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Why here?
16 years ago
Was recently asked why I was here with "the dog dicks and diapers". I'm sure a dozen people will give you a dozen different answers, or cluster of answers. Here are mine:
Because what other people draw has nothing to do with me. The notion of guilt by association and social neighborhood property values, etc. is dumb and not worth considering. My ability to draw a straight line has nothing to do with yours, and vice versa. This is why art drama is silly; just go do your own thing.
And any subject is valid, even if i don't understand it.
And thank God for that. Nobody has a claim to objective matters of taste. It's not that you have to like everything, but what you don't like simply indicates what you don't like. It means you've reached the limits of your ability to appreciate; it doesn't indicate any general truths about the work. So I can police myself, and can be mature enough to look away from something I don't understand without taking personal offense, or if I can't do that, I will at least try very hard to keep in mind that my personal offense is not a global imperative. I mean, we're all grown-ups here, amirite?
Also, there is more to the fandom than dog dicks and diapers - unless everybody who felt that way left. Even if I have a personal problem with some of the art, sticking around and simply doing my thing is okay, because it presents whatever alternative I happen to embody. This is true for anybody. (By extension, parody/satire is lame, as it simply perpetuates the imagery you find objectionable, that same effort and energy could have been used to make something new, that you -do- like, rather than dwell on something you don't, even to ridicule it). "Be the change you want to see."
(Feel free to swap "dog dicks and diapers" for whatever it is you find objectionable. That was just the phrase used in the initial comment to me.)
I have some good old friends within the fandom. Staying involved helps keep me in touch. This is pretty straightforward, really.
I think furs are generally creative, imaginative, DIY folks that tend to resist corporate creative influence in favor of personal expression. This is opposed to, say, the Star Wars or Harry Potter fandom that instead values a canon - particularly one developed, produced and sold to them by corporate committee with an eye solely on the bottom monetary line. There is no furry canon :) Don't let anybody tell you differently. Draw your dragon dick anyway you want to. Don't flip those 'roo balls! Hell, you don't even need to draw tails (heresy!) You can't even get furs to agree on three or four fingers, digitigrade or plantigrade legs, and so on.
This is because the furry fandom allows for - and intensely values - individual creativity. So I reject the notion of any kind of furry monolithic social cohesion around any single aspect of the fandom; it's just too varied - except for the individualistic creator driven aspect, which every fur that i've met seems value. Any fursuiter will tell you this: making your own, as crappy as it might be, is infinitely better than buying some slick mass-produced mascot suit, and making your own cat ears is better than Hot Topic bullshit. Until the fandom becomes unbearably "lazy" in terms of letting Others do the creative thinking for you, or letting others arbitrate furry, then I'll happily stick around. I like the big tent, even the bickering and in-fighting is healthy.
Also, I like animals.
Because what other people draw has nothing to do with me. The notion of guilt by association and social neighborhood property values, etc. is dumb and not worth considering. My ability to draw a straight line has nothing to do with yours, and vice versa. This is why art drama is silly; just go do your own thing.
And any subject is valid, even if i don't understand it.
And thank God for that. Nobody has a claim to objective matters of taste. It's not that you have to like everything, but what you don't like simply indicates what you don't like. It means you've reached the limits of your ability to appreciate; it doesn't indicate any general truths about the work. So I can police myself, and can be mature enough to look away from something I don't understand without taking personal offense, or if I can't do that, I will at least try very hard to keep in mind that my personal offense is not a global imperative. I mean, we're all grown-ups here, amirite?
Also, there is more to the fandom than dog dicks and diapers - unless everybody who felt that way left. Even if I have a personal problem with some of the art, sticking around and simply doing my thing is okay, because it presents whatever alternative I happen to embody. This is true for anybody. (By extension, parody/satire is lame, as it simply perpetuates the imagery you find objectionable, that same effort and energy could have been used to make something new, that you -do- like, rather than dwell on something you don't, even to ridicule it). "Be the change you want to see."
(Feel free to swap "dog dicks and diapers" for whatever it is you find objectionable. That was just the phrase used in the initial comment to me.)
I have some good old friends within the fandom. Staying involved helps keep me in touch. This is pretty straightforward, really.
