'Sonas, self-inserts, and identity in general - How much of YOU is furry?

[PlusThirtyOne]

Forgive me for being so forward but-

This video is an excellent example of why i'm too terrified to share my artwork with anyone, even online with fellow furries.​

People tend to make a lot of reaching conclusions about creators and their works. i find it frustrating when people stick me with the "FuRrY' label and assume that my drawings, characters, stories and fictitious works are all self inserts. Because that's what furries do, right? Personally i don't even identify under the label except when pressed or in jest. it's too hard to explain to people outside the fandom that, "Look, man. i'm not one of them. i just like cartoons and cute, cheesy shit.". i've had the discussion a bunch of times with friends and coworkers and i never know what they really think. i used to have something of a "fursona" when i was a kid but the word didn't mean to me then what it means to most furries now.

My cartoons, characters and stories (both furry and NON furry) have never been a "self insert" or anything like a life i would prefer to reality. The only ever "cartoon self" i ever had (years ago) was just as flawed and boring as real me is. i didn't give myself super powers or pretend i got laid. None of my characters are self-inserts or personal fantasies; just escapist drivel drawn for fun. i hate to think what people wonder or think of me after looking through my galleries (furry and otherwise) because so little of it has anything to do with my personal aspirations. (aside from my characters being happy and having a life?) Unfortunately, being associated with the fandom on the internet means being lumped in with the cringe and people start connecting the dots in some unflattering ways. i find it difficult to separate mySELF from my art because drawing cartoons animal people makes you a "furry". -and furries only draw one thing, right? yEp! tHeY dRaWs ThEmSeLvEs!

On the same topic, i noticed a few of my favorite artists are adding disclaimers to their posts, "The themes in my art DO NOT REFLECT my personal interests, tastes and opinions." When i noticed this, it got me wondering why someone would need to make such a statement. What sort of DM bs went down to require a disclaimer on all of their art? Can't art just BE ART? Can't an artist draw what they want (or are paid to) without viewers ascribing a fetish to the artist?

*AHEM* -but at the same time...

To be entirely honest, i'm just as guilty for surfing FurAffinity for "cringe". i'm just as guilty for "judging" users by the posts in their galleries. i make uneducated assumptions about the content in some users' favorites. Yes, i too even check out users fursonas and make the same kind of "judgements" and place them in "boxes" and under "labels". i make the same "assumptions" and use unnecessary "quotations" when i "talk" about them with "friends" on "Discord". Part of my feels guilty, but i never trash anybody. i keep my opinions to myself. i'm just intrigued by the tastes of my peers and on some level, i can relate.

What about you guys? How much of your online presentation reflect yourself? Your personal interests? Your *AHEM* ...potential fetishes? Do you worried about what the content in your gallery says about you? How much of your characters reflect who you really are -or who you want to be? How much of your "furry self" makes up YOU? Are you your art or is your art just something you draw on sticky notes out of boredom? Have you ever been lumped in with cringe furs? Are YOU a cringelord? Should i stop sleep-posting? Does anyone else like Whang videos?

 

[Punji]

I do admit I think things can sometimes get a little bit silly, but I don't really think there's anything wrong with that. Aside from kicking off the events leading to the two most deadly wars in human history, that's not super great. But just having the idea of a character doing these things isn't really that big of a deal. Silly, but not "cringe" in my opinion.

I've never really been too huge on self-inserts either. I have a character and he is essentially me, but the things he does in the stories and ideas I create are more about the events he's in than about himself. Everything else just doesn't involve him or I.

As for online presentation, well, I tend to not show everything I really like. On FA I don't favourite adult content even though it's most of what I end up seeing and I usually won't even publicly like, favourite, or comment on some of the less popular concepts. The only exception I have to this is the works I produce myself, which I obviously have to tie back to myself in some way at least, if I'm to share them. I just think people tend to get the wrong ideas sometimes. As you said, you like to judge people too.

