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Webcomic Spotlight: Skin Deep and the hidden world of Kory Bing’s beloved monsters
“All over folklore and mythology you find dragons, sea serpents and ghosts. Nessie, Mermaids, bigfoot, The chupacabra. Did you think people just made those up for fun?”
Shy college freshman Michelle Jocasta is away from home and out on her own for the first time. Quickly becoming fast friends with some unusual residents of her dorm, the unfeasibly tall and green haired Jim, the perpetually sullen Greg and bubbly roommate Merial. Settling into a routine of study, deadlines and essays it’s an encounter with a mysterious hooded figure that changes her life in more dramatic ways as she is thrust into a world she never knew existed, one which is hidden between the cracks of our world, or more often in plain sight. One filled with magic and danger, hidden cities, punk rock pegasuses and rockabilly wolves. With medallions and ‘super advanced magic’ the magical citizens of Skin Deep stay hidden amongst humans. Even within this strange world Michelle is still unique, discovering her ‘turning’ has revealed her to be the last of the sphinxes, a race that along with dragons were once believed to be extinct.
Visually wonderful and filled with fascinating characters and backdrops, Bing’s sense of wonder and love of mythology is clear in every panel as she populates her world with creatures and drawn from every corner of fantasy, and a wide rang of mythologies, revelling in the unique and the obscure. It shows an astounding amount of research and appreciation of the subject as Skin Deep has so far featured a whole bestiaries worth of mythical beasts ranging from well known ones; your dragons, satyrs and centaurs to the more esoteric such as totem animals of the Native American and African myths or harpies from classical greek legends. Some such as the creepy yet lovable bugbear Alex, whom I was convinced had to be an original creation turns out to be a form of Hobgoblin from English myths, only slightly tweaked and expanded upon here. The rules of of her setting, with the medallions the characters wear allow characters to use midforms, a form anywhere between their real and illusionary forms which gives some truly imaginative and unique designs with a combination of features. Many often appear in human-ish forms like Jym, gangly green haired with a gryphons beak and paws.
One of the many joys of independent webcomics is witnessing an artist’s skills develop over time. Bing has been nothing more than exceptional over the comics nine year run. While the design of Skin Deep has always been strong as a new artist it’s first arc started out with charming but rough inks. The art style quickly became more refined and polished as she hit her third arc and found her own unique style with more defined lines and gorgeous intricate backgrounds. I liked Skin Deep from the very first page, but it was Exchanges where I fell in love with it. Set over a matter of a few days and over two years for Bing to complete, Exchanges is a stunning achievement in terms of both art and storytelling. Breathtaking in it’s scope and vibrancy of the characters. As well as the more confident art, with her fluid cartoony style Bing really hits her stride in terms of storytelling and narrative, finding her own voice which giving each of her characters a distinct one of their own with the funny and witty dialogue.
Set in Liverpool, an anxious Blanche ‘comes out’ to his long friend Tony, revealing that he is in fact, not gay, but a white stag and after the initial shock introduces him to his home, the Liverpool Avalaon. Concealed within a crumbling Liverpool warehouse, a whole city and it’s inhabitants live away from the human world. Through the first part of the arc, like Tony, the reader is treated to a tour of the Avalon as the perspective drifts between groups of characters following them for a while until it lights upon something more interesting and picks up with that thread, weaving together many ongoing narratives happening in the same places and giving the places a sense of complexity and liveliness. The device of moving around the Avalon with characters crossing paths feels almost filmic and feels like a natural and flowing way to introduce the reader to such a huge number of characters in a matter of pages.
The arc ultimately culminates in heartbreak, with recently stirred up feelings of rejection as jym prepares to leave for America leaving his long time friend and ex-boyfriend Lorne behind in the Avalon. Lornes internal conflict is played out against the spectacular backdrop of a showy ‘fight scene’ between two of the Avalon’s colourful residents. Forbidden from fighting , they engage in a rythmic, no contact ballet. As a heartbroken Lorne looks across the combatants to a unfazed Jim before walking away. One page shows the fighters in a simplified, almost chibi form before the action explodes back in a flurry of detail and colour. The sense of pacing and pathos is masterful.
With two main casts and such a complicated lore heavy story Skin Deep could easily become claustrophobic and unwieldy but in her expert hands she uses this all as an advantage giving the world a wonderful fleshed out, lived in feel. The two main casts are only just meeting now as certain storylines begin to converge. It’s all the more satisfying for the time spent with these characters. After all the meticulous development, they feel like old friends and the groups finally meeting is a delight. The relationships between the characters are wonderful as Bing crafts a narrative in parts about friendship, family and acceptance. About being comfortable with yourself and finding your place in the world. With a gigantic cast Skin Deep explores this from several different angles with the recently turned and reluctant Michelle wanting at first to return to normality, those who grew up within the Avalons and even those like Sam who appear ‘normal’ but crave the weird and wonderful life of those around him.
