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Would anyone care for a 1/2 off ref sheet? Only 1 Available!
I am selling a naughty ref sheet for 1/2 off :3 http://i.imgur.com/gxeG94a.png
WAS
Light Detail = $35
High Detail = $55
NOW PRICE
Light detail = $17
High Detail = $27
submitted by Darachi[link] [comment]
Dating and Relationships Inside the Fandom
I\’m a very big proponent of the idea that, for the most part, furry is simply a small slice of society at large. We have our skews, of course – the gender skew (towards men), the age skew (towards the 15-25 year old age range), as well as some other, minor skews such as general technical aptitude, or even species selection toward canids – but for the most part, we do not think or act so differently from the \”rest of the world\” that we cannot interface with it. Our chosen home and family may be more comfortable for us, but we do not exist separate from everyone else.
It\’s not surprising in the least, then, that dating and relationships do form a part of our membership with this subculture. We think about it, we write about it, we join websites, make websites, or write litanies against websites focused on dating, relationships and love. It\’s part of life, and so it is also part of the fandom. Given the subtitle of \”Love and Sex in the Furry Fandom,\” it is also part of our repertoire of subjects to write about, and so I think it\’s high time that we took a moment to explore dating and relationships inside furry.
Much of what got me interested in writing about such things as this is the propensity of furries to center a good portion (if not all) of their social lives within the fandom. This does extend to dating and relationships as well: a casual observation points to the fact that many (though hardly all) furries seek out romantic relationships within furry itself as part of an aim to build a life within the social group that means so much to them.
This isn\’t surprising, nor even new. It is far from uncommon for individuals to build up lives within the smaller communities of which they\’re a part. Americans, after all, don\’t simply have all of the American population available to them as a dating pool: they\’re restricted by geography, of course, but they also tend to restrict themselves further by interest. Sports fans, hanging out with sports fans, are more likely to date other sports fans, and the same goes for gamers, hiking aficionados, dog lovers, et cetera, ad infinitum. That is what helps to build up strength within a subculture: members do not simply enjoy things on their own without communication, but share that enjoyment with others, and grow closer in the process.
In this sense, our membership acts as a sort of attractor in a complex or chaotic system. If we look to furry to form our strongest relationships, and forming strong relationships helps to strengthen furry, then it\’s likely that furry will be a more likely place to look for those seeking to form relationships. As with all complex situations, this is not all that\’s going on behind the scenes, but still a large part of it: a shared interest gives us something in common, and so we form bonds around that shared interest. The sense of community plays a large enough part, however, that we would be doing it a disservice not to recognize it.
So what do we gain from dating within the fandom? Of course, one of the more obvious benefits is a ready-made dating pool. That is, there are a large amount of visible potential partners out there. The visible aspect is particularly notable, and I think that this ties in with our heavy reliance on electronic communication. In person, a sports fan, gamer, hiking aficionado, or dog lover is not necessarily visible as such – it\’s not tattooed on the front of their face nor written across their back (well, okay, appearal aside). Online, however, one need only compare the names and icons on a furry Twitter feed versus one dedicated to, say, tech. The preponderance of animal face icons or species in names is readily visible. We do have our outward signs of membership, and we can often see immediately when we are talking with a member of our subculture.
This is additionally relevant when it comes to learning more about each other. The ability to research our friends and potential partners is an activity that might come off as stalkerish if not for the quick and relatively simple ability to find out more about someone one is interested in via their FurAffinity/Weasyl/InkBunny profile, including even the type of art (or sex, for that matter) that they favorite or content producers that they follow on such sites. This is not to excuse actual stalking, of course, which is still a potential hazard within our subculture, but more on that in a few. The take-away here is that we live our lives publicly by virtue of participating so heavily via the Internet.