 

[dahbastard]

For a long time, I had the fears, and concerns, you do. Like you, I don't consider myself a furry anymore than a child, who enjoys watching Zootopia would consider themselves a furry. Honestly, this whole business of labeling people furries for valuing the aesthetic anthropomorphic characters, when they are so profoundly intertwined with just about every culture on earth is really quite stupid.

We don't do that for anything else.

Imagine, that we automatically assumed that fans of H.P. Lovecraft all liked to dress up as Eldritch horrors, and had weird tentacle fetishes

I love anthropomorphic characters, because they're fascinating, and beautiful. Indeed, I find them mostly more interesting than humans. I mean, with anthropomorphic characters, you get to let your imagination run wild, when visual designing a character. What's not to like about that?

But, that doesn't mean that I see myself as any of my characters. And I sure as hell don't wish to wear a fursuit. I am not even comfortable around other people in animal costumes, and never have been. (Maybe, once such fursuits become expressive enough to surpass the uncanny valley, this might change.) (And please don't take this personally. I don't think less of people, who dress in fursuits. It's just not an activity I prefer to participate in).

But, these days, I have decided that worrying about what sticks-in-the-mud think of me isn't worth it. Let them think of me as a furry. My true friends will be able to see beyond that, and anybody else, who can't be bothered to isn't worth it anyway. The things that make me happy are too important to hide just because morons can't distinguish between what I love, and what a fursuiter loves.

 

[Ovidia Dragoness]

For a long time, I had the fears, and concerns, you do. Like you, I don't consider myself a furry anymore than a child, who enjoys watching Zootopia would consider themselves a furry. Honestly, this whole business of labeling people furries for valuing the aesthetic anthropomorphic characters, when they are so profoundly intertwined with just about every culture on earth is really quite stupid.

We don't do that for anything else.

Imagine, that we automatically assumed that fans of H.P. Lovecraft all liked to dress up as Eldritch horrors, and had weird tentacle fetishes

I love anthropomorphic characters, because they're fascinating, and beautiful. Indeed, I find them mostly more interesting than humans. I mean, with anthropomorphic characters, you get to let your imagination run wild, when visual designing a character. What's not to like about that?

But, that doesn't mean that I see myself as any of my characters. And I sure as hell don't wish to wear a fursuit. I am not even comfortable around other people in animal costumes, and never have been. (Maybe, once such fursuits become expressive enough to surpass the uncanny valley, this might change.) (And please don't take this personally. I don't think less of people, who dress in fursuits. It's just not an activity I prefer to participate in).

But, these days, I have decided that worrying about what sticks-in-the-mud think of me isn't worth it. Let them think of me as a furry. My true friends will be able to see beyond that, and anybody else, who can't be bothered to isn't worth it anyway. The things that make me happy are too important to hide just because morons can't distinguish between what I love, and what a fursuiter loves.

Wait I've been being a Lovecraft fan the wrong way? I have to give up my Cthuhlusuit? ;w; For real though. Not all furry art is a self insert. However I do find myself with a fursona that is a self insert so there's that. If it has my sona in it, self insert. If it doesn't, eh. Just another piece of art.

 

[TemetNosce88]

My art and favorites are almost 100% what I'm personally into, or at least find appealing or interesting in some way. I did write something that is fetish-specific but not to me, personally. I just wanted to do an exploration into the psyche of a character who was into that and thought it would be an interesting challenge. Otherwise, I draw attractive horse ladies because I like them ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

I've thought about creating a self-insert character but just haven't been bothered to do so. My main reason for wanting one is for specific instances if I ever draw a few self-referential comics I have floating around in my head.

Do my works represent me as a whole? Absolutely not. It's a very specific snapshot of a very specific aspect of my personality. I can certainly see people drawing conclusions about me from my art, but I think that's largely on them at that point. I think culturally we have this weird idea that everything a person makes is absolutely representative of their entire being, and that it isn't possible that an artist just said "Huh, that might be a fun idea to explore."

 

[Vinfang]

I am an artist who would draw almost anything for commissioners. I am indifference to most, but certain kinks can be disturbing to others.

I am not sick in the head. I just have a high tolerance to weird shit floating on the internet in general.

