sfsu.edu/minor-or-certificate-comic-studies Contact COMICS STUDIES Coordinator NICK SOUSANIS sousanis@sfsu.edu

For the first time next term, I'm teaching a class on Superheroes! While I have way too much knowledge about DC/Marvel characters/history - I have never thought about integrating that directly into my teaching. I welcome recs for comics/scholarly readings & other advice on potential directions! Tnx!

Photo of a hard-bound notebook featuring Jer’s art of bird feather colors.

My notebook arrived today! Thank you, Jer.

It’s going to be a problem

Cervo

I loved this burger so much it is a little obscene.

Lamb burger with bocarones, celery slaw and aioli.

Chicago has had one 9/11 worth of people disappeared since the attacks began in September. Los Angeles has had two 9/11s since June.

Green coloured 1970s hospital

Out of nowhere remembering my night in the Tito era hospital in Montenegro

Burger with marinated anchovies

Should I?

There's always one group of birds that kicks my ass when preparing for a trip and learning IDs.

For Raja Ampat & Western Papua it's the cuckoos / koels.

Oh, and the honeyeaters.

Parrot with an enormous red bill

This is called a great-billed parrot and it's true.

That is a great fucking bill.

It's going to be amazing! And there will be maps. And charts!

It might definitely be the trip for you if you appreciate having the time to investigate a patch of weird flowers along the trail, if you like quiet evenings under the stars, and if you love to talk about strange creatures with interesting people.

This might not be the trip for you if you are a birder whose goal is to maximize sightings or to fill your days from dawn to dusk. Likewise if you’re a diver who lives for deep dives and pushing technical limits.

But...

Raja Ampat 2025 | jerthorp Join Jer in Autumn of 2025 for a pair of unique & intimate expeditions to Raja Ampat, Indonesia. You’ll spend 12 days above and below water exploring pristine reefs and hiking island forests in one of...

If this seems like something interesting, you can check out the site for more details and reach out if you have particular dates that might work for you.

www.jerthorp.me/raja-ampat

Lesser bird-of-paradise

Our catamaran

Luke and I are planning dates for 2026 trips as we speak.

These are pretty special - small groups, astounding wildlife and a focus on mindful observation.

Hopefully we'll do two trips in the spring (late March/April) and maybe a Banda Sea crossing.

In 2 week's I'll be co-leading a trip to Raja Ampat w/ my friend & SCUBA superhero Luke Manson.

This trip is going to be really interesting as we're going to focus on the fabulous wildlife both above & below water.

We'll be aboard a private 4 cabin catamaran.

With internet! So there should be 📷

Trans News Initiative A database and analysis of news coverage affecting trans communities.

My new big visualization project is out: The Trans News Initiative, a collaboration between UM's School of Communication, the Trans Journalists Association, and Polygraph (The Pudding): transnewsinitiative.org Here's a piece about it in the Columbia Journalism Review: www.cjr.org/news/visuali...