And plenty of awesome content to lurk around there is!

Honestly, I started out signing up to the Furry Writers Guild forum to improve my English and things just escalated from there.

That's really cool! I've been drawing cat people since as long as I can remember but was told by someone on a petsite I should consider doing commissions here (FA) which ultimately brought me to the fandom.

Yeah, its like there's something magnetic dragging people in! And for many different reasons. I made a lot of new friends, rather than being in it because all of my friends were already in it.

i'm an all around furry
i like all, i create, i suit, i commission etc
i'm a fan of what furry is
i just avoid the more mature adult stuff

I figured I probably have a bit of a unique following in that regard--I don't really submit a lot of NSFW content. Teasy stuff sure, but I'm not surprised to hear you avoid the adult content.

It's cool that you're involved in multiple facets :D

well it was a documentary of fursuiters that got me in the fandom (or rather gave me knowledge such a thing existed, however that said docu was seriously bad press, but the idea that what i drew could be a costume made me interested in learning more about it and then i saw furry wasn't a bad label :)

I love that! As much as I want to make content that makes people smile, I feel like that's very limiting. By always drawing 'happy' work one limits themselves in expressing the full range of emotion. Sometimes expressing dark or sad or angry things are good as well. Especially cathartic if those emotions are your own.

I create and I watch folks ^^ I don't have the money to commission anyone, and I'm not good enough for anyone to commission me (and/or no one wants to). I'm not super social naturally (aspergers), but I want to talk to people and make furry friends. ^^; I like comics and I love the idea of blending human and animal traits. I hope fursuit technology advances to the point of our characters almost being able to exist on their own ^w^ I'm a fan of costuming and fursuiting and stuff like that, so I can't wait for things to be better and more easily accessible to everyone who wants to bring their fursona to life. ^w^ We could have full ranges of smoothly changing expressions, natural things like blinking and animalistic nonverbal movements that are involuntary, but all in materials that aren't bulky or difficult to work with effectively~ It'd be great.

Yess, seeing some of the things people are doing with fursuit eyes and the like is really exciting!

Yeah ^^

I love the art! This place some artwork and artists unlike ANY other in the world! I'd also love to make new friends here because people here can understand me in ways that other people can't. I'd also love to become an artist myself!

Though the best thing about this community, is that it's like one big family. We all are in the same fandom and share the same interests, and that's the kind of thing that I felt while I was at Anthrocon last week! I felt like I could fit in there, and I could be open and be myself, meeting tons of awesome folks and meeting old friends for the first time!

I love this fandom! I feel like this is where I can belong! ^.^

Cons are amazing experiences, almost overwhelming at times (but in a good way)! I can only imagine AC was a blast. I'd like to go eventually.

It certainly was! Also considering it was my first con, which made it all the more awesome! <3
I'd be glad to meetup with you at a con someday if you're going too! I might try to make FWA next :3

Yeah! Not entirely sure on my con schedules, the non-midwest ones hinge on my ability to be in the den. So this year I have FM, MFF, and FC planned. I'm starting to keep a list of cons I plan to attend on my main page now :>

Ah cool! I'm hoping to attend MFF next year with some really close and dear friends of mine, so if I make it I'd love to get a sketches lie from ya ;D

I'm a creative; draw, color, storyteller, bit of a spiritualist and a WIP gamemaker.
I would love to suit sometimes if I could make/buy one and purchase from others to support as well.
In a way I would be all around... but... at the moment, I'm just creative most of the time.

About the same here c:

I was always an artist and loved drawing furries before I knew they were furries. I sat with a lot of artsy people at lunch at school, and one day they started talking about how gross and terrifying furries were, and was curious about what the furry side of the story was, so I came here and lurked..... only to realize that, by having my furry character as my art sona and drawing anthros, that meant I was pretty much a furry by most definitions! Haha. So I started posting my art online and found a decent following pretty quickly.

When I was in high school, my primary income was from commissioners. Nowadays, I have a full-time office job but put more towards commissioning other people! It always meant so much to me when I got commissions when I was just starting out, so I love supporting artists wherever I can. I still do the occasional commission and draw a lot, but I just can't spend 20+ hours per week drawing like I used to.