I guess that's the reason why artists open 1+ art accounts to keep underground. because it makes for difficult real life conversations.

I am just an artist who enjoy the cycle of drawing, making money while drawing, then using said money to buy more art materials. XD

As for why furry? I grew up liking Neopets / Digimon. simple.

 

[Wheat-Meat]

I consider myself a "Part-time Furry" because I barely interact with the fandom, despite being in it. I was part of old drama back then, but most of the time, if you ask me about current Furry news, I'll have no clue what you're talking about.

I do have two (Three?) fursonas.

 

[Tendo64]

Tbh, all being a furry means to me is I like cartoon animals. That's it.

I have a fursona, but they're more of a mascot than "me." My real "self-insert" is a human, whereas Sabrina is more of a character I use as an icon. My other furry characters are just that: characters. I like to draw cute things, and I love drawing furries.

On the topic of fursuits, I am interested in fursuiting, though I don't have nearly enough money. Someday I want to get a partial. I don't see it as "pretending to be an animal," or "expressing my true self as an animal" as a lot of people suggest it is. I see it as cosplaying a character that is dear to me, that happens to be an animal. I don't particularly feel like one or anything.

So I guess I'm not that hardcore of a furry, really. But I don't think most furries are, either.

 

[Kinare]

The only reason I'm here is for socials. It's a big enough community I can find people to bug on occasion, which is generally a challenge. It's where all of my current friends are from atm. If I didn't have the social aspect keeping me here, I probably wouldn't be here. I would still keep my sona as a sona, but just as I currently do, I would go about my life and if people asked about the character in my profile pic on Steam or other places I'd just tell them it's a character who represents me in a personal story I'm writing (but heavily slacking on). I designed her based on how I wish I could be - not just the fact that she is all of my favorite big cats combined, but her many strengths and few weaknesses are all ideals for me I wish I could achieve.

Any of my other characters do not represent me, they're just characters for my story. Some of them represent other people in my life indirectly, or people I would desire in my life (for example, how my sona has a mate, he's a lot like how I imagine a mate for myself).

The furry community in general is a bit scary for me, so I'm very picky on who I call a friend or talk to more than in passing.

 

[Pomorek]

There's a lot of stuff to cover here, so hopefully I can make a post that's not *too* incoherent...

I used to be worried about being lumped together with cringe, because of the things that other people in the fandom are doing. But at some point I realized that as much as they do their crazy shit and never worry - so can I. This didn't lead to any extremes of behavior though, I just gave myself permission to work on my art where previously I kept questioning myself.

Conversely, I no longer have trouble with labeling myself as a furry. I used to, again because of the actions of others, but I no longer care. And it belongs to the core parts of what I am, no joke. I'm obsessed with anthro characters for as long as I can remember (cringy childhood stories abound...). What's more, together with this acceptance came enormously positive results. I found a guy who is to me like a brother I never had, and a girl who decided to stay with me for good. And I'm not even very socially active in the fandom!

While I do enjoy fantasizing about myself as an anthro striped hyena in a furry world, this is just ol' boring me, only a little bit better looking. No good material for self-insert even if I wanted to. No superpowers, no pretending to get laid with lots of furry babes, no fetishes to speak of. In my art I'm looking up to Old Masters and classical themes, and as I'm pressing towards realism with the help of pretty advanced CGI, it all takes the appearance of rather tame artistic nudity photography. But then, in this imaginary world I'm the guy behind the camera, not the one to be featured in 99% of cases. And my models are themselves, no room to talk about self-inserts here.

But then again, how much my art - taken as a whole - is "me"? It does "show my heart" a lot, and certainly more than my everyday ways of being do. My online presentation reflects myself much better than my "offline" one. But it does so in more subtle ways than using self-inserts, I think.

 

[Ovidia Dragoness]

Not really, the character most people think of as my fursona is really just the main character of my comic. My actual fursona is actually purposely designed to be very unassuming. It's just a grey wolf with no distinguishing characteristics, abilities, clothes, or anything. As normal as you can get. I'm vanilla so you're gonna get vanilla stuff but the "fetish-y" stuff is custom made for mutuals only and I always make sure to say that it's is specifically for them. I don't get called "cringe" cause I don't deal with that internet shit. I just make art, post it, and then go on with my day.


