Okay here is a nother real touchy subject. Anthropromorphic art. I know a lot of people out there are afraid of this genre, it has certain aspects that go against various religeous practices. And yes, it's also known as Furry art, which is usually or most often linked with pornography. VCL hosts a library of such artforms, and yes, quite a few of them if not a majority are pornographic. To me, I have no problem with it, it's good for laughs. But I've also seen some very nice anthro art which does not incorporate such dirty subjects. Where the heck is this artist going with this you wonder? Now to explain myself. Sorry for the ramblings.

Just recently I've moved my comic which is anthro, to Smack Jeeves after the first DD site went down. But now it's back, and I've also put it back here in DD. Well, it's also got a listing on onlinecomics.net. I've managed to jump into a category of the most popular web comics of the community, in my genre. The story holds no pornography, only pure anthropromorphic art. I'm trying to put a good name back into a much scorned genre. Any ideas how to achieve this?

Sonic The Hedgehog

Disney Cartoons...Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck...etc

Warner Brothers Cartoons ... Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig ... etc.

Hanna Barbara Cartoons... Yogi, Boo-Boo, Huckleberry Hound ... etc.

Thundercats, Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry ...

Get Fuzzy, Garfield, Snoopy, The Far Side, Howard the Duck ....

it goes on and on and on.

aren't all of these Anthropomorphic art?

Most of us have grown up with it. Why is it different in comic form? It isn't. It just fell out of style. It will come back as soon as it's old enough to be cool again.

Good point Ronson. I loved all those cartoons when I was a kid. I suppose soon enough it will come back into fashion.

Everything no matter what can be good or bad.

So if an anthro comic is crap to me, it's not because it's anthro, it's because it's just crap in general, maybe it's art, or writing, or story.

This applies to every genre and style.

Away ta Comics with yee!

I wouldn't really say I'm afraid of it, but it's not a big interst either. I would say that the biggest problem I have is the ones that have characters with ears and tails for no aparent reason. I understand if they're some kind of oher race of people/animals. But it is quite odd when everythig else is the world as we know it, and there is no reason at all for it, other than the author wanting their Mary Sue/male equivelent to be the fox that they are. I have nothing against anthro. I have everything agianst pointless anthro.

Having said that, good anthro does exist, you just have to weed through a lot to find it.

My advice to you would be to not make a big deal out of it being an anthro comic. Plug based on the plot, not the furry characters. Make the anthro a little thing about the characters, not the basis of the image you want the comic to have.

Lostpriestess has hit the nail on the head. The problem for me isn't that its anthro or any of the disturbing connotations that are unavoidably associated with it.

The problem is that it usually has no point, especially in webcomics.

Something like Sonic or Bugs Bunny, personified animals are used for either comedic effect or to put forth human emotions and issues without using real people. Even some of the more 'realistic' cartoons with anthro characters at least have a reason behind them.

But most people who do anthro webcomics seem to do so merely for an excuse to draw animal-people. It's superfluous, and most of the stories could be told just as well - if not better - by just using regular humans. I see a lot of anthro artists these days minimising the human areas of their characters, which seems counter-productive to what anthro-art has the capacity for.

Bottom line: Anything that is used as just a gimmick or just because the artist likes foxes blah blah blah is going to be superficial at best.

I have seen a lot of poorly drawn anthro on the sites, it seems they just do it because they're animal people. I've taken great steps to avoid that kind of flaw and I've fully researched ancient mythology both european and egyptian to come up with my series. They fight a real war, and there is a struggle between preserving a planet and reducing it to a ball of dust. I haven't gotten to that part yet, but I am getting there. I guess when this comic was formed I thought about Earth and how some people are just looking to drain it for all its worth and those people who strive every day to preserve it. That's where my series got it's inspiration from but unlike my story, which has a hero to protect the world, Earth has no such thing. So what happens envronmentally is what impacts me.

Well, good for you. But you shouldn't be billing your comic as "an anthro comic about mythical wars", but as "a mythical war comic that just happens to have anthros".

The more we make a big deal out of this, the bigger deal it's going to be. Sure, there'll always be a few fire-eaters who keep yelling, "DEATH to any creature that mixes the aspects of an animal and a human!!!", but for the most part I think people-- people on the Internet at least-- really don't care. If a reader likes anthros, then (s)he'll read anthro-related stuff. If a reader doesn't, (s)he'll probably just read something else, not go on an active campaign against y'alls animalians.

There's really only one perscription for this kind of argument, and that's for everyone on both sides of the issue to take a chill pill and call me in the morning.

~IJ

PS: Did you notice how I used "(s)he'll" instead of "he/she'll" or, heaven forbid, just "he'll"? I am totally politically correct on this one.

Ian Jay
PS: Did you notice how I used "(s)he'll" instead of "he/she'll" or, heaven forbid, just "he'll"? I am totally politically correct on this one.

I did! I thought to myself why the hell didn't he just use "they'll". :lol:

People have said that sometimes antrho art has no point. That it's just animal people just to be animal people.

Well lets flip the coin then, if you dare.

Why make a comic with human chracters? Isn't that just drawing hmans for the sake of drawing humans? Of course bnot, that would be silly.