I think furs are generally creative, imaginative, DIY folks that tend to resist corporate creative influence in favor of personal expression. This is opposed to, say, the Star Wars or Harry Potter fandom that instead values a canon - particularly one developed, produced and sold to them by corporate committee with an eye solely on the bottom monetary line. There is no furry canon :) Don't let anybody tell you differently. Draw your dragon dick anyway you want to. Don't flip those 'roo balls! Hell, you don't even need to draw tails (heresy!) You can't even get furs to agree on three or four fingers, digitigrade or plantigrade legs, and so on.
This is because the furry fandom allows for - and intensely values - individual creativity. So I reject the notion of any kind of furry monolithic social cohesion around any single aspect of the fandom; it's just too varied - except for the individualistic creator driven aspect, which every fur that i've met seems value. Any fursuiter will tell you this: making your own, as crappy as it might be, is infinitely better than buying some slick mass-produced mascot suit, and making your own cat ears is better than Hot Topic bullshit. Until the fandom becomes unbearably "lazy" in terms of letting Others do the creative thinking for you, or letting others arbitrate furry, then I'll happily stick around. I like the big tent, even the bickering and in-fighting is healthy.
Also, I like animals.
This is getting a bookmark!
But I'd like to point out another thing I like about the community: the acceptance. Sure, you'll always have your users who spam the more outrageous fetishes with remarks about how gross it is or how unacceptable, etc. And there is always going to be some drama somewhere, as we all are (excuse the phrase) just human, and it's in human nature that whenever you get more than three people together (let alone thousands), something is going down. But for the most part, people either accept what they see and praise it, or don't and move on. And the drama is NOTHING compared to what it is, say, on deviantART.
So good for you. *hug*
Cheers!
That's why i'm here.
"There is no furry canon :) Don't let anybody tell you differently."
Especially on the latter. I've read a lot of "well, if the rest of them is part animal, why not the genitals?" in particular. Because the other person doesn't want knotty or spiky dicks on their characters just like some people want more humanoid faces on theirs?
if you don't mind, I'd like to link back to your entry in a journal posting.
Kudos.
i just wish the part about us all being grown ups was a bit more accurate, but, that would make life a little boring i suppose
But FA really is what you make it, with who you +watch, with what you +fav, and with every piece you post. You create your own little version of the site to suit your tastes exactly. You just have to make sure that, at the same time, you don't end up creating your own little echo chamber.
"Be the change you want to see(in the world)" - a little Gandhi goes a long way!
For starters, I like sex and porn. Especially if it's porn that caters to my specific weird hangups. But also I figured fandom was such this practically Lovecraftian entity in its creativity - forever putting out stuff, some of which was terrible, some of which was okay, and some of which was soaringly beautiful. Having stuff you don't like, and stuff which isn't all that good, is the flip side of being in a group this creative.
This point really got driven home to me a few years ago, by working and attending some science fiction cons. These were supposedly the biggest cons in sci-fi fandom - you know, the guys who in theory look down at furries - and their art shows were a few small rows of paintings and digital manipulations and rendered CG. Some of it was good. Some of the costumes in the halls were okay, though you almost never spotted anyone who wasn't dressed as a Trek or Star Wars character. Nice enough, but nothing compared to furry conventions in their wealth of art and costuming.
I'd like to read this statement more. ^_^
It's good to see more and more artists who make sense. I've been needing this for a while.
Thank you.
This is well said, a lot of people agree, and so do I!
If I can ask though, because now I'm curious... what's the reason you upload art here in general? I'm thinking as opposed to just getting an account and using it for comments and favs? As a person who has art up elsewhere... why FA?
For example, personally, it's an easy way of being a part of the rather small transformation art community, and FA is the little bear's porridge of sites. It's too niche to be swamped with teenagers whose idea of helpful advice is "gtfo furfags", and yet broad enough so that people other than my nearby circle of friends stumble upon my gallery and maybe like it. The community here is also unpretentious and postmodern in its tastes, which I totally just want to hug. :D
an interesting alternative to this journal would have been to post just the final three words
I am glad you have chosen to remain true to yourself, continue expressing your artistic talents in your own way.
This is so important and I'm like a broken record because I'm always saying it to people. :D
This is why you are easily one of my favourite artists on here. You pump out a constant stream of extremely high quality art that spans many mediums and genres and also take the time to really give the best advice you can. Those that watch you should find you a cohesive force in the fandom that, instead of ever bitching or complaining, simply explains art, the fandom, and/or life to the best of your ability and capture it truthfully. I try when i can to send you some worthwhile critique when i can, but i find it hard to really give you anything but praise.
Fear no art and love thy furry neighbor.
