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What is a "Furry Artist"?

What is a furry artist? Is it someone who draws animal headed people? Is it someone who draws people's personal characters? Is it someone who sells animal art at a convention?

Do you or others consider you a "furry" artist? How do you feel about it?

It's hard to say... I don't really know myself. I consider myself an "anthro artist," as the term "furry" just seems rather, erm, unprofessional? Not the exact word I was looking for, but it works. Plus, referring to anthro art as "furry" art connects it directly to the whole "furry" mentality, and I don't want to do that as I'm not a furry (nothing against furries, or anything, I just don't consider myself one). I think it's a rather hard term to find an exact definition for.

"Anthro" is easier on the ears, especially the connotation the term "furry" has for people. I agree with you on that one.

It's just that some people don't see a difference. Furries are anthros, yet many people call folks who draw cartoon wolves that talk furry artists.

I strongly prefer "anthro," too. I don't consider myself a "furry," either, as it's not in my lifestyle at all beyond art and liking animals in general-- I just like cartoon animals, and frankly, "furry" is an umbrella term that covers that in addition to a plethora of things I don't want to be associated with personally, nevertheless professionally.

I just call myself an artist. I like animals and its reflected in my work.

I don't really like to call myself any type of artist (furry, wildlife, cartoonist) because its so limiting. If you say you're an illustrator people are a bit more lenient I've found in terms to your subject matter :)

Sorry, couldn't resist.

(Completely joking here, before anyone gets a knicker twist.)

A "furry artist" can be many things, but most interesting to me, is the artist who is themselves very spiritual and contemplative, particularly in a specific way (which would take a novel just to define/describe, so I won't do that here), or is so interested in such persons and their inner worlds as to try and capture it in art. There is a lot of "stuff" surrounding that, which a lot of people make a very passionate hobby of deriding. A strange, eerie, almost mystical inner beauty is often hiding buried, drowning in that "stuff", or simply sits openly amidst it, just waiting for someone to stop pointing and laughing just barely long enough to take a good honest look.

I suppose saying this will tar me for life as some kind of flake, but, well, the "fat ugly smelly oversexed fanboy" answer was already thoroughly covered. I really am sincerely sorry if I'm out of line or offending someone.

disclaimer:at this time my knickers remain in good non-twisty order. The visual joke is noted and I do not intend to be sniping at anyone in a passive-aggressive fashion.

If I'm refering to anthro I simply say as such, I absolutely HATE the term furry because of the images it instantly conjures in people's minds which is not how I want to be associated. Having to explain this to family who found out what furry meant and no I do anthromorphics, not rated, was not fun.

That said, I have to explain what Fantasy and anthromorphics are in the first place which usually starts the, it's not art debate.

I'm in the minority.
I call pretty much animals with human traits furry.
I can understand the bad rep to it so I don't label artists in any serious way. It's more me sitting at the computer browsing for inspiration going 'Yay that's neat furry art'

Heck I don't put the term furry on my website I just say Cats in Coats since people not hip on the net logo won't know what furry is so why bother labeling yourself something that isn't a proper art term?

My friends outside funny animal art land have no idea what ANY of these terms mean, they just are amazed other people draw animals talking.

Labels often feel very limiting, as ‘furry’ artist standards I'm pretty weak all I draw is cats and only have passing interest in drawing other animals with human like traits (such as standing up, wearing cloths)

I just don't use the term Anthro, since anthropos means man-human doesn't it?
I just relate the word Anthro to Anthropology before Anthropomorphize.

But a word is a word it's meanings change and genres change.
I just don't take my art subjects seriously enough to catagorize it, I would pull my hair out trying to find where it fits. :P

=^,,^-

Meezer, yeah, sometimes when people ask me what my majors were, and I tell them one of them was anthropology (which I usually shorten to anthro)...they think I mean the furry, talking kind. So the term definitely is gaining a new meaning. Granted, that has only happened online.

Frai, take it easy gal/man. :D That comment was not directed at you, or anyone in particular. I often go back and clear up the fact that I'm joking, as I find humor is often lost on the net and like to prevent unnecessary mobs. What with the pitchfork waving and torch bearing, it all gets so trying.

Karu Dragon said: If I'm refering to anthro I simply say as such, I absolutely HATE the term furry because of the images it instantly conjures in people's minds which is not how I want to be associated. Having to explain this to family who found out what furry meant and no I do anthromorphics, not rated, was not fun.

That said, I have to explain what Fantasy and anthromorphics are in the first place which usually starts the, it's not art debate.

I agree with KaruDragon because I have shown my friend some of my sketches and his first response was "omg, your drawing furries. Do you have any furry porn sketches?" I wouldn't mind the term at all if people didn't always jump to these kinds of conclusions all the time and got their mind out of the gutter. -shrug-

Wadifahtook said:
Frai, take it easy gal/man. :D That comment was not directed at you, or anyone in particular. I often go back and clear up the fact that I'm joking, as I find humor is often lost on the net and like to prevent unnecessary mobs. What with the pitchfork waving and torch bearing, it all gets so trying.

Hay, no torches or pitchforks here. Right after I hit the post button I thought to myself "Uh oh, that Waidafahtook person's going to think I've got some kind of problem with his/her joke or something!" I immediately then went back and put on a special note to clear it up. I guess I failed. Let's try again:

A-hem! (is this thing on?)
I am not offended. Repeat: I am not offended. I am taking things very easy. I wield neither torch nor pitchfork at this time. My knickers remain in their fully upright position. Do not panic! I repeat: Do not panic!

Sweet. I like my body limbs intact and vice versa. ;)

Meezer said:
I just don't use the term Anthro, since anthropos means man-human doesn't it?
I just relate the word Anthro to Anthropology before Anthropomorphize.

