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Furry Art

Ursa Major Awards Nominations are Open!

Here’s a press release from Fred Patten of the Ursa Major Awards’ organizing group, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association: “Nominations are now open for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, intended to recognize the best works published in the field of anthropomorphics last year. Nominations will close on February 29; voting starts March 15 and closes May 4 (to allow last-minute online voting from Morphicon). Furry fans may nominate up to five works in each category.  The 2011 Awards will be announced and presented in a ceremony at CaliFur VIII in Irvine, California, June 1 – 3, 2012. Award categories include Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, Dramatic Short Work or Series, Novel, Short Fiction, Other Literary Work, Graphic Story, Comic Strip, Magazine, Website, Published Illustration, and Game. If you cannot think of five worthwhile nominees in each category, see the 2011 Recommended Anthropomorphics List on the Ursa Major Awards website for suggestions.” Remember, something doesn’t have to be on the Recommended List to be nominated. It just has to have furry characters featured in it prominently, and have been released during the 2011 calender year.  So get started! [And we’ll see you next after Further Confusion!]

image c. 2012 Heather Bruton

Happy Birthday … to Me!

This is no one’s idea of a personal blog, but when your ever-lovin’ ed-otter turned 47 yesterday he received two books from his family that are so cool and so furry that he just had to give mention to them — again. Both of them feature behind-the-scenes looks at recent Dreamworks Animation films, and both of them are available now (here and here) in hardcover from Insight Editions. The Art of Puss in Boots is edited by Ramin Zahed (veteran editor of Animation Magazine) with a forward by famous director Guillermo Del Toro. The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2 is edited by Tracy Miller-Zarneke (who worked on numerous animated films including Chicken Little and The Emperor’s New Groove) with a forward by famous actor Dustin Hoffman (aka Master Shifu). Both books feature so much background artwork and character development for these two very furry films that the reader may find themselves wondering which are more interesting: The final character designs or the sketches leading up to them.

image c. 2011 Insight Editions

 

The Werewolves are Coming — Next Year!

The 2012 Werewolf Calendar is available for order now, with delivery available before Christmas. This year’s roster of 13 artists includes Balaa, Blotch, BlackPassion777, Goldenwolf, Kyoht, Wolf-Nymph, Khaosdog, Johis, Myenia, Thornwolf, Synnabar, Vantid, and Kyndir. “The werewolf is often seen as a dangerous man beast, a man corrupted by the temptation of his primitive unsecured urges, let loose to prey on his fellow man. This is the werewolf that undoubtedly dominated today’s popular media and while we here at the Werewolf Calendar embrace this vision with an open eager heart, this is not the Werewolf we wish to bring to you our audience. We wish to bring to you instead the inner animal, an animal that is not unlike the human, harboring the same emotions and sensibility that man has coveted as being alone in having for millenia on end. Here is the werewolf that is regal, or that is bedraggled from his trials of survival, or adorned in ceremonial garb to celebrate his being, or that is wandering alone in search of something, or surrounded by loving packmates, or is engaged in a teeth gnashing territorial dispute, or at last howling fiercely at the moon beneath which both man and wolf were born together.” Visit the Werewolf Calendar web site to find out more about the calendar project, preview the artwork, and order your copy.

image c. 2011 by Goldenwolf (from a previous calendar, not 2012)

More Art Instruction

There never seems to be enough of these, and frankly that’s just fine with us! The Explorer’s Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures is a new hardcover art instruction book, written and illustrated by Emily Fiegenschuh. She holds a degree from Ringling College of Art & Design, and in the past she’s illustrated numerous Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks for Wizards of the Coast. Now her new book (published by F + W Media) guides the would-be fantasy artist through not only rendering fantastic creatures of myth, legend, and nightmare, but also breathing life into the finished pictures. According to the publisher’s notes, the book includes: “25 step-by-step demonstrations for creating a bevy of beasts that roam air, land and sea; important basics of drawing, proportion and perspective to help you bring believability to your creatures; instruction for adding living, breating color to finished sketches; and expert tips on finding inspiration, developing personalities, designing costumes and more”. It’s on the shelves now.

image c. 2011 Emily Fiegenschuh

The Art of Dragons

We don’t need to tell folks around here that dragons — talking, magical, and otherwise — have held a fascination that is unique for centuries. Now editors Pamela Wissman and Sarah Laichas have gathered together 43 international artists to give their interpretations of these fantastic creatures, and put the results together in a full-color book called Dragon World. It’s available now in hardcover from Impact Books. It features more than 120 illustrations, from whimsical to magical to scarey, as well as interviews with the artists discussing their take on dragon legends. Check out the reviews at SF Book.com and Amazon.

image c. 2011 Impact Books

Kiss Me, I Speak Latin!

The artist known as Kamui (apparently also known as Flossalot) has put together a collection of text t-shirts that announce to the world which non-human animal you identify with — by their scientific names. “Kiss Me, I’m Vulpes Vulpes” means red foxes, for instance. The “Linnaean Tees” collection includes a very wide list of species, and if your favorite isn’t there, the creator also offers to do custom one-offs. They’re all available as t-shirts or hoodies, in a wide variety of sizes and colors. You’ll find the collection at Red Bubble.

The Art of Epic Mickey

Epic Mickey is a a popular video adventure game, developed by Junction Point Studios in Texas last year. It’s popular with furry fans too, having won the 2010 Ursa Major Award for Best Anthropomorphic Game. Now the developers are putting out a new book dedicated to the art and artists that went into creating this well-known game. Here’s the blurb from Amazon.com: “The Art of Epic Mickey will be a 160-page hardcover landscape coffee table book. It will be written by Epic Mickey co-writer Austin Grossman and will feature a forward by Game Director and New York Times contributor, Warren Spector. The book will journey through the beautifully dark and twisted world known as Cartoon Wasteland touching on the creative process behind developing this once-in-a-lifetime vision. It will include, sketches, concept art, final frames, and stills from the actual game, plus, never-before-used art with quotes from the team that envisioned this epic tale. The physical world of the game is born directly from Disneyland, and accordingly, the book will spotlight the artistic influence that Disneyland, with its iconic qualities and rides, had on the creators of Epic Mickey.” The book is scheduled for release by Disney Editions on September 6th.

 

image c. 2011 Disney Editions

Hipster Animals on your Chest

The New York artist known as Dyna Moe has created a series of art prints known as Hipster Animals. That’s animals with names (or designations) like “Free-Form Radio DJ”, “Clipboarding Progressive”, and “Blase’ Street Fair Browsers”. Recently, several of these designs have become available on t-shirts for sale. You can find out more about Hipster Animals and see the new designs at the Hipster Animals site on Tumblr.com.

 

image c. 2011 Dyna Moe

Beasts of Yore

The Beasts of Yore portfolio is a new collection of 12 illustrations, featuring mythical creatures as envisioned by 12 different artists. Each illustration is accompanied by a short story created by fantasy author Nate Newlon. The artists taking part include Abigail Scott, Bernice “Tarheki” Gordon, Char Reed, Erin “Narumi” Prince, Katie Hofgard, Katrine Hagmann, Kristine “Moonykins” Myrvold, Megara “DimeSpin” Gordon, S. M. “Synnabar” Hahn, T. “Melanippos” Cunningham, Eva “Thaily Brimstone” Palli, and Tiffany Xenia “Swandog” Eliassen. You can visit the Beasts of Yore web site to see samples of the artwork and order your own copy of the book.