It's a real hedgehog's dilemma. The Lovecraftian pantheon is cool as fuck and his works did define an entire genre and it would be so awesome to see a working Cthulhu/Shoggoth/Nyarlothotep/etc suit. But at the same time, considering his problematic beliefs regarding Black people, I'd just assume you'd be just as a hardcore racist as him if you still support the works of Lovecraft even after knowing his history.

You can like the art but dispise the artist.

 

[MaelstromEyre]

There is some really cringe-worthy stuff in the fandom. Art, fanfics, original stories, even some OCs are edgy to the point of just being obnoxious.

That's their thing, I get it, but it also explains why people outside the fandom often have a negative impression of the fandom.

I would be wary of anyone in the fandom who is totally cool with all of it.

I am not an artist, I just commission people to do art of my character, sometimes I write stories but I don't post them because they're just my way of adding details to character backstories for RP purposes.

 

[BlackDragonAJ89]

Remember kids, the 4chan chuds who spend more time searching for cringe are the ones who actually have no life outside of the internet vs. those who "make the cringe".

Once you realize this and don't try to make an ass out of yourself, you'll tend to do just fine no matter what. Honestly these days, I'd rather identify more with the furries than "gamers" at this point.

 

[Ovidia Dragoness]

Well, I was talking about the artist's followers. No use despising Lovecaft cause he was a privileged, cis white man born in the 1900's so it was obvious he's gonna be problematic. My problem is, if you like Lovecraft so much, then how am I supposed know you're not slinging around the n-word all time like him?

Well don't enjoy any art made before at least the 70s because you'll find all sorts of people who are terrible that made good art.

 

[PlusThirtyOne]

I have never heard of Whang until now.

Whang! makes some pretty cool videos about internet subculture stuff. Memes, shock site and viral video origins, fandom hijinks, obscure videogame trivia, internet events, and he does exploration streams surfing oldschool Tripod and Geocities website backups. My kind of internet content. it's a mix bag of all kinds of topics but his choice of BG music and visual jokes are why i come back. His presentation is A+ and he's got a real swell surname.

that's their problem

Agreed. That's my policy. -but the judgements i'm concerned about aren't from people casually surfing FurAffinity.

 

[Deleted member 132067]

What about you guys? How much of your online presentation reflect yourself? Your personal interests? Your *AHEM* ...potential fetishes? Do you worried about what the content in your gallery says about you? How much of your characters reflect who you really are -or who you want to be? How much of your "furry self" makes up YOU? Are you your art or is your art just something you draw on sticky notes out of boredom? Have you ever been lumped in with cringe furs? Are YOU a cringelord? Should i stop sleep-posting? Does anyone else like Whang videos?

Am I a cringelord? Well, I'm on a forum for anthropomorphic animals, so uh... I'll just see myself out.

My sona is a good mix of things that represent me, although that wasn't and isn't why I made it, and things that I thought would fit into the design.
Things such as witchcraft, medieval things, archery and a bit of fantasy. All stuff I'm interested in myself. On the other side there's phobias, pain and poverty, troubles with her sexuality. None of those things are a part of me and I sure as hell wouldn't want them to.
My gallery on the other hand should say quite a lot about me, I think it's a mostly accurate first look at what kind of vibes I give off. But whatever, there's nothing more fun than lurking through other peoples profiles. I might as well give other lurkers at least something to look at.

The only big no-no is fetish stuff. Never had any of it on my profile and never will, I'm really not comfortable with sharing that to countless strangers online. Even if it's not even close to being as weird as the shit you'd see on fa's frontpage on a regular basis.

 

[Toby_Morpheus]

I like Whang. Internet Historian tubers are always a good time.

As far as furry, I don't care. I don't make a lot of waves and I don't think it's that big a deal.
Like my identity doesn't include "furry" just like it doesn't include my sexuality, etc.