Aiden Dingo
I was super excited when I saw you on here.
and you are very right. i have oft talked about the main difference between furry and almost all other fandoms is that we dress as us. we do art of us. we are not simply trying on the costumes of heros made by others but indeed our own inner selves in whatever that way is. and it is a LONG tradition. from early shamanic things on up through to metaphors describing people with animal attributes (sly like a fox, scardey cat, a fine young buck, lounge lizard) even though like you pointed out many people do not see it that way but that is fine too since it is was you make of it not what someone else tells you it has to be.
BLAM!
Oh, wait...
I think it's that -and I share in this to some degree- people are surprised at your presence here as a person. It's not so much that the professionalism of your work seems alien, it's that you're mature and analytical, and cool headed, possibly above all else. You don't fit the unfortunately accurate stereotypes of the misanthropic, high strung artist, and I don't think anyone knows quite how to handle that.
I have to say your journal gives me some hope in general, the last two bolded comments in particular. I was starting to wonder if there was anyone else here primarily for those reasons.
Came for the arts, stayed for the brains. Bravo.
Personally, I'm really glad to see you stick around here. We might never have known each other, but you remind me of a time when this fandom and I were so much younger and so very different. :) FA is certainly a step up from USENET!
It's like a comfortable corner of the Internet that I can seem to bring with me. Even though my fellow men sometimes make me shake my head and wonder what I'm doing there, exactly, a fur in a chat or on a forum or whatever will always be friendly and nice to hang around with. Unlike practitioners of my other hobbies such as gaming. Gamers are generally the opposite. Put more than a handful of gamers in the same online space and chances are you've got yourself an instant BBQ.
When we're not focusing on each other's differences in art and fetishes, we're one hell of a friendly bunch, aren't we?
roflol
The way people associate themselves with communities is fascinating. It's especially interesting given that the association is only one particular IP address instead of another, that last number in a routing table. Just as my work is only one small part of furry, furry is only a part of who I am. I also participate on an old tractor website, which is chock full of religious farmers and right-wing conservatives, and that's sure as hell not who I am, but that doesn't matter. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog dick.
Cheers mate. :)
Plus, I like animals too ;)
This is because the few times I have been approached by someone who found something out about my furry artwork or spoke to someone from my past, etc etc.. it has been overwhelmingly negative or difficult to explain.
It took me 3 years to show my girlfriend that I have, indeed, drawn furry porn. And sold it for money.
No matter how many times I try to leave this furry business behind, I always end up coming back. I have this nostalgic draw to animal-people. It's the reason why I ended up moving across the country and going to art school. It's the reason why I met some of the most important people in my life. It's the reason why I draw.
So walking away from it would seem unnecessary and cowardly.
I just wanted you to know that this post was kind of profoundly helpful to me. I don't have any furries in "real life" to communicate with on a regular basis. Sometimes i'm in the dark or very much alone when I do choose to explain it to someone. To break down how, No, I don't like to have sex with animals or people in mascot costumes, but yeah, I'll draw an animal with two legs and a penis every once in a while.
So Thank You, Mr. Goodwin for helping to break it down for the rest of us. :]
yeah, anthro artists are an excellent example of creativity, but regarding this site, and for being there since a while, i guarantee you it's the last place on earth one should consider to get inspirations or real critiques. if it has the purpose to promote your stuff, maybe. but other than that it's still a little drawn porn site to me.
That and a great many people feeling pressure to draw porn just to be noticed and get success here takes the aforementioned social networking part and turns it into an advertisement method.
This fandom, albeit not subscribing to a corporate standards complex, however often creates its own.
Also, sup. old comment lol. Don't mind my exhausted rambling
Your art is amazing, too, to be 100% honest. I, for one, am really glad to see it, even if I also come here and look at all the (oftentimes horribly-drawn) smut and garbage, too.
BTW, I think you defeat the whole "you shouldn't post here!" thing with your first argument. Your stuff rocks and they should be able to look at it that way instead of grumbling about other things they don't like on the site.
for how you feel is often incredibly useful, even if you have to try it a couple times to
capture it.
Thank you.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks like this, that everything Chris says applies to everyone here, on FA, in the fandom, and that they just choose to ignore it because they have nothing better to do other than talk down to people they don't know, can't see, can't associate with and will never have any sort of physical interaction with just to make them feel better about themselves in some small way.
Point being, I really like this journal, oh my.
Very well put, mate. Bravo!
Yeah yeah I can't spell.