We draw the people that inhabit the worlds we create. That's all. Be it n anthro world, or a human world, or somewhere in between. I don't think there has to be a reason to justify an anthro world any more then there has to be a reason to justify a human world.

As for the people with cute little animal ears and tails, where's the problem with that? The artist thinks it's cute, does there have to be a reason?

Art is meant to be expressed pure and true, right from the muse to the paper (or whatever) and none of us has the right to tell others how to draw.

I say who bloody cares if anthro art is 'redeemable'. Anthro art has nothing to apologise for. There has been way way WAY more porn done in realistic styles thanin anthro or anime combined. Anyone trying to play the porn card against anime or anthro art needs to take a stoll through a liquer store sometimes and just take a look at the sheer volume of porn that's not anime or anthro.

Actualy, I'm a little more inclined to think that the fact that I am writing about the real word, and humans live in the real world is decent justification.

To me it falls on the same level of giving characters oddly colored hair and the like. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, the problem occours when it become pointless or distracting.

I have no problem with a story told through chharacters who happen to be half animal. I have a problem when there's not much of a story, and it's just someone's excuse to draw cat people.

Sandy, Sandy, Sandy. I've noticed that you have a thing for justifying your work and anthro art in general.
Because of some real or perceived persecution?

Your work is good. There’s clearly a LOT of effort in it, the detail is amazing, (better speech bubbles would be a good idea though).

Anthro art works best when people aren’t focussing on the fact that it is anthro. None of those comics and characters that Ronson brought up are generally thought of as being anthro. Characters are characters, no matter what they look like!
The transformers were big, blocky, crudely drawn robots. But we loved them as characters, even when they were cars they were still human enough.
As long as “anthro” characters are believable, loveable, whatever, you’re fine.
Ian Jay sort of addresses that up there, after a fashion.

ozoneocean
As long as “anthro” characters are believable, loveable, whatever, you’re fine.
Ian Jay sort of addresses that up there, after a fashion.

Yeah... yeah. I'd agree with that. It's not the look of the character on the outside, it's the character of the character on the inside that counts! Now get out there and play the best damn game of basket-ball that you can play!

~IJ

Humans are animals too. :wink:

mechanical_lullaby
Humans are animals too. :wink:

Yes, but not much fiction is really based around the lives of animal anaimals or even animal humans. though it does exist.
Generally it's about human characters, no matter what shape they have. (be it human humans, robots with human personalities, Cat humans, Herbi the love bug etc.)

SO just play a good game of basketball, ok? Go for it kiddos!

Man, I had a good quote that could go here. I mean, a really good quote, one I found in Writer's Digest by some long-dead writer of weighty tomes that nobody remembers now. But, in the chaos that is my room, the slip of paper I wrote it on got lost.

It was something like, "The good fiction writer writes only about people; the rest is just filler." Or something like that. Anyways, what he was basically saying is that you can have all the flim-flam you want in your story-- huge battles, weird creatures, lots of flashes and sound and smoke and mirrors-- but everything in the story should eventually depend on who the characters are and how they interact with each other and with themselves. Otherwise, well, you're not telling a story.

It sounded really good on that little slip of paper.

~IJ

PS: Oz, stop slapping everybody on the ass as we run onto the court. We know you're the coach, but it's still kind of creepy.

That is a good quote. It basically sums up something that people need to realize more. Conflict may be the route of all story, but characters have to be interesting in that conflict. That's what separates fluff comics from substance comics.

Ian Jay
PS: Oz, stop slapping everybody on the ass as we run onto the court. We know you're the coach, but it's still kind of creepy.

Ooooo! You'll get such a spank'n you whippersnapper!

Yeah, I like adding a little cuteness to the series. And who can't resist a cute little ball of fluff'n feathers with big eyes? Hmm well, as for the main character, that's not true, he is robotic... I know I can't resist a cute little ball of fur.

I'm personally trying to define and popularize the genre of anthropomorphic silverware. ;-)

You are a sick man Fork. Cutlery isn't people and it's about time you learned that. Now I don't care what you do with spoons in your own home. It's your own business but when you bring it into our schools, businesses or even, god forbid, the internet then you've gone too far.

You WILL find female silverware sexy by the time I'm done with you. That's the bottom line! And my ultimate goal. MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Must.... resist... leather... clad.... cutlery.

Man, forks were my favorite eating utensils. WERE my favorite eating utensils.

~IJ

It's okay, you can lick 'em all you want and nobody will think any less of ya.

I was eating with a fork right now, and now I feel wrong. Thanks. Thanks a LOT.

:P

are werewolves anthro? just asking.

mag
are werewolves anthro? just asking.

The real mythological ones are, in the true sense… Because proper ware-myths are based on ascribing human motivations to animals. Ware-animals are humans who have fully transformed into a natural looking animal.

The “Wolfmen” we have today are more to do with the limitations of early Hollywood make-up and special effects than mythology. They’re not really anthromorphic. The imagery is, but the idea is not: The idea is that they’re just part human part animal, not animals with human characteristics.

Darkwing Duck. Its a good cartoon with an antrhomorphic hero.

But soon as the word "sex" is involved in anything anthromorphic, even a transgressive piece of literature that speaks about our generation or whatever, is fucking retarded in my opinon.

I know where I stand on furries.