I am me, I am not "me, the furry"

 

[oappo]

What about you guys? How much of your online presentation reflect yourself? Your personal interests? Your *AHEM* ...potential fetishes? Do you worried about what the content in your gallery says about you? How much of your characters reflect who you really are -or who you want to be? How much of your "furry self" makes up YOU? Are you your art or is your art just something you draw on sticky notes out of boredom? Have you ever been lumped in with cringe furs? Are YOU a cringelord? Should i stop sleep-posting? Does anyone else like Whang videos?

I don't post anything online or commission, but as far as favourites go, a lot of them don't really reflect my interests.
I used to be a lot more picky about what I favourited/retweeted/ect, but overtime my view on favouriting art has changed from "has to match my preferences perfectly" to "if there's some aspect I like a lot." It really helps if there are folders or such that you can put favourites into, like on DeviantArt. That way I can have my "real favourites" gallery and my "other" favourites.

There's a huge chunk of art in my various galleries which I don't love 100%, but there's still something special about it. That said, I hide my mature and adult rated favourites on FA. I'm not super interested in sharing that with others. Especially if it's fetish art. Even if I did favourite things I'm into, I have no desire to broadcast it to others.

I ultimately don't care though. Perhaps because I don't post art myself or perhaps because I lurk mostly so I get few visitors. Despite my presence on this website, I don't actually consider myself a furry. Never really saw a problem with that. It's all just art to me. If someone wants to make assumptions or whatever, that's on them.

 

[RailRide]

I don't have a 'fursona'. I don't even use the contracted form of the word when referring to those of others. What makes them prevalent in this fandom probably has more to do with its emphasis on DIY media, since it doesn't orbit around any one commercial IP. That makes it unique amongst fandoms and naturally you'll see things there that don't have a chance to occur elsewhere because the core IP has the most influence. Owing to the way things were when I first got involved with this fandom, I don't self-identify as a furry, I just draw the stuff. A lot.

I do have a stable of OC's, but none of them are self-inserts, although a small proportion of the works I depict represent activities I have a side interest in (and are pretty vanilla in the big scheme of things). I've said I want to draw a whole pile of smut, and even have OC's developed especially for it, but have yet to get around to drawing it due to a combination of it taking a backseat to other inspiration, and a steadily contracting span of unstructured time to draw it. Oddly enough because of this (or more likely the collection of folk that gravitated toward my existing body of work), I never get commissions for NSFW material here (and can count on one hand the number of times I've been commissioned to draw it at conventions).

---PCJ

 

[Minerva_Minx]

Minerva is a self-insert fursona. Why? Because being Aileana in the real world: I'm just generic. I'm plain, ordinary, neurotic, stressed, motherly, worried, exceptionally unexceptional, shy, possibly a closet narcissist, wreck of a woman and person. I am so all over the place, half the time I don't know if I'm coming, going, making sense, or just, even simpler, doing the right thing. Most times I'm convinced in my attempts to do some good, I'm prrobably screwingup theworld. Constantly wondering if my 43 years of life actually made a positive impact or set up the end of the world. Wow. That's me. But as Minerva? Maybe, just maybe, I can be a little better. Correct a few (more than my share) of stupidity and mistakes. Maybe make someone's day less dark. Be that shoulder I'm batsh*** terrified of being. Why? Probably because I'm somwhere between Daffy Duck (who's overlooked) and Donald Duck (who's written off) and lord knows Im not sacarine like Minnie or girly girl like Daisy or as good at it as MLP.

As for the fandom, I love the original Steamboat Willie to Looney Tunes to Gargoyles to MLP to Beastars. More than just entertainment, they make us really look at our own lives and world and show us where the artist sees us going or how the animators see us now. Or they showed us that in pain, you can find joy and hope. And for that, yeah, furry all the way. I even commission artists, right now, just draw me as you see me. Stripes, no stripes, strong, pathetic, rich, poor, princess or fraud. It's that which I enjoy - if it be inspired, fashionable, real or not. And yeah, I get some fetishest stuff, but then I look motivation. If it's not the right reason or it was flagrantly unsolicited, then I'm not going to post it. Otherwise, I'm not stopping the artist and/or the post.

