Alright it's rare a piece of art captures my attention on the front page and manages to keep it for a long period of time, but this one is unique. First of all, the situation is very well played. You can feel the emotion and wonder on the character. I love that he's reading to basically get his "escape" from his awful life of poverty. It's really touching, but pretty dark and deep at the same time. I'm not sure if this is symbolic of all or many species of rodentia in your anthro world's culture, but it definitely has that vibe about it.

The great thing about this piece to me is the attention to detail; the dumpster, the trash, the depth of field in the background, the gravel. I appreciate the little touches like the out-of-focus gazelle(?) walking by with an umbrella and some of the lights across the street being off.

Beautiful painting. Didn't know this was by  deets - good stuff :3

You are correct in your assessment, this is a world basically run by the canids. It is a diverse culture, sure, but not one devoid of prejudice. It's not as though the inequality that exists is outright malevolent or even intentional, it's just a culture that believes there is nobility in self-sufficiency and picking yourself up by the boot-straps. The trouble is, this system seems to work fine for those who have a support network to catch them in hard times. For others, like Dexter, it sets them up for failure. Now, it's worth mentioning that his situation is terrible, even by the standards of most rodents. But in a 'boot-strap' culture, with no support network, where does he turn? What does he do? When extreme need forces him to turn to stealing, he violates society's most noble ideal, which is doing for yourself. As a result, he is forced even deeper into isolation, now not only hopelessly impoverished, but wanted by the police so that he may be brought to justice. A justice the would imprison him for the crime of wanting to live. His books are just what he finds when scavenging but they are his only escape. So he reads every book he finds, no matter what it is.


I am thrilled with Deets work here. The character in the background was her idea and I love it (not sure the species either - it's no one's character in particular). Basically I described the scene as best I could literarily and gave her quite a bit of latitude to let her imagination of what I wrote come through. And I am not disappointed! The books being written by Hans Christian Anderson was also her idea as we couldn't quite figure out what exactly he was reading so some common classics seemed likely enough. Lord knows too many classics get thrown out by people after their kids are grown and leave school. Eventually Dexter does get out of his miserable state, but that's a scene for another commission. :)