Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Another artist we found at Further Confusion: Sandy Schreiber, visiting all the way from the mid-west. She paints a variety of human, anthro-furry, and fantastic creature subjects, and she’s even branched out into painting them on china plates and other smooth surfaces. You’ll find her on FurAffinity and Deviant Art, but she also has her own web site that features both her completed full-color works and a selection of her sketches.
image c. 2016 by Sandy Schreiber
Brandon Blankenburg is a writer based out of Seattle, Washington. He has an affinity for natural history… and horror stories. Which he has combined into a series of no-holds-barred animal-based chillers, most of which are available on Amazon for Kindle readers. Two of his most recent are Night of the Killer Roos (speaks for itself, yes?) and Nudibranchs! (“Sex! Aliens! Violence!”). Check out his Amazon page to find out more about his latest projects… but beware!
image c. 2016 Brandon Blankenburg
Caught this one coming out! Fresh and new for 2016, this book describes itself best: “It starts with a chase. When Spencer Plain is pulled out of school in the middle of the day, he never expects to be speeding down the highway with his uncle, trying to outpace the car that’s tailing them. And he certainly never thought he’d find himself fleeing from a bear through the woods. And when he hears the bear say ‘We’ve been expecting you’, Spencer knows he’s just uncovered a whole world he’d never imagined. He’s brought to Bearhaven, a secret oasis his parents created for bears. But there are depths to Bearhaven that Spencer and his new bear cub friend, Kate, start to uncover. Spencer finds out he’s been there before, even if he can’t remember. He also stumbles into a rescue mission being planned, to save a bear in danger. He knows he can help, and he’s desperate to find clues to his parents’ whereabouts, so he and Kate decide to take matters into their own hands – even if they discover a secret that could threaten Bearhaven’s future!” The Secrets of Bearhaven by K.E. Rocha is available now in hardcover and paperback at Barnes & Noble — and check out this review site as well!
image c. 2016 Scholastic, Inc.
One of the artists (one of many!) we ran into at Further Confusion goes by the name of Ishaway Friestad. “I am an visual illustrator, working in a variety of medias, both traditional and digital. I have shown my work at fantasy conventions and a couple of art shows.” She works on a wide variety of colorful products, too! She has an Etsy store for those items she makes entirely herself, and a Redbubble store for other items that she decorates and puts up for sale. And look up her personal web page too, where she displays her latest art projects.
image c. 2016 by Ishaway Friestad
The great tradition of wordless comic book storytelling continues with The Only Child, a new black & white graphic novel by Guojing (a concept artist for games and animated TV series). “A little girl—lost and alone—follows a mysterious stag deep into the woods, and, like Alice down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in a strange and wondrous world. But… home and family are very far away. How will she get back there?” Published in hardcover last December by Schwartz & Wade, The Only Child is available now over at Barnes & Noble.
image c. 2015 Schwartz & Wade
From Humanoids, Inc comes Izuna, a new full-color hardcover graphic novel Bruno Letizia, Saverio Tenuta, and Carita Lupatelli. “Since the dawn of time, the Izuna Wolves have been the protectors of the Sacred Tree. They fiercely oppose the Noggo demons, maintaining an invisible boundary between the human world and the spirit. However, the mysterious birth of a wolf cub in the shape of a young girl threatens to upset this delicate balance. Letzia’s lyrical script expands Tenuta’s rich universe of The Legends of the Scarlet Blades, while Lupattelli’s delicately painted art is the work of a star in the ascendant.” No prizes for guessing: Similar legends inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s well-known work Princess Mononoke. You can find out more over at the Humanoids, Inc. web site.
image c. 2016 Humanoids, Inc.
We came across this new full-color comic book series from Chapterhouse called Spirt Leaves, written and illustrated by Rossi Gifford from Scotland. “Freya, an albino deer girl training to be a shaman, sets off to the mystical forest to find out what is causing an imbalance. Along the journey,she meets a wolf boy looking for the same entity, and they agree to find it together. Both are determined to pursue this force and prove they are capable on their own – but how do you stop a demon?” There’s a whole lotta information and preview pictures over at Bleeding Cool. Spirit Leaves #1 is on the shelves now.
image c. 2016 by Rossi Gifford
Shiyoon Kim is a professional character designer working for Walt Disney Animation. Recently though he branched out and created his first illustrated book for children, called Nelbert the Introvert. Nelbert is not your typical fierce fire breathing dragon. No, he’s a fire breathing dragon who likes to play chess. Trouble is, how can he convince people to sit down and play when all they want to do is run away? “Disney character designer Shiyoon Kim’s first self-published book is this children’s picture book with artwork inspired by Bill Peet, Hank Ketcham, and his other biggest influences. The story and art are both charming. A great gift for the introvert in your family.” So says Stuart Ng Books. Head on over and check it out. [And have a happy, safe New Year in 2016!]
image c. 2015 by Shiyoon Kim
We met a lot of cool people at the CTN Animation Expo. (You probably noticed!) Another one to pay attention to: Randy Bishop, a freelance illustrator and character designer. Of both humans and very stylish furries, it should be noted. Recently Randy decided to get serious about his first self-created project called Monomyth. He imagined a world in which all the myths and legends of every culture live together in our world — and how that tends to complicate life for everyone. Take a look over at Randy’s web site to see more about Monomyth as well as lots of his previous color works and sketches.
image c. 2015 by Randy Bishop
