This might not be the best defense on eyebrow usage, but Goldie Pheasant and other Anthros who only have one natural body hair/feather color, without defining shading and are very emotional. Have a look at any of the girls/guys in my screen shot gallery and see how many designs would be able to pull off not having eyebrows if they were removed from the image. http://www.ospreygraphix.com/html/S.....s/screens.html

Plus, it's hard-wired into our psyche to expect humanoid beings to have eyebrows in order to understand their emotions. And to direct the sweat away from the eyes.

That gallery is really neat. XD It will actually come in handy. Thanks!

Eyebrows divert sweat from the eyes? Huh... wait actually furs may or may not sweat, and if they do, the fur will immediately absorb it.

Thanks. I've got Teryx from Dinosaucers on the way. Just waiting for a higher quality source to show up to round it out better.

But what about Scalies and hairless animals?

regarding scalies: exactly! what to do...

I have a dragon character, who doesn't have head hair. I've at one point figured she would not have eyebrows either. But I just realized something. Maybe I should take into consideration whether any other characters would have head hair. (in the same species)

Never watched Dinosaucers but, looking it up, it is not for me.

This makes me think, "Why do humans even have eyebrows?" They are not really needed. Some cultures shave them. Some people can not grow eyebrows, while others grow one long bushy one.

Anthropomorphics could go the same way. Most already have fuzzy faces and the brows are part of it. Eyebrows could easily be a different color from the rest of the face, or part of a more complex stripe pattern that covers the face.

so eyebrows are the same as a fur/stripe pattern, or secondary fur color...

speaking of which I should remember to play with patterns more.

Maybe I should also consider whether or not eyebrows overlap with facial fur patterns.

Eyebrows are an expressive trait: you can look at someone and see what he's looking at, and how he's reacting, better than you could otherwise. And in terms of brain cycles needed to pull out salient features of facial expressions, eyebrow movements are pretty easy to resolve with distinct (i.e., fuzzy) eyebrows.

Which is why people with no fuzz on their eyebrows, or people whose hair color blends in with their skin perfectly, look kind of creepy: you can't see their expressions as well without those easily-abstracted landmarks.

When I say "fuzzy" I don't mean, you know, caterpillars sitting on your face fuzzy, I just mean bearing visible hair.

(I was just reminded of an absolutely vicious and catty remark a friend of mine made about a teacher, in 7th grade: "She has such lovely blonde hair, why would she dye her roots brown?")

Yeah, I owuld think they would. They're a mix of human and animal aspects, after all. If you want to be realistic about it, furries wouldn't have a head of hair, either. It's another human-only trait for the most part. I'd say that was something that shouldn't be on a furry before eyebrows, since some animals do indeed have the facial muscular structure to have them as expressions. Some of them, like my old dog, had the coloration to match. So she actually did have eyebrows.

I guess eyebrows and a head-of-hair would both come in the same package.

Isn't there a species of dog that actually does have eyebrows? I also now read a blogpost with a picture of an older dog having eyebrows due to graying hair.

The majority of my anthro characters have eyebrows...but they also have hair, and other very human characteristics. I think it's all a matter of opinion - I've had people tell me my characters look too human. *shrugs*

> [they] look too human
> furries

...what? Isn't the point that they're supposed to look human, albeit with some animal traits?

Critics, I am disappoint.

MoodyFerret's Neil character has struck me as having a warm or more human feel actually. Like he's a real person. It could be though that the commenters prefer digitigrade legs, or want longer snouts & ears.

Most animals have whisker-like eyebrows.

I see, thanks. I brought up a photo of a dalmatian, and it seems there are essentially no eyebrows, but there are indeed whiskers (or whisker-like hairs) placed there.

This links directly to the previous journal: eyebrows are a result of sweating as means of thermal regulation. They protect the eyes from sweat pouring down the forehead. No sweat - no bushy eyebrows.
The whiskeer-like brows protect eyes from sticks, leaves and so on - the feedback to close the eye is almost instanteous.

OTOH, in many species the bone above the eye socket is shaped as if to resemble eyebrows, though it's definitely non-movable.

oh hey, these kinda look like eyebrows http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/.....6acd54858d.jpg ..

Though it's just the lighting that create that effect. Still interesting though how much presence they can have on a dog.

weird eyes by the way. I've noticed that for animals or at least many of them, the whites of their eyes are usually not visible.

Some furry species naturally have a bit of distinguishing color to that part of their face and that is fine. Others have a slightly more defined ridge there but besides these two examples they should not have them.

They have fur, they do not need hair, and the Furry face with their often large ears can be extremely expressive without them. Also do not forget that the tail is often as much a tool of expression as any sort of balancing agent.

I notice some animals and furry art have spots of different-colored fur above the eyes. (toward the center of the face) But it doesn't seem to me they would be of any real use to convey expressions in art.

I always overlook the fact that ears move! It's until I see it an animation, flash, gif or something and I'm blown away. When I draw ears they tend to feel stiff and it's hard to imagine them moving or having much leeway to move.

Tails seem like something I have to learn a little. Not only do they have to be an emotive device but also have to convey the movement of the character, so I might have to combine those two things in a drawing. I figure they can stand straight up when startled, there's also "tail between the legs", other than that it's all pretty vague to me. I also am iffy on what extent tails are strong or "prehensile" for different species.

Ear movement is very important for furs when communicating.

Tail position is very expressive but what it expresses can vary a bit between species.

For example: For a Wolf/Dog a tail raised high indicates superiority & confidence. A swishing or wagging tail indicates happiness and often a desire to play. A straight to slightly lower tail indicates suspicion or fear. A low tail indicates submission. A tail between the legs indicates serious submission and often fear.

But for a Deer the tail being up tall can either indicate dominance for a Buck or Fear for both genders. Swishing indicates happiness and general contentment. While being down generally signals calm.

So it can be a bit wild. Though even my avatar likes to move her ears and tail Breeheehee.