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Texas Furry Fiesta 2022: The Day After
3 years ago
And so I’m home! Goodness, that was a weekend...
This past weekend, I went to the Texas Furry Fiesta. It’s been well over a decade since my last furry convention and, if I’m being honest, that time wasn’t the best experience. I met some good friends and had a few great art experiences with trading sketchbooks and having massive drawing sessions with other artists for the first time ever, but there were also some major bumps. The biggest bump being stuffed in a hotel room with at least 8 people, and also being deeply disillusioned with several aspects of the fandom that I was seeing for the first time in person on a grand scale. I basically told myself that I was never going to go to another furry convention again, after that. I was content with smaller scale experiences.
I am extremely glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone to try again.
For one thing, I wasn’t in an over-stuffed hotel room again, so that meant there was an escape from the experience when I’d had enough of crowds. Also, the folks I met there were exceptionally awesome people, which helped ;) In particular, meeting
Esteban there and having a consistent friend to spend time with, explain stuff, and really just share experiences and memories made all the difference. I am SO glad that I didn’t decide to go to a con completely on my own.
In addition to that, I spent a lot of this convention just taking in the sights and seeing everything on display. I drew surprisingly little, really only keeping a sketch journal for each night, but I interacted way more directly with artists than ever before. Going up to booths in both the Dealer’s Den and the Artist Alley and just asking questions, making comments on works, and sharing experiences was awesome. I collected a ton of business cards of artists that I truly want to follow up on and potentially commission later. Speaking of which, I only got a single commission while I was there, and ironically from an artist that is not on FA! Her name is Icecolo and I really liked the way she drew faces and expressions, so I ended up getting a badge from her. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wanted to commission more artists there (in particular
Cooner !) but many of them were filled up when I approached them or wouldn’t have had enough time to finish a commission before I had to leave early on Sunday. Luckily, I can easily find them again now and get a commission when I’m ready.
Honestly, when looking at my convention haul, I didn’t get a ton of stuff on this trip, but it was still very much worth it. The experiences alone were invaluable. I went to a panel on coloring by
marmelmm and got to see a picture of my own colored live as well as just learn some neat functions of GIMP that I was not at all aware of. I also got into a Guilty Gear tournament where I played against an incredibly cute fursuiter (I was too bashful at the time to ask for her name) and embarrassed myself publically on Twitch by getting wrecked in Top 8. Even though I lost, though, I had such a great time talking fighting game shop with other furries that it relaxed me immensely. I’ll admit that I sometimes feel like I don’t tend to gel well with furries offline, but that tournament along with a lot of my other experiences during this con never made me feel like an outcast for a second. I may not have been on the same wavelength as everybody I met there, and there are obviously as many different temperaments and opinions as you could imagine in such a wide-reaching fandom, but I never felt truly unwelcome this weekend.
Still, as I write this from the comfort of my own keyboard and back in my pleasantly cold home (You silly Texans and your warm weather!), I can definitely say that I’m happy to be home. It was a great experience even with its frustrations (my feet still hurt from standing in registration for four hours), and I’m deeply grateful that this is my latest con memory in comparison to how I used to feel, but I’m glad to be back to a normal pace of life and being the odd duck again among my offline friends.
I don’t know if I’ll go to another furry convention any time soon, but I’m definitely more open to the idea now than I ever have been. Maybe one that doesn’t require me to fly across the country...
Oh, and now I can really understand why folks kept joking to me that this was nicknamed ‘Stair Con’. I have never witnessed an escalator break down so many times in my life.
This past weekend, I went to the Texas Furry Fiesta. It’s been well over a decade since my last furry convention and, if I’m being honest, that time wasn’t the best experience. I met some good friends and had a few great art experiences with trading sketchbooks and having massive drawing sessions with other artists for the first time ever, but there were also some major bumps. The biggest bump being stuffed in a hotel room with at least 8 people, and also being deeply disillusioned with several aspects of the fandom that I was seeing for the first time in person on a grand scale. I basically told myself that I was never going to go to another furry convention again, after that. I was content with smaller scale experiences.
I am extremely glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone to try again.
For one thing, I wasn’t in an over-stuffed hotel room again, so that meant there was an escape from the experience when I’d had enough of crowds. Also, the folks I met there were exceptionally awesome people, which helped ;) In particular, meeting
Esteban there and having a consistent friend to spend time with, explain stuff, and really just share experiences and memories made all the difference. I am SO glad that I didn’t decide to go to a con completely on my own.In addition to that, I spent a lot of this convention just taking in the sights and seeing everything on display. I drew surprisingly little, really only keeping a sketch journal for each night, but I interacted way more directly with artists than ever before. Going up to booths in both the Dealer’s Den and the Artist Alley and just asking questions, making comments on works, and sharing experiences was awesome. I collected a ton of business cards of artists that I truly want to follow up on and potentially commission later. Speaking of which, I only got a single commission while I was there, and ironically from an artist that is not on FA! Her name is Icecolo and I really liked the way she drew faces and expressions, so I ended up getting a badge from her. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wanted to commission more artists there (in particular
Cooner !) but many of them were filled up when I approached them or wouldn’t have had enough time to finish a commission before I had to leave early on Sunday. Luckily, I can easily find them again now and get a commission when I’m ready.Honestly, when looking at my convention haul, I didn’t get a ton of stuff on this trip, but it was still very much worth it. The experiences alone were invaluable. I went to a panel on coloring by
marmelmm and got to see a picture of my own colored live as well as just learn some neat functions of GIMP that I was not at all aware of. I also got into a Guilty Gear tournament where I played against an incredibly cute fursuiter (I was too bashful at the time to ask for her name) and embarrassed myself publically on Twitch by getting wrecked in Top 8. Even though I lost, though, I had such a great time talking fighting game shop with other furries that it relaxed me immensely. I’ll admit that I sometimes feel like I don’t tend to gel well with furries offline, but that tournament along with a lot of my other experiences during this con never made me feel like an outcast for a second. I may not have been on the same wavelength as everybody I met there, and there are obviously as many different temperaments and opinions as you could imagine in such a wide-reaching fandom, but I never felt truly unwelcome this weekend.Still, as I write this from the comfort of my own keyboard and back in my pleasantly cold home (You silly Texans and your warm weather!), I can definitely say that I’m happy to be home. It was a great experience even with its frustrations (my feet still hurt from standing in registration for four hours), and I’m deeply grateful that this is my latest con memory in comparison to how I used to feel, but I’m glad to be back to a normal pace of life and being the odd duck again among my offline friends.
I don’t know if I’ll go to another furry convention any time soon, but I’m definitely more open to the idea now than I ever have been. Maybe one that doesn’t require me to fly across the country...
Oh, and now I can really understand why folks kept joking to me that this was nicknamed ‘Stair Con’. I have never witnessed an escalator break down so many times in my life.
T'was good to have you with me! Hopefully we'll get another go-round soon.