I'm not the class acts of @ClumsyWitch or @HistoricalyIncorrect. If you want stand up people, they are likely your gold standards. And I think that's the OP question: is it right or wrong, and to what level, is it to be furry. Me personally? I'm going to enjoy the art, stay away from more fetishy stuff, continue commissioning in the hope of finding that diamond in the rough art, and enjoy life. I do what I do and make few, if any, excuses for it. I'm me and that's the take it or leave it.

Can art be art? Everyone can draw. But not everyone can elicit emotion, context, feeling, contrast and put it out their to be critiqued in context. Everyone can photograph. Few photos are more than a snapshot. Few of those are more than processed backgrounds. But a true photo, you want to be there. You want to sense it. And art is the exact same way.

 

[HistoricalyIncorrect]

Minerva is a self-insert fursona. Why? Because being Aileana in the real world: I'm just generic. I'm plain, ordinary, neurotic, stressed, motherly, worried, exceptionally unexceptional, shy, possibly a closet narcissist, wreck of a woman and person. I am so all over the place, half the time I don't know if I'm coming, going, making sense, or just, even simpler, doing the right thing. Most times I'm convinced in my attempts to do some good, I'm prrobably screwingup theworld. Constantly wondering if my 43 years of life actually made a positive impact or set up the end of the world. Wow. That's me. But as Minerva? Maybe, just maybe, I can be a little better. Correct a few (more than my share) of stupidity and mistakes. Maybe make someone's day less dark. Be that shoulder I'm batsh*** terrified of being. Why? Probably because I'm somwhere between Daffy Duck (who's overlooked) and Donald Duck (who's written off) and lord knows Im not sacarine like Minnie or girly girl like Daisy or as good at it as MLP.

As for the fandom, I love the original Steamboat Willie to Looney Tunes to Gargoyles to MLP to Beastars. More than just entertainment, they make us really look at our own lives and world and show us where the artist sees us going or how the animators see us now. Or they showed us that in pain, you can find joy and hope. And for that, yeah, furry all the way. I even commission artists, right now, just draw me as you see me. Stripes, no stripes, strong, pathetic, rich, poor, princess or fraud. It's that which I enjoy - if it be inspired, fashionable, real or not. And yeah, I get some fetishest stuff, but then I look motivation. If it's not the right reason or it was flagrantly unsolicited, then I'm not going to post it. Otherwise, I'm not stopping the artist and/or the post.

I'm not the class acts of @ClumsyWitch or @HistoricalyIncorrect. If you want stand up people, they are likely your gold standards. And I think that's the OP question: is it right or wrong, and to what level, is it to be furry. Me personally? I'm going to enjoy the art, stay away from more fetishy stuff, continue commissioning in the hope of finding that diamond in the rough art, and enjoy life. I do what I do and make few, if any, excuses for it. I'm me and that's the take it or leave it.

Can art be art? Everyone can draw. But not everyone can elicit emotion, context, feeling, contrast and put it out their to be critiqued in context. Everyone can photograph. Few photos are more than a snapshot. Few of those are more than processed backgrounds. But a true photo, you want to be there. You want to sense it. And art is the exact same way.

Some people told me that arts are just waste of money for overpriced stains (i see what they mean but not from their perspective)
Then again if the artwork you commissioned or drew yourself brings you the joy, is it really a waste of money? Of course not.

-------

I do not want to bloat but feel free to look at my gallery on FA, I care about a detail. A picture tells a thousand words and i want it to be heard. If my character rises his eyebrow and looks to the left? There is a reason why he is looking into that direction. Few things I like to make obvious for general people to appreciate but also leave few easter eggs for regular watchers to notice and have a moment of yet another joy.

However when it comes to uhh... NSFW?
My original idea was to present history and make people be more interested in it. However I know this community and I know what will be searched for.

In this case I had take my own pride and drown it in the toilet so my objective can bring fruits.

P.s - Now I am feeling like getting comm with you Minerva... for example playing chess.
And you would be my pawn! Muahaha!

 

[Sam Akuchin Wamm