Seemed only fitting the first fur I ever drew be first to be posted in my FA Gallery.

I imagine a lot of people have stories behind just how they got into furries, some they may or may not forget. I imagine to a lot of people, drawing animals with human-like appearances and body structure just seemed to come natural and at the same time was very enjoyable. For me it was a film that first aired Christmas of 1993, over ten years ago that inspired me to draw animal like characters. It was yet another adaption of a Charles Dickens classic 'David Copperfield', done with a completely anthropomorphic cast. David himself was turned into a cat, but while he was nicely designed, the guy who really caught my eye was a street-smart dog by the name of mealy potatoes.

As soon as I saw him, I had the instant urge to draw him, and (thankfully) I had recorded the film, so I always had reference of him at hand. I drew several sketches, which all looked TERRIBLE, and I quickly gave up trying to draw anything. It wasn't really until a few months later, in the summer of '94 that I started to draw more frequently and start creating my own characters. I didn't really get back to trying to draw mealy until about two years later, and during that time I accumulated over 20 sketches I did of him. I happened to stumble upon these sketches I saved, and decided to 'update' him to share with all of you. Mainly because I imagine a lot of you have never seen this film or even heard of it.

And in the tradition of Disney's 'Robin Hood' David Copperfield had an all furry cast which was beautifully animated, with a well written score and lyrics. Probably the best thing about this film to me is David himself is voiced and sung by Julian Lennon. While my good pal mealy was voiced by Howie Mandel (though you'd never be able to tell it was him.)The films only weak point was probably the story, it was changed drastically to give it more of a 'Christmas' theme. And while Mr. Murdstone was probably the most handsome character, a scraggly looking bearded cat, his obsession with cheese was extremely irritating at times.