I also more or less got to know my now-husband through the furry fandom :D We wore our tails for some of the wedding pictures, and when we have a kid, there will definitely be a picture of our baby with a tail pinned to their diaper. It's more of a joke to us than a serious public decree that we are "furry," but I do appreciate the amazing skill that it takes to create fursuits and etc. I'm afraid of mascot costumes though and have no desire to wear more than a tail and ears myself haha

Thanks for sharing! I've also been drawing anthros/animal people since way before I even had access to a computer. So working as an anthro artist was a very natural transition for me.

My boyfriend also hates mascots, he's iffy on fursuits (generally it's the lack of eye contact/ability to read the human's expression inside that throws him off).

Same for me! I judge a lot of how I react to someone by what their facial expressions and body language are and not being able to tell that because of face masks and exaggerated body language meant to be "in-character" just weirds me out haha

I had a friend in high school who worked at the local amusement park as Snoopy and he found it freaking hilarious to chase me around and try to hug me while I awkwardly tried to position myself behind other people as a barrier ;v;

I love art the most!

I love going to conventions! Like I was at AC last week! Even there are a lot of weirdos that go there. Some creeped some of my artist friends out.

oh no D:

I try to explain (especially to people outside the fandom) that sadly in any group of like minded people there will always be the outspoken few who are radical, 'weird', or otherwise make people feel uncomfortable or unhappy. Hopefully your con experience was still good, and hopefully there were enough awesome people there to balance it out C:

Yeah, there were some people that were socially challenged.

There were awesome peeps! I would love to meet you at a future con someday!

Definitely! Sounds like I'll be at FM, MFF, and FC this year so far.

I'll be sure to be at one of those and get a sketch commission or 2 from you!

I've been all sorts of different types, going through different phases in the fandom as I grew up. I've lurked a lot for the most part, but now that I've become more comfortable as myself I've settled in as being a more rounded furry. Part lurker, part creator (Writing and voice acting), part entertainer (Well, soon as I get into fursuiting) and part consumer. Artists make up a huge part of the fandom, and I want to support them as much as I can now that I can afford to!

I've grown to enjoy pretty much all parts of the fandom since I stopped being a full time lurker. Especially the community that has developed around it. While the fandom has its dark spots like any other, there's so many supportive, generous people! Stable, friendly people! I never feel like I'm an outcast here just because I like something a little odd or enjoy cartoon animals. There's always someone else around who enjoys the same things I do.

I'm really looking forward to fursuiting and to giving back to the fandom as much as I can. :3

Fursuiting was a big step for me, I didn't used to like them but I've always had a love for costuming. I found a suit by feraldove that she was selling (a grey cat with silver eyes) and went "Hey that looks just like my Khajiit character, she just needs hair!" so I bought it with the full intent to cosplay and make a full set of ebony armor for her. That hasn't happened yet, but since then I've gotten her refurbished, had arm sleeves made, AND now I have a toony fullsuit as well. Costuming for me has always been about making people smile, and giving them a special interaction/experience to remember and take away from our meeting... And fursuits are just the same! Just way more hot and stuffy xP

I've come to REALLY appreciate Magpiebones's stuff, I've watched her for a while but I think her larp masks are the perfect mix of human and animal for me. I still have full mobility, can make awesome costumes to match my mask, and have full range of view/an ability to breathe and be ventilated well.

Those kinds of super realistic suits are what really brought me into fursuiting in the first place. I didn't even think about getting into it until I saw the super lifelike ones that have been coming out in the past few years. Ironically it was some of the khajiit ones that actually first caught my attention when I came out of lurking status. Just the way that it looked like they stepped right out of the game amazed me and made me want to find out more about them!

But since then I've been turned to toony suits as well. The toony style really works well for more animate, enthusiastic characters or monsters. Especially love phoenixnest for their very approachable, colorful style!

Big fan of Magpiebones too! Her realistic suits are incredible from head to toe. I especially love her digi-grade feet and how they look so naturally animal like. Not the biggest fan of the use-your-eyes style, but she manages it in a way that I like. Another one that got me hooked into realistic suits was sharpe19. They focus on smaller shaped, super realistic heads as well, but use a wider variety of eyes.

Aah yes, I love Sharpe's work as well! Use your own eyes is very hit and miss for me, even with Magpie's stuff but once I actually got a mask in my hands, and saw how people reacted to it, I've since become a believer in it. However it loses it's charm on larger heads, they've got to be form fitting to pull it off I think.

