Here goes, I'll give this a try, feel free to hide it if it's not quite what you're looking for.

Looking at the photo, because of the selection of colors that are.. I guess skewed slightly from the normal standard for child-friendly cartoon style drawings, it, to me, puts the image slightly on a skew, not wholly unlike that scene from Dumbo where he was drunk and the colors distorted and combined muddy tones with vivid ones. I feel like I'm watching this character, perhaps following him as he heads towards the small entrance, with much hesitation and possibly some worry. The usage of attributes to make the building seem almost alive (windows as eyes, bricks over the archway as teeth) combined with the creeping hands reaching for him make me feel like his worries aren't unfounded, and that perhaps some ill fate will befall the character, should he continue forward. The inclusion of the marks on the back of the white hand make my mind turn towards Mickey Mouse, and therefore Disney. . and I get a second thought in my head, that perhaps this character is one that seeks to join the 'ranks' of famous characters like Mickey and other classics, but does not realize that in doing so, in some ways it will destroy part of who he is (via commercialism and Disney's horrible practices).

I feel the art is plenty furrylike for folks to relate to, but I also feel. and I'm not sure if it's large number of colors used, or the varying tones, or what, as I have no fine art background, but there is decidedly something about the image that generally makes me uneasy.

The piece gives me a feeling of anxiety or fear. The colors are well balanced in-between vivid and almost faded which gives a very old haunted carnival theme to it. Lots of tension here.

The more neon colors add to the twisted perception the character might have which works well with the piece. If I could suggest anything, maybe a but darker shading in certain areas?

As for being "furry", it kind of leans on the vore side of the fur world, easily seen from the mouth in the background. The character itself seems very fluid and elastic, but I am unsure of what creature it is exactly without reading the description. My first guess was, a mouse or rat? (no offense). If it were to be more furry, I would suggest either added detail such as scraggly fur and maybe some stripes or spots, not leaving the character as one solid color. Maybe slap an underbelly color on the character or something.

I hope this helps :) I'll spread the word

I did name it vore.sai lol

This makes me feel anxious and uncomfortable. They say art should make the viewer feel something, so you have that down. I think the color palate adds to that effect. Particularly, the neon yellow hand in the foreground draws my attention against the more muted colors behind it, and it feels very ominous.

As for making the character more "furry", I would suggest a more distinct nose pad, perhaps a different color from the main body, and also more paw-like feet. This would draw the design closer to most quadrupedal mammals, which are the usual focus of furry art.

there was a long history of illustration that just used orange and blue or any other two color printing to save money. i had a hard time finding any examples of it even though there is a ton of this stuff out there. what they do well is use obscenely bright colors in a way that is easy to read.
http://www.onlinesports.com/media/c.....1920poster.jpg

the biggest issue i have is the painting lacks a single focal point. right now you have multiple focal points competing. the main one is that yellow hand. from the yellow hand your eye is drawn to the eye in the upper left. you can link other parts of interest to your main focal point by carrying those colors through in other spots in your painting. your brain will also make connections between similar values saturations and temperatures.

in the yellow you are doing this well but in the orange color it is making your painting more confusing visually. the orange figure is drawn the same way as the patches of orange around them. your brain wanting to make connections will attempt to view the color fields as if they are solid objects independent of their surroundings. even in a non representational painting space is going to be created by color temperature. linked colors of the same or very close hue value and saturation make objects appear as if they are in the same space. its perfectly fine to do things to simultaneously create and destroy space, just be sure to do it with intent.

i love the eye rape of complementary colors to really make colors pop. another similar tool that works well to make colors pop is to place a chromatic grey next to the color.


i have struggled for a couple years with furry art and its relation to traditional art. as far as i can tell only furries with a fine art background are interested in furry "Art". high brow low brow stuff seems to be accepted by furries if they get it from somewhere else but it seems to have a limited reception on here. i believe  thomasblue has a few journals about furries and fine art. i think there is the potential for a ton of cross over. anthropomorphics are a huge part of our culture and have always been. the only thing that seems to distinguish furry art is the baggage it seems to come with. as a sub culture furries today seem about like the anime culture of 15 years ago. i dont think it will be gaining popular acceptance as quickly as anime has but its bound to happen. culture makers determine the values of our society and for better or worse there are a ton of furries out there who are culture makers.

do you ever chat on skype or aim or something? I want to explain this project to someone who might understand where I'm going with it. :00

i am not much of a conversationalist but i will pm you my aim if you would like to chat

How did I miss so many of your posts?! I love the way the figure melds into the environment the way it does. (...like Thomas Hart Benton but without the atmosphere between the subject and viewer.) If the color relationships were more consistent it would work better I think. Some colors remind me of what you get mixing kid's modeling clays and the way the figure is formed is a bit like the way plasticine handles. It would be interesting to see that pushed.

...sorry I'm not being very detailed but when time allows I'll look at your gallery again and write some more.

i'd like to offer you something of what you asked for, but i expect that nothing i might say will be very helpful.

what does the image make you think of/feel like?

it is reminiscent of anxiety dreams and trips, when even my own feet betray me and propel me on toward terror. it suggests the dread inevitability of those times.
i'm sorry for such an academic answer, but it seems to be pretty straightforward that regard.

do you have any ideas about making color harmonies work better?
Ideas for making contrast without so much... visual competition?

no, i don't understand how colour or contrast work, at least in any other than an intuitive fashion.

competition doesn't strike me as an issue. i don't mind not being able to make immediate sense of what i'm seeing. except that if that yellow area on the left is supposed to be another hand, and i would assume it's the counterpart of the white gloved hand, why isn't it white too? but it doesn't spoil it for me, certainly.

How do you feel about subject matter/using characters and "furry" elements in this kind of image?

it fits the image's trippiness. anthropomorphic animals are aprehended first and foremost by minds that have gone beyond rationality, so it makes sense to include such a subject in such a psychedelicly suggestive image.

Do you think this is "furry" art? Do you think this is relatable to furry aesthetic or not really?

yes and yes. though i consider it art primarily and furry incidentally. though i guess that conflicts with what i answered just a moment ago...perhaps considering the terms independently is obstructive.

How can I make it "more furry"? (I really mean this. I don't mean how do I make it boring, I mean how can I make it LEGIBLE AS FURRY ART, but still have my perspective in there)

does the expression of your perspective necessitate what would be read as "furry"? if yes: won't it flow that way of its own accord because that's what it is? and if no: isn't it a hindrance to insist that it be read by a preconceived standard?

I also want to throw in, what in your perception is incompatible with furry art?
a completely serious attitude toward existence.
What makes a furry picture furry and not "fantasy art" or "pop surrealism" or "contemporary high design" lol... or can those overlap a lot?
well, it might be the primacy of human/animal hybridization with us. with those other genres such crossings occur but with furry art it is always the focus, necessarily.

hm well that's all i've got at the moment, being barely awake with a busy day starting in a few hours. i hope that stuff wasn't too annoying to read.