Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
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
More from this year’s WonderCon. Devin Elle Kurtz is a visual development artist, illustrator, and background painter from California. She has made a name for herself as a freelance illustrator who regularly takes her pictures of children and animals into the realm of Fine Art. That includes her fan art of, among other things, Pokemon — like none you have ever seen before. Visit her web site and see what we mean. Look for her at conventions along the West Coast too.
image c. 2019 Devin Elle Kurtz
Sorry, sorry… Humblewood is a new campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons 5E role-playing system, created by Hit Point Press. It made headlines because they recently completed a very successful Kickstarter campaign — to the tune of more than a million dollars. And why do we care about it here? Probably because it includes several new anthropomorphic bird bird and mammal species that can be used as player characters. The Kickstarter page is still up, so check out the preview and see what we mean!
image c. 2019 Hit Point Press
Another artist we ran into at WonderCon: Denae Frazier. She does fine art and pin-ups on many subjects both fannish and “mundane”, but what really caught our eye right off the bat was her affinity for both Disney’s Stitch (of Lilo & Stitch) and Dreamworks’ Toothless (of How to Train Your Dragon)… individually, and together! (Has she met Chris Sanders? Probably!) In fact she’s complete so many pictures of those two together that she created a calendar for 2020 featuring those prints. Check out her web site to see those and more.
image c. 2019 by Denae Frazier
You may recall about three years ago when we introduced you to Charles Thurston and his hand-made books for young kids, introducing them to various nerdy topics and story settings. Well we ran into Mr. Thurston at WonderCon and discovered his latest project: Detailed artwork created entirely with hand-cut pieces of paper. A very, very time-consuming way to create — and he does it well. Fortunately for us, many of his works are also available in less-fragile print versions. Visit his web site to see what we mean.
image c. 2019 by Charles Thurston
Katelyn McCaigue is an artist and illustrator we met at WonderCon last week. She describes herself as a “monster and character artist”, and a look at her web site seems to back that up. Recently, she’s been working on a project to illustrate 100 different dragons based on ideas submitted to her by her fans and subscribers. She’s still got a ways to go but she’s intent on finishing! Many of her current monster designs are also available as prints.
image c. 2019 by Katelyn McCaigue
Something we recently discovered: The Freelance Familiars series of fantasy novels by Daniel Potter. Here, check out this summary of the first book, Off Leash: “When Thomas Khatt awakens to the magical world following the sudden, violent death of his elderly Archmagus neighbor, he doesn’t get the standard package of awesome power combined with a hero destiny. Nope, he trades his thumbs in for a tail, tawny fur and four feet with a very low co-efficient of friction on linoleum. His destiny as one of three talking mountain lions in the magical world? To be sold at auction and bonded to some pimply faced apprentice for life. Thomas would rather eat dirty kitty litter. Armed only with an impressive set of chompers and buckets of snark, Thomas faces off against a lightning-bolt throwing granny and a sexy union recruiter as he desperately tries hold the threads of his old life together. To stay off the leash he’ll have to take advantage of the chaos caused by the Archmagus’ death and help the local Inquisition solve his murder. A pyromanic squirrel, religious werewolves, and cat-hating cops all add to the chaos as Thomas attempts to become the first Freelance Familiar.” Mr. Potter has already finished two more books in the series, Marking Territory and High Steaks, with a fourth on the way, Rudy and the Warren Warriors. Want more? He also has a separate fantasy series about air pirates fighting dragons. Yes. Needless to say, you should visit his web site!
image c. 2019 fallenkitten.com
Another new project we found out about thanks to Animation World Network: “Jessy and Nessy is a 40 x 11’ mixed-media preschool series about Jessy, an innately curious little girl and her best friend, Nessy, a five-and-a-half-thousand year old sea monster, with a penchant for pickles… At the heart of the show is Jessy; an inquisitive, fun loving, spectacle wearing six-year-old, who happens to see the world a little differently through her magical glasses, or as Jessy calls them — her ‘Inspectacles’. They allow Jessy to see and talk to all types of animated characters, including Nessy, who lives in a fountain in Cara Park opposite Jessy’s apartment building. Together this unlikely duo explore life’s curiosities like why birds fly south, why things don’t fall up instead of down and even why some people snore? Jessy and Nessy reveal how all these seemingly everyday curiosities have fantastical answers — leading the home viewer to explore their own curiosities and to find the extraordinary in the ordinary.” Look for the new show later this year on Amazon Prime Video.
image c. 2019 JAM Media