Additionally, there is added security in dating within the fandom, as no one necessarily has \”that weird partner\” that folks talk around rather than about. You know the one. The one that\’s, for instance, super into animal people on the Internet. We gain security by starting and maintaining relationships that conform to the expectations and visions of our friends and social groups. That is, a relationship within the fandom is not considered non-conformist, and so we gain all the benefits of social conformity – at least, within the fandom – that go along with a socially conforming relationship outside the fandom.
Of course, the most obvious benefit is that of a shared interest. Interests can do a lot to tie a relationship together, and that goes beyond simply agreeing that you like the same thing. Interests give you something to agree and disagree about passionately, give you a framework for your in-jokes, and give you a means of socializing as a couple outside the context of your own relationship, but still within a pertinent context of that interest. We would all be bored if we shared interests in precisely the same way, for example, but we also would not be compatible if we never shared any interests. Something along the lines of membership to a subculture helps provide the perfect balance of the two.
The means by which we select our partners is hardly some universally positive act, however, and there are a few things in particular that myself and others have mentioned as being worthy of keeping an eye out, particularly in online relationships. The anonymity of the internet does help us in some respects, but it can encourage unwanted attention in the form of stalking and additional privacy concerns. There is, of course a fine line to walk with how much information we provide and how much we hold back, and what we do provide can come back to bite us in the end in the form of unwanted attention.
Beyond unwanted attention, however, is the distance factor, which is a valid concern for many if us, again in the case of online relationships. The reason for the number of these relationships in particular, though, might have something to do with our selection criteria mentioned above. While our potential partner pool is limited by our interests, it\’s also further limited by location: if we choose to get into a relationship with another furry, then our local dating pool might be very limited indeed. An informal poll at time of writing showed about half of the participants in long-distance relationships, with the notable explanation that it\’s less of an issue with \”planes + internet + some planning\”. An online relationship might, at that point, seem much more feasible given that that sort of thing vastly expands the pool of potential partners for one.
Another way by in which our limited relationship pool shows is that the aforementioned skews that are evident in the fandom at large show themselves particularly in relationships. The most notable example, obviously, is gender. When I present the data panel at conventions, I often bring this up: we, as a subculture, represent a pretty even distribution of the spectrum from completely heterosexual to homosexual, but given the skew in gender and biological sex, many more individuals wind up in homosexual relationships. With a dating pool consisting of around 80% male furries, it\’s not really any surprise that relationships are also skewed toward those involving two male participants, even when those participants don\’t identify as completely homosexual. This obviously furthers the visibility of homosexuality within the fandom, to the point where that appears to be more of a skew than it might actually be. Other skews, such as age and species show up as well, of course, though sex, gender, and orientation are the most readily visible ones.
None of these are evidence of a furry-only style of dating, though taken as a whole, they do say something about our fandom. We date within our subculture, using it as a sort of attractor as many do, and we date online – no small amount of effort is spent on dating online, given the proliferation of social sites, social networks, chat rooms, MUCKs, and so on with a focus on sex and relationships – and the skews evident in our subculture show themselves in our relationships. However, that makes it no less interesting: this is who we are, this is how we interact, and this is how we love each other and relate to each other. If furry is a slice of society at large, that\’s all well and good, but we are also made up of our individual participants, and, in the end, it is between us where these relationships are formed.
My sister wanted me to draw this for her (sorry for ponies i know you all hate them D,:) EVERYTHING MUST GLOW! she says.
Furry Frets That Nobody Draws Gift Art for Him
Any Other Studio Killers Fans On /r/furry?
Saw this on /r/pics, thought it'd be relevant here.
It's a Daily Mail story, so take it with a grain of salt - but it's a (supposedly) real life story of cross-species romance. Figured those who didn't scroll down the comments to find the story in /r/pics might want to read it here, given the theme. Self post, because repost.
submitted by IkomaTanomori[link] [9 comments]
CODA4 - Scales - **This is Episode 43 of the entire Fuzzy Notes catalogue! CRAZY!** 'Coda' is a the super-smart...
