As quite often, the creators can explain this project far better than we ever could: “Somewhere far away, in the uncharted realms of the ocean, lies the mysterious island of Mutasia. As one of the few unexplored places left on Earth, Mutasia is home to a previously unknown collection of wildlife, unique to the island of Mutasia. The inhabitants are called Mutasians and are mixed up mixes of every type of animal imaginable. As you explore the island and meet the Mutasians, you’ll discover that they are a lot more like you than you might think!” That’s the story of Mutasia. It started with an illustrated book, Mutasia: Land of Illogical and Utterly Impossible Creatures. Now it’s expanded to a book series, a line of plushy toys, several sing-along CD’s, and an animated short film on DVD called This Mish-Mash Bash. All of that and more available at the colorful and award-winning Mutasia web site, of course.
A Girl Among Dragon-Kind
Fans of dragons and other scalies, take note: The Legend of Oescienne is a new fantasy series for younger readers, created by author and artist Jenna Elizabeth Johnson. (She even gets to draw her own covers!) In a far-off world humans have been extinct for centuries… those who remain have long ago been turned into dragons. But then, a real human girl is born, and the evil powers that brought about the transformation long ago are sure to notice. The few dragons who know of the girl’s existence swear to protect her… but to do that, they must keep her unaware of her destiny. In fact, they must not even let her know that she is human! There’s a lot more background on the series at the author’s web site, as well as other books that she’s written. Currently The Legend of Oescienne consists of three novels, one short story collection, and one stand-alone short story (which is available for free at the web site!).
I Like That Animal On Your Chest
Another one of those huge collections of animal-based t-shirts can be found at the Sweet Earth Art web site. It’s actually an artist collective for creative people working in several media, but click on their Art Clothing link and you’ll be taken right to their t-shirt page. Then give yourself some time for browsing… it might take you a while to get through them all!
A Furry Renaissance
More pet art, of a different creative sort. Jennifer Miller specializes in portraits of various canine, feline, and equine species illustrated in the black & white style of Leonardo Da Vinci — and other early European painters. Each of her creations (on posters, plaques, pillows, and other printed objects) features interesting facts about the illustrated breed in appropriate hand-written script. She has a lot of designs already and she’s constantly putting up more, so go take a look at her web site, Leonardo’s Dogs.
Painted Pets
Laura Seeley is a classical fine artist… one who specializes in animal paintings. What’s more she’s even illustrated several books for children — Originally for various authors, but more recently for works she’s written herself. With galleries on her web site having names like “The Magic Cats”, “The Whimsy Cats”, and “A Cat Never Tells”, you can see where she’s coming from… though she does draw plenty of dogs and even whales, too! According to her web site, Best Friends Art Gallery, she plans on having pictures from her book projects up very soon.
Fast Cash
There’s been a lot in the news lately about the new video game Yooka-Laylee (get it?). It’s the flagship product of a new company called Playtonic Games, which features a lot of the creative staff from Rare. And this new game is considered to be a spiritual successor to the wildly-popular Banjo & Kazooie series. But that’s not what’s got people talking. This is: Playtonic put up a Kickstarter campaign to finance the game… and they reached their initial multi-thousand British pound goal in less than 40 minutes. That’s got to be some kinda record, we think. “Yooka-Laylee (yes, like the tiny guitar) is a 3D platformer starring Yooka, a bipedal lizard-like dude, and Laylee, a purple “wisecracking lady-bat.” They have unique abilities, such as Yooka’s tongue-grapple and Laylee’s tactical sonar blast, and together these best buds explore five worlds filled with weird characters and feisty bosses. Also, one of the abilities is a “giant fart bubble.” Playtonic knows the way to its players’ hearts.” And their pocketbooks, it would seem. Head on over to Engadget to find out more.
We Are Truly Honored.
Now It Can Be Told: You, the Furry Fans of the world (literally) have selected InFurNation.com to receive an Ursa Major Award as the Best Anthropomorphic Magazine of 2014. Your humble ed-otter, myself, is moved beyond words by this great honor — our first award of any kind. What more can I say? Thank you to all those who voted, including those who voted for the other fine, fine entries in the magazine category. Continue to look at them, continue to look at us. Together we will try to bring you the best of what Furry Fandom and furry media have to offer. And remember: If you like what we do, Tip Generously! We’ll be here tomorrow and the day after that with more news.
Only for the Baddest Cats
Bad Katz is “… a San Diego-based company that sells premium 100% organic, pesticide-free catnip cat toys. We launched the Bad Katz brand in the late summer of 2014 and we are going to take that boring cat toy aisle by storm!” All well and good, but what caught our eye is their toony advertising art! Bad Katz have hooked up with a local San Diego artist to create a whole line of original cartoon cats (and a dog) to decorate their hand-crafted catnip bags. According to them they just might produce some original comic strips with the characters on their web site, and maybe even some character clothing for humans in the future. But for the moment, only your pet kitty gets in on the fun. Literally!
One Toy at a Time
Another toy-and-art centered company — there were so many at WonderCon this year! Beefy & Co. specialize in rounded plushy toys, t-shirts with funny animals (and funny other things), and art prints of a decidedly cute nature. Their official slogan is “Creating joy, one toy at a time.” They’re making appearances at comic book conventions all over the place, but if you can’t wait that long for more cuteness then head on over to their web page right away.