Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
More stuff we found at WonderCon this year. Ohana Bears are the creation of “Hawaii’s own internationally renown award winning artist/designer: Bo Bergemann”. So says their web site. The cute Hawaiian bear art is available on various apparel, mugs, phone covers, and other products. And: They’re about to release a brand new plush toy based on their star character, Mahalo Bear.
image c. 2019 by Karin Bergemann
At WonderCon we came across an artist known as Jo2, who creates art under the name Artistic Flavorz. As you can see from their web site, they specialize in especially cute, chibi versions of characters from many places — but with a particular affinity for Disney and Harry Potter. Visit them to see what they offer in greeting cards, stickers, and especially enamel pins.
image c. 2019 by Artistic Flavorz
Perhaps the most famous “fur-suiter” on the planet has left us. Peter Mayhew, best known as the human inside the massive “walking carpet” Chewbacca in the Star Wars series of films, passed away on April 30th at the age of 74. Interestingly, before Mr. Mayhew came to the attention of director George Lucas he appeared as another anthropomorphic character: The minotaur in 1976’s Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. Peter Mayhew played Chewbacca the 200-year-old wookie from the first Star Wars film in 1977 (Episode 4, aka A New Hope) until 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when he passed on the role to former basketball player Joonas Suatamo. But Peter Mayhew will always be known as the warbling roar that announced Star Wars to the world.
image c. 2019 The Verge
There are many artists out there who offer up specialty high-class pet portraits, whether in paintings or photography. We’ve featured some of them here before. But now we’ve come across a different sort of pet portrait, thanks to an artist named Cassandra Nuss. She takes pictures of your beloved dogs, cats, or birds, and converts them into painted portraits in the style of classic painters like Rembrandt. Take a look at her Etsy store and see what she’s done so far.
image c. 2019 by Cassandra Nuss
At the local Family Pet Expo recently, we stumbled across a company called Puglie. No prizes for guessing, they specialize in lots of cool knick-knacks specifically themed around everyone’s favorite little flat-faced dog breed. Over at their web page (on a site called For Fans By Fans) you’ll see examples of their t-shirts, wallets, mugs, and lots and lots of pillows.
image c. 2019 Puglie
Back from BABS-Con in Northern California, and of course we have lots to talk about. But first — we’re still working our way through WonderCon! There we met Kristian Horn, the creator, writer, and artist behind Periwinkle Puss — an on-line funny animal superhero comic. “The Periwinkle Puss is the principled purveyor of justice in his metropolis. With powerful pride he protects the poor and downtrodden from the parade of criminals that attempt to paint his city with their deeds of paltry nefariousness!” Kristian put out a full-color mini-comic at the convention to guide kitty and superhero fans to his web site. Worked here!
image c. 2019 by Kristian Horn
Also at WonderCon we met an artist who works under the name Sprinklebat. Here’s another creator who (as you see on their web site) offers their works on a variety of pins, stickers, prints, and other products you can wear or display. In this case, those works tend to feature cute chibi characters with Really Big Eyes. Go ahead, look. You will be drawn in. Trust us.
image c. 2019 by Sprinklebat
And another artist from WonderCon. Crowlines is a crafter from San Diego who specializes in terribly (that means wonderfully) chibi funny animals on pins, keychains, and other useful goodies. So head on over to their Etsy store and check out their latest wares. You’ll see what we mean.
image c. 2019 by Crowlines
Everyone has been talking about Disney+, the Mouse House’s new attempt to enter the streaming content market in a big way — looking to take on Netflix, Hulu, and all the rest. Well now Animation World Network has let us know about about a new animated series for Disney+ with a very familiar furry angle. “Billy Crystal and John Goodman will reprise their beloved roles as Mike and Sulley in Monsters At Work, a new animated series for families set to premiere on Disney+ in 2020. Produced by Disney Television Animation and inspired by the world of Disney and Pixar’s Academy Award-winning Monsters, Inc., the series picks up six months after the original movie’s story, with the Monsters, Inc. power plant now harvesting the laughter of children to fuel the city of Monstropolis, thanks to Mike and Sulley’s discovery that laughter generates ten times more energy than screams. Monsters At Work follows Tylor Tuskmon (voiced by Ben Feldman), an eager and talented young mechanic on the Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team (MIFT) who dreams of working his way up to the factory Laugh Floor to become a Jokester alongside his idols Mike and Sulley.” As the article points out, the voice cast includes a lot more familiar and talented names too.
image c. 2019 Pixar