Furry Frets That Nobody Draws Gift Art for Him
I started drawing after AC, but life got busy for me all summer and have finally started doing trades with people, though I am unsure if I am being too impatient with wanting to do art trades, as it took a few hours to get a few response, or if people still en masse are ignoring me.
A part of me wants to do trades because not everyone has time to do commissions nor get art for free (I know because in the 7 years in the fandom no one has ever drawn me gift art besides my birthday, which makes me jealous because it seems everyone gets gift art except me no matter how nice or helpful I am to people), but it also seems no one wants to give me a chance, either. The fandom is the only social outlet I have and I feel I don't have anything. Local furs are busy and won't return texts; online furs just seem to ignore me. I want to write a vent journal on FA but I know I'll regret it or end up removing the journal or something.
Hypr
* * *
Greetings, Hypr,
I think your name is apt in this case. Thinking that “it took a few hours to get a few responses” is a long time is a bit spastic, is it not? Good for you for restraining yourself from writing a “vent” on FurAffinity. You’re right that that would cause people to see you more negatively and would do nothing to help you. So, yeah, don’t do it.
You are getting overly concerned about getting comments and feedback and such from furries. It’s not just furries who do this sort of thing—ignoring people, not replying etc. Unfortunately, it’s become a very modern thing to ignore people, both in social contexts and in business.
The thing you have to remember, though, is whose feedback are you really concerned about? Are you just talking about not getting feedback from mere acquaintances, random people online? Or are these people you consider to be your friends?
The point here is to focus on what really matters: making friends, real friends is much more important that worrying about whether or not people will draw a picture of your fursona. I mean, really, who cares if some random artist you don’t even know doesn’t draw your picture, even on a trade?
Draw your art because you enjoy drawing, not because you want to do trades or want some kind of validation for your work or, indeed, for your very existence. And don’t be nice to people because you want something in exchange. Be nice to people because you are a nice person and care about other people. Art should be created for art’s sake.
In short, don’t seek out others’ opinions and feedback for validation and a sense of self-worth. That can only be truly found from within. If you love drawing, then draw. Don’t worry about other people’s opinions. Some of the greatest artists never got much validation until after their deaths. And if you want to make friends, do so in the real world. Cyberland is a place where there is too much insincerity, fraudulence, trolls, and shallowness to navigate in most cases. If you want friends, real friends, meet them in the real world. Use the Internet to stay in touch, sure, but having a real life means going out into the real world.
Hugs,
Papabear
Any leads on custom shirts and pants/shorts?
I am looking for someone to create a long sleeve and short sleeve shirt that is printed with my fursonas fur color/pattern. In a sense, it will be like a suit as far as the custom design goes, but just a simple shirt. I was also looking for someone that would make the same thing for pants/shorts.
If anyone has any leads, please let me know. It is greatly appreciated!
submitted by TophLion[link] [5 comments]
Thought I'd share one of my favorite artists. Art is "Warm Snuggins" by Keihound on FA. Link is imgur for convenience, artist info is in the comments.
FINALLY did a ref. sheet. Seems okay, right?
![[link]](https://24.media.tumblr.com/9e5860b0665b5096608c3d514ab4b1fb/tumblr_mu7n0opg1e1rk1kbco1_500.jpg){kind=link}
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Wanted to Share my Rainfurrest pics since most are of Fursuits I don't know. Enjoy!
A Beastly Tarot Deck
Victoria Gannon is a self-taught artist who creates works under the name of Leptailurus. For a long time she has toyed with the idea of creating her very own Tarot deck, and now she has begun work on that very project. Savage Divination is its name, and it’s “a full 78-card tarot deck inspired by myth, lore, and legend focusing on the profound spiritual connection between man and beast”. For a little more than one week from now, Leptailurus is running a Kickstarter campaign to finance the creation of the final product, including the rendering of the art and the printing of the cards — with lots of perks for contributors, including original sketches and prints of the various cards themselves. There’s a video at the Kickstarter page explaining it all, and showing many more examples in completed and work-in-progress form.
image c. 2013 Leptailurus