My own perception of "anthropomorphic" is applying human characteristics to other beings and objects. Those can be completely non-visual (animals that can speak human languages), or fully visual (the cliche bipedally walking animal). Anthropomorphic art, therefor, would be the depiction of any non-human being or object with human traits. Theriomorphic art, on the other hand, would be the depiction of human-like creatures with animal traits, such as your cliche anime girl with cat ears and a tail.

I don't think "furry" is a good term for anthropomorphic art. "Furry", I think, most often refers to those individuals who wish they were anthropomorphic creatures, or enjoy role-playing as anthropomorphic creatures. As has been pointed out, most people associate "furry" with sex, but there are a lot of furries out there who are not into the more adult aspects of the community. The label "furry" is something that I believe a person can only place on themself, and is a social label, not an artistic label.

Just because someone enjoys drawing anthropomorphic art, does not mean they are furry. Just because someone considers him or herself furry does not mean they are a furry artist. I do consider myself a furry, but I do not consider myself a furry artist, or even an anthropomorphic artist. I enjoy drawing anthropomorphic art, but it is only one of many subjects I enjoy drawing. Like Thornwolf said, I just consider myself an artist. To label myself with a single style or subject would be painfully limiting.

Total side note, but I find it highly amusing that the subject of Anthropology has come up in this thread. My best friend is in her senior year with a double-major in English and Anthropology, we use the term Anthro as an abbreviation for either meaning, and have never confused ourselves or anyone else (to my knowledge). However, as an artist, I do frequently encounter people who have never heard the term "anthropomorphic". When I show my portfolio to others, they often laugh or chuckle at the anthro pieces, and I find it easiest to just describe them as "fantasy".

I call it furry art.

The negative connotations don't bother me. Anthro sounds snooty.

I gotta point out, just because someone likes roleplaying as a furry character doesn't mean they secretly want to be a furry. Sometimes roleplaying is just roleplaying. Not everyone playing D&D wants to be a 9th level red mage, you know?

I like to go with the broad term and say a furry artist is one who draw anthropomorphic animals, period...and that means the ones walking on two legs, or just animals that talk and think like humans. And I know there are a lot of artists that deny that, but I have a bit of a problem with that. Saying you're not a furry artist because you do not personally wear a fursuit or have sex with stuffed animals is a bit like Bettie Page saying she wasn't a fetish model because she wasn't actually into BDSM outside her job.

I get that "furry" has turned into a negative term to the rest of the world, but part of the problem is that the relatively normal, sane people who enjoy anthro animal characters and artwork have started shunning it. But hey, say I...if Stan Sakai and Peter Laird aren't too good to show up at a furry con, and if you're making good money off furry fans...well. Maybe people need to relax a bit.

Well, I use furry when I talk about my art but I just hate how negative the term has gotten for the rest of the world. This has stopped me using the term too often in public and avoids stupid questions from other people.

Itara said:
I like to go with the broad term and say a furry artist is one who draw anthropomorphic animals, period...and that means the ones walking on two legs, or just animals that talk and think like humans. And I know there are a lot of artists that deny that, but I have a bit of a problem with that. Saying you're not a furry artist because you do not personally wear a fursuit or have sex with stuffed animals is a bit like Bettie Page saying she wasn't a fetish model because she wasn't actually into BDSM outside her job.

I get that "furry" has turned into a negative term to the rest of the world, but part of the problem is that the relatively normal, sane people who enjoy anthro animal characters and artwork have started shunning it. But hey, say I...if Stan Sakai and Peter Laird aren't too good to show up at a furry con, and if you're making good money off furry fans...well. Maybe people need to relax a bit.

I don't think you can really be so general about it. There's a difference between drawing a certain content exclusively and creating to cater to a specific market. As I see it, the people who would best fit the "furry" artist label are the ones who draw ONLY anthropomorphic animals (in the broadest sense), and/or consider themselves to be or have some sort of inner animal along with it. In the cases of Stan Sakai and Peter Laird, they created titles that took off, which just happened to have anthropomorphic animals. They didn't have a sub-culture in mind when they created their titles. (Sakai himself said he wasn't really into anthropomorphic art/comics). The fact that they are popular among furs and general anthro fans was an after effect. If they show up to a furry con, it's not because of their love for the genre; it's just good form and good business sense to show for people that support your work and help to keep your checks coming in.

At this point, I imagine anyone using the term "furry artist" outside of the genre would probably lose a measure of respect, whereas the term "anthro" or "funny animals" don't have such negative connotations, even if they all basically relate to the same thing. Those artists who shun the term only want to separate themselves from the negative connotations that "furry" presents.

Also, I am an illustrator who enjoys drawing animals and the human figure, just happens to get a number of jobs that are animal or anthro-related, some from the furry community, some outside of it, and adjusts work according to the audience. ;)

Since many people here have different views of what furries are, I just thought to put in what it says on the online encyclopedia. ^^

"Art and entertainment celebrated by furry fandom includes fictional work that employs the concept of animal characters with human characteristics, rather than any particular type of fiction. For this reason, any work, in any medium, may be considered part of the furry genre simply by inclusion of an anthropomorphized animal character, although such characters are most often seen in comics, cartoons, animated films, allegorical novels, and video games. The science fiction and fantasy genres make frequent use of anthropomorphism, and as a result, are especially popular in furry fandom."

While everyone (I think) has a good point to this discussion, I really think that as long as I draw anything anthropomorphic, it will will be referred to respectively as a furry, which is mainly just a slang term for anthropomorphic characters and by no means limiting nor lowering your artistic status.

I've *always* hated the term Furry. Well, OK, maybe not Always, but for the past 10 years.

I'm just an illustrator :D