I suppose I'm mostly a consumer of art. I found the fandom in part because of my interest in the art, and I frequently commission people to draw my characters and bring them and various ideas to life. I'd like to be more of a creator. A big part of my interest in the fandom is that this is probably the only place I might have an audience for my writing. My preferred genre is fantasy, and I've found that I enjoy writing stories based around furry characters far more than I do the standard collection of elves and dwarves and such. Plus it has allowed me to do a lot of world-building without people expecting me to simply ape Tolkien. But it leaves my potential audience rather narrow, and I'm grateful that this community exists so there are at least some people in the world who might take my stuff seriously.

The only problem is I'm painfully slow, and have only finished three novels since I first became active here. Well, technically four, but I'm still working on getting that one polished up.

I do like the chance to interact with the people here, and that it gives me the chance to talk to other creative sorts, regardless of whether they're artists, musicians, fellow writers, or something else. And I love that so many people here are so generous with their time and talent, and thank you for sharing your work with us!

likewise! I love that there's a cyclical consumer-artist relationship in this fandom; in that a lot of creators are also consumers, and a lot of consumers, if not creators themselves, are very creative minded people.

I'm an artist. Been posting art for 18 years. While I have my issues and strong opinions in regard to the fandom, pretty much all of my friends have been found through furry. I enjoy the interactions, I enjoy hearing people say "You were the first artist I found! You got me into furry!" I love making people happy by bringing their characters and ideas to life in art. I love the outlet of expressing myself through the art, and I thrive on the comments I get on my submissions.
I think it's awesome how many amazing artists and people come together over a shared interest, and I'm constantly finding new artists who blow me away with their talent.
I started suiting a few years back, and while I don't have much opportunity to do it, I enjoy it when I do. Love suiting at convention dances. :3

Same feelings about the suits here! I rarely have time to wear mine which is sad :c

I've been posting... I wanna say since 2009 but only recently have had people start to recognize my art. It's very weird o__o

I still have a hard time thinking of myself as an artist that anyone knows or recognizes. It is pretty weird.

I've always been an animal lover. Dogs in particular. I've always had a pet as a child and currently. I also loved drawing. So I drew alot of animals and even pokemon. I preferred the cartoons that didn't have humans in them especially princesses. I enjoyed Aristocats, Tlk, Watership Down, Redwall, Silver Wing ect. Always found the characters more unique and the plot is more interesting. Older I got the more I drew animals than humans unless they were elves. By the time i hit college it was more dragons, elves, monsters and creatures and after college I started working on drawing anthros.

As for the social half Ive always been slow on the pick up but I'd made a few friends and a few really close ones.

Agreed, I've always found animals and drawing non-humans to be a lot more fun.

Honestly i started as a lurker, then a friend helped design a fursona for me and i started getting commissions.
Personally im not a fan of fursuits but only because they are normally pretty bulky and kinda mascot looking, i prefer anthro's as they are depicted in art.

To each their own! Nothing wrong with that. I think you have to be really dedicated to the idea in order to perform in something so hot and hard to breathe in.

I guess I'm mostly a commissioner, but I also lurk, and do a little stitching and writing (the writing is for ideas to commission ^^)
I enjoy interacting with others and making new friends while working with the wonderful artists in here bring my ideas to life. I mostly like art that has a story behind it, but good art is good art ^^

As for what drew me to it: My hubby introduced me, but I guess I have been a fan of the traditional furry things since long before I knew about furry.

It's kind of amazing how many people already had an interest in this and then went digital, which connected us all. I love that <3

I suppose I'm a consumer of art. I've always knew about furries but only really only knowing about it through porn and the bad talk it gets from the mass media. I always like looking at the adult side of the furry art, and slowly through Role Playing online, I came to creating my own Fursona and several other OCs. I respect all the other furs types out there and I do think furries in a whole always get a bad rap.

I also know I'm in that boat where people dislike people that only like the explicit or porn side of the furrydom. But everyone gets in their own way, mine just happens to be porn which shouldn't matter.

Exactly! If you're here for the explicit stuff that's just as valid as only being interested in suits, or only wanting to RP, etc.

I'm actually glad to hear from someone who has this perspective. Clearly based on the numbers there's plenty of people who enjoy furry porn out there, otherwise it wouldn't be so popular! It's just a shame that people outside the fandom have given it such a negative connotation.

