Here it is, twenty years later and there has never been a year when I don’t draw the powerhouse feline. Come to think of it… I can’t really believe it’s been that long since I’ve created her when I was (going on to) 10th grade! I don’t remember the precise date when I created Cheeyana, but I do remember it was in August 1994 when I drew her on a piece of computer paper while at my Aunt’s house for the summer. Therefore, I decided to say the 16th is her official birthday.

Cheeyana is my very first muscular female original character created. When I first designed her, I thought about making her an average built cheetah, but instead I decided, “Hey maybe I should give her some muscles… Make her a very strong character- nearly unstoppable or something like that!” I wanted to have a strong, bad-ass female anyways since I was already a female bodybuilder fanatic at the age of ten or eleven. I must confess that I had a hard time drawing her muzzle and coming up with a good hair design upon sketching Cheeyana! Oh jeez, once I get ahold of my “gold mine” of old drawings I did from way back when, I can show the horrors of her development.

Upon creating my cheetah anthro, I originally named her “Cheetara”, totally disremembering about the Thunder Cats’ Cheetara and her name. I stuck with that name for a while until my best friend reminded me of the kick-ass cartoon series and the character’s name. Nonetheless, I wanted to keep the “Chee” portion to represent the now “No Name Cheetah’s” species’ name, and add somewhat of an African touch to the suffix portion of it. Finally, I permanently changed the name to Cheeyana in 1998.

In 1996, I gave Cheeyana a much better design that looked canon enough to keep. Safe to say I’ve maintained and improved her appearance since then. Cheeyana is also the first character who would have a variation of hair-styles, preferably that of African tradition. I’ve always preferred keeping Cheeyana as tribal as possible rather than drawing her civilized. If she did appear in civilian clothes, it’s only because she is hanging out with Jerome who resides in Japan mostly and sometimes in the US. It’s very rare drawing her dressed in urban clothing or in ANY civilized clothing!

The last time I focused on anthros was in 1997 and from there had spent time drawing people (manga style). During that time, I would still draw Cheeyana and a few other anthros while the rest, I didn’t focus on at all since I was attentive in my original character human (manga) art that I usually draw. It wasn’t until 2009 that I went back to drawing anthros again.

Looking back at my sketchbook history, Cheeyana was actually THE most drawn character hands down. I loved drawing her so much that I had to buy some sketchbooks that are dedicated to drawing ONLY Cheeyana in them. That’s how much I’ve kept up with the cheetah over the years. All in all, from the day I’ve created her- all the way until my dying day, I will always draw Cheeyana!
When I first joined Fur Affinity, Cheeyana was more or less the reason why I got a couple of awesome watchers today! I stopped posting her for a month, Watcher rage faces appear! LoL No, just kidding- but she was a character who a few people know me of drawing at the time. And if it weren’t for  Xilimyth (via  DocWolph’s artwork) seen on Furtopia back in 2007, I probably wouldn’t have ever known of Fur Affinity. Because I could relate Cheeyana’s appearance to Xillimyth (minus the dragon breed in the dracat), I was interested in joining a furry community and diving back into drawing anthros once again at full swing. So yeah, thank them- especially Xilimyth for getting me back into drawing anthros and meeting you guys online and in person! XD I want to send a big hug to Xilimyth for inspiring me into joining FA as well as collaborating on a story we have worked on (and revised) for a while now. It's an honorary pleasure to work with another fellow cheetah!

So to close this special moment, this special day of one of my most favorite characters, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for showing much love towards Cheeyana. I never thought that she would be of anyone’s interest, concern, or would even have a “crush” on her what so ever. My words can’t really describe how I feel about you all who have watched me over the years and liked Cheeyana! Thank you guys and gals! You. All. RAWK!! \m/