Skin Deep also has some deep and meticulous world building behind it, with a few hundred extra pages of material and lore, with it’s own wiki including a bestiary with details of the myriad of creatures included. Every detail has been thought out yet seems spontaneous and fresh. A particularly memorable example is the Liverpool Avalon’s resident medical practitioner, a peculiar mix of vet and doctor. Glimpsed only in extra material Bing has produced for her eager and inquisitive fans. Even with only two drawings his character is well defined, scared and world weary you instantly get a sense of the responsibility he carries, caring for the Avalon’s magical residents, very few of them alike. The humorous aside of him debating the merits of live gryphon birth vs egg birth, decked out in thick protective gloves all the while, gives us a glimpse into his character and the daily obstacles he faces. Having never appeared in the comics, it’s just another example of the level of detail and depth Bing strives for and lavishes upon her already layered and fascinating world. It’s a comic that rewards it readers and encourages engagement with the creator. With so much backstory and lore to delve into Skin Deep isn’t a quick read but is never less than engrossing, presenting a rich world you’ll find yourself wishing you could escape too.
Between Skin Deep, cosplay construction, contributions to anthologies and the inking of the excellent Eth’s Skin, Kory found time via email to talk about creatures, world building and her comic.
Jason Karlson: So, Why did you start writing/drawing Skin Deep?
Kory Bing: I had been working with the Skin Deep world and characters for years before I actually started drawing and posting it. It was something I started playing with during High School and by the time I finally started drawing it, it had become something I couldn’t NOT draw. Does that make sense?
JK: The architecture in your comics seems very solid, real and drawn with beautiful intricacy, Are the buildings and locations based on real life locations, imagination or combination of both?
Gosh, thank you! A lot of the buildings are based on real places. The Springfield Avalon is inside a theater-turned-radio station in Springfield, Missouri, and the Liverpool Avalon is inside a real abandoned warehouse in Liverpool. I don’t like stating its name directly, I think it is fun if people have to sleuth that out themselves. Michelle’s mother’s house is a house from my hometown that I’ve always liked, and the inside of that house is the inside of my Grandmother’s house. World building is something I really love, and the comic came directly out of years of building this world and wanting to share it.
Most of the places are either based on real locations or take details from real buildings. Most of the Liverpool Avalon’s buildings have elements from real buildings, mostly because I find it is easier to make convincing looking buildings if I use reference. There’s a lot of fun little details that are easy to overlook if you’re drawing by memory! I get to draw all my favorite parts of places. I love architecture, but I’ve never considered myself very good at drawing buildings, so Skin Deep is kind of my chance to get better at that. Since moving to Portland, Oregon, I’ve thought up of places that could be good Avalons, but whether they’ll show up in the comic or not I haven’t quite decided yet!
JK: A lot of the American casts locations seem to be rural (cabin etc) while the “English” Cast is in a more urban environment? is there any significance to this or simply to set the two apart?
I intentionally set Michelle’s part of the story in rural Missouri because that is where I grew up and I could never find stories set in such a place. I thought it would be a lot of fun to show off my neck of the woods. The purpose of the Liverpool cast was to give a different perspective from Michelle’s, so instead of a rural environment full of people who don’t know what they’re doing, it’s an urban environment full of people who live in the mythical community to the point where they find it blasé.
JK: While I love the first arc, the second, “Exchanges” is simply stunning in terms of artwork. There is a huge change in the artwork between the first two arcs, Does this just come from the plain fact of drawing so much to update the comic once a week?
KB: Completely. Nothing forces you to improve quite like needing to have a comic page done every week. Most of Orientations was done on twice-a-week updates and I was experimenting a lot to figure out how to make comics, which I’m sure is the reason for the dramatic art shift. It wasn’t intentional!
JK: A great deal of characters and creatures were also created by Sfe, how did this collaboration come about and how important is it to the comic?
KB: It’s incredibly important. I doubt Skin Deep would even be a thing if it weren’t for Sfé’s help and contributions. Back when I was still toying with the idea, he would ask me a lot of world building questions that would help me think about different aspects of the world I hadn’t thought of before, and talking about how various characters would react and interact really helped me flesh out the world. Over the years he created characters to live in the world and I loved them enough that they became pretty interconnected with the story I was creating.
JK: Are there any other creatures from mythology that you would love to use in Skin Deep, but don’t think you would be able too? If so, how come?
KB: Jeeze. Basically any creature that hasn’t already been in the comic. There are SO many good creatures out there to pull inspiration from, I can’t even start naming them
JK: Reading the comic a few elements reminded me of parts of X-men comics, with characters representing gay/trans issues and narratives (having multiple forms etc) is this an aim or am I inferring to much into it?
KB: The main “moral” of Skin Deep, I suppose, is that the idea of what is ‘normal’ is completely subjective, and to embrace that and try to understand that rather than being afraid of it. The allegory to those issues are intentional, although it’s also important for stories to actually include those issues and narratives without turning to allegory. I don’t want to imply that minorities are “mythical creatures” while the majority is “normal humans” and that sort of storytelling can be very problematic. In that regard, Skin Deep hasn’t done a great job of being diverse, and it’s something that I would like to improve on.
JK: Jim for instance is presented as being bi-sexual, do you think the magical characters having many and often fluctuating forms themselves would make them more open minded towards sexuality?
KB: The mythical community in Skin Deep likes to believe that being close-minded about sexuality is a strictly human problem and they have much more to worry about, but there are issues sometimes, especially with individuals who were raised outside of the mythical community.
JK: Which musicians do you yourself suspect of being a bugbear? What’s your evidence!
KB: Tom Waits. The Residents. Thom Yorke. Man Man. Primus. My evidence is “I want them to be and it’s my world so I can make it so!”
JK: There doesn’t seem to be any black and white easy answers in Skin Deep, and it’s fully fleshed out. For instance Michelle and Sam, one character wanting to “go back to normal” and run away from this world and the other desperate to join it…Did you set out to show the wildly differing views and reactions to this secret world rather than just one side?
KB: I don’t want there to be any easy black and white answers in Skin Deep because there aren’t any easy black and white answers in the real world. Perspective is an important element of Skin Deep, and I want to show that individuals are varied, and personal experience differs wildly from one person to another. What one person wants won’t be what another person wants, and to be able to empathize with people who want different things than you want is an important part of living in the world.
Kory Bing updates Skin Deep at http://www.skindeepcomic.com/, while her personal blog featuring Skin Deep sketches and inspiration can be found at http://skindeepcomic.tumblr.com/.
One reason I like the Windows 10 Mail app: You can change the background to something awesome. (artist unknown)
It is my cake day today! A thank you to everyone.
Hi, it is September 25th, and my cake day has hit.
I would like to thank everyone here on /r/furry for making my time here on Reddit so awesome! I have spent 99% of my time on Reddit, here on this sub with you awesome people.
This community is almost like one big happy family, with people joining every minute. We've had rough times, with certain dramas occuring, but all families have hardships, right?
I would like to thank /u/infamous0823, /u/shastrocks and everyone else who were pretty much the first bunch of people I met on here.
If you dont know me, well my name is Neon aka Snow or my real name Karim. I am 14 years of age and I live near London. I have been a furry since age 8, and I doubt I will leave the fandom any time soon. I also published an app for this subreddit on Android named FurFeed, which has recently hit an estimated 4,000 installs.
This, for me is a massive milestone and I hope to keep improving it and work on some new projects in the future.
Other projects I worked on or helped with include the /r/furry eSports tournament, /r/PawCraft, FALLEN, and the Furry Game Jam.
So yeah congrats on hitting 20K /r/furry and I hope you dont mind me being here for the foreseeable future. :3
submitted by neonthewolf[link] [6 comments]
So... my life kinda sucks sometimes...
But thanks to you crazy fuzzballs, I'm starting to get over my fears(people, especially...). Before I officially joined this community, I was super shy and felt kinda useless. But I post stuff on here and get so many positive responses, I'm starting to think not everyone hates me. I'm starting to be more confident, and I think it's cause all you loving fluffbutts. Thanks everybody! I love all you fuzzy, feathery, scaley, gooey... rubbery... and whatever else... I love all you guys!
submitted by SittingInYourBushes[link] [23 comments]
![[latex] Splash! ;by PMoss](http://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/A46lLInLuAEbuhr2Dq5gkujZdofhldDfyIe4FdG1y4o.jpg "[latex] Splash! ;by PMoss")
She's Concerned Her Peers Will Mock Her If She Wears Her Tail in Public
I had seen your articles and read a few I enjoyed, so I thought you might be able to help me with something that's been bothering me for a while.
I enjoy art very much and love being in the furry community. I especially love contributing my art and praising other artists and fursuit makers.
Recently, I have finally been able to come out of the furry closet and recognize myself as a furry. My entire high school life, I denied being a furry and refused to let myself enjoy that creative part of me that I kept locked away. Reasons I did it were because of judgmental friends who hated furries and thought they were gross. Naturally, as any young teenager in their first years of high school would do, I had tried to fit in.
When my senior year rolled around, I couldn't keep denying it and tried to pass it off as enjoying furry art. My friends didn't take too well to that at all. I began to hide it even more till I met some amazing friends online who were in the furry community. They had always been there for me and supported me when my friends wouldn't.
I had been diagnosed earlier in the year with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression, to top it all off my mother's own mental health began to unravel and did not help. I had about three or four panic attacks around my friends and had been treated differently ever since. I was also taken to a mental hospital for therapy and to get medication. Nasty rumors had been spread and there were plenty of jokes about it. I felt that I had to bottle up those parts of me also, which I did and ended up in the hospital twice. But my furry friends online had helped me an awful lot with talking to me and just trying to find ways of making me happy.
While I had easily found help with proper medication and finding healthy outlets, my mother was not as lucky and passed away from prescription drug overdose.
When my mom's funeral came around, none of my friends showed up but two of them. I had really begun to learn where I stood In their lives and decided to rid myself of them.
My friends online in the furry community were extremely nice to me and helped me so much with support I needed after mom had passed.
I am happy with myself now and I think I have done very well with myself since mom died.
I'm not in college yet, I am taking a break to allow myself to process and breath. I have also had time to explore myself and fully accept that I'm a furry. I am also very proud of myself for accepting myself as a furry. I would love to indulge further and enjoy it a step further.
I have decided to do that by purchasing a tail. I am excited to wear it, but recently, I have been having cold feet about it. I would like to try to wear it in public from time to time, but my anxiety gets the best of me and I immediately just want to throw it away. I have analyzed why I feel such strong anxiety towards it, and I have come to the conclusion that I am afraid of my high school comrades seeing me and I'm afraid of the opinions of others. I looked up forums and other things to see how other people felt, but I feel alone, as what I have read, no one really feels any anxiety towards it and they happily embrace the funny looks when they wear their tails.
I wanted to ask, if you could help me determine if maybe it is too early for me to attempt wearing a tail, or maybe give some advice on how to enjoy wearing it without getting high anxiety or put a little control over my anxiety.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my letter and respond.
Gadget (age 18)
* * *
Dear Gadget,
I am very sorry to hear of your mom’s passing, and also very proud of you for how you are working through it and your life. Despite your anxiety and fears, I see you as a very strong person, indeed.
In the book I am writing about the fandom, I will be quoting some research that has been done about furries that says a huge reason people glomp onto the fandom is because of the emotional support they receive. You’ve experienced this firsthand how your so-called peers in school largely abandoned you while your furry friends gave you support and encouragement.
I’m glad you’re recognizing that these so-called friends are not really friends at all. Anyone who mocks you, anyone who treats you badly because you are suffering from a disability of any kind (and that includes GADD) is not a friend at all.
The question becomes, therefore, why do you give a you-know-what if these non-friends of yours don’t like your wearing a tail in public? If we were all 100% self-confident, of course, this wouldn’t bother us at all because we would consider the source of the mocking and have no respect for it; therefore, it would not trouble us.
But most of us, including me, are not 100% confident; we have at least a part of us that, even in the smallest way, feels bad when we are made fun of.
You write that, in the forums, all these other furries are completely fine with wearing their fursuits or partials in public and do not feel distressed at all. That might be true for a few of them, but, believe me, a lot of them feel the same way you do and feel a bit embarrassed and lack confidence to wear such things in public (especially if it's not a furmeet or furcon). Interestingly, I believe that it is actually more difficult to wear a partial in public than a full fursuit. Yours truly has no problem donning my bearsuit and doing fun things in public because my identity is completely concealed. This is the power of masks and costumes. But wearing just a tail or ears takes cajones because people can see that it is you!
I don’t think it’s too early for you to do some fursuiting, but I think you should ease into it. There are a lot of places where you can have fun wearing your tail: everything from special holidays (Halloween) to fairs (the Renaissance Faire is a good one). You can, of course, don the tail at furmeets and furcons. You could wear it at costume parties or if you have some fun festivals in Texas. Mardis Gras and carnivals are great places, too. You could volunteer at a pet adoption charity and wear it, or perhaps at wildlife conservation or environmental rallies, or at spiritualist ceremonies (if you’re into shamanism or Wicca, for instance). Be creative.
So, wear the tail at such events as outlines above for a year or two or three before doing it for all occasions. Ease into it. The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll feel.
Hope that helps!
Bear hugs,
Papabear
Fred Patten Presents: What the Well-Read Furry Should Read.
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