Awesome! I've roleplayed a lot through my time on the internet (and tabletop gaming) but have yet to find any real consistent place/partners withwhich to do furry roleplay. BUT, I do really enjoy world and character building, a lot. Even if I have no one to build stories with, I also have the capability to draw what I envision, much in the way you can write it.

Like I said in the journal and you touched on here, I absolutely love how this fandom is creative content driven.

Oh man, where to start! Im basically fully immersed in the fandom now - I'm a huge art appreciator and commissioner, I have purchased A LOT of art in recent years, my walls are full and I need more corkboard to put more up LOL. I try my best to support artists and make friends. I've started going to cons in recent years, and now I own two fursuits! I plan on trying to make my own. I'm very open about being a furry to the general population. If anyone asks what I do in my time off or for hobbies, I don't hold back! I enjoy discussing and educating, and helping reduce the stigma. All my coworkers are into it (I've had some even see the suit IRL!). Next year I have like, 6 conventions I want to go to. SEND HELP. I'm in too deep!!
I am somewhat of a creator - the very rare art piece, I am working on a story/comic of sorts. But I get a great amount of anxiety from trying to make art, so it's a little limited. But I am happy to work with artists to help bring my ideas to life!

I'm trying to be more open about it myself. I want to help reduce the stigma/'other' that the furry fandom has among the general population. My parents just found out about the fandom (more or less) after BLFC and they were *at* the con which was a big step for me. My mom is just super enthralled by everything and thinks it's awesome, my dad, well I'm not so sure yet. I know the NSFW stuff bothers him to an extent.

(Also btw your kickstarter sketch is done and I'm struggling to find something affordable to ship the $90 tiers in, but it'll be headed your way soon <3)

I'm an artist and I like checking out what other people have drawn. :)

Cool! And likewise :)

lurker nowadays but former art whore for me. :3

I maaay or may not have kinda gone crazy on the whole commissioning thing after BLFC. I'm trying to tone down the 'art whore' in me for now XD

lol. nah, no such thing as "toning it down". :p

I'm a bit of different things.
I'm an artist, but not one who goes out and shares my work with others, it's mostly for personal reasons. And I mostly specialize in human figure drawing, but Im learning to draw furries.
I'm a commissioner. I buy art for personal reasons, and make them characters.
I'm a writer, I create stories and fashion tales of wonder and develop emotions for the characters I buy, giving them lives and dreams to aspire to.
I aspire to one day have a suit. My first one is going to be one of my most fleshed out characters, but it is going to end up being very expensive for my wallet. ouch.
I'm a little spiritual, in my nutty pagan ways, I believe (like edago above) that the universe is so unexplored and full of life unknown and we could have non-human anthopamorphic beings out there, and reincarnation could mean that we could have been them in our past lives, as when we die, our life becomes the force of the universe. Energy is never destroyed, as per science, only recycled, and energy can travel billions of billions of miles. We are made of stardust, why can we not be reincarnated from non-human anthropamorphic beings made of the same stardust?

Haha, 'nutty pagan'. I appreciate that x3

It's cool that you're so well rounded in your interests relating to the fandom! Thanks for sharing c:

You're hecking welcome :D

I used to be a lot more involved in the fandom than I am now. I used to go to cons, and meetups and get togethers, though I always felt like the odd one out. I used to hang out on all the MUCKS, and did coding and building for quite a few. So I mostly lurked on art sites and secretly drew a few things on my own but hated them too much to share them. I never suited. these days, I stopped meeting up with other furs because any that are around me are 20 years my junior and I just don't relate to them very much anymore. Spo it's hard to strike up a conversation, even if we have the fandom in common. Also, life has made me bitter and cynical. All people annoy me, even furries. So I'm a lonely old gray muzzle who just enjoys art, nature, gaming and cartoons.

creator, watcher, soon-to-be suiter, rolegaming player, reader. in fact I found the fandom at a role-playing con long ago. or rather, a furry waiting for the right people to reel in. XD

I have always enjoyed anthros anyplace I saw them.

So I suit, I podcast, hangout with some of the local furs on a regular basis, I just have fun.

Furry is my relaxing hobby so to speak

I'm a writer and commissioner. I fave art and am watching near 5,000 accounts. What I believe defines me as a fur is simply my preference of animal characters over human ones. I just find them more interesting to work with. Always have, going back to my childhood where I always preferred shows and movies with talking animals to human characters. (Raised on Disney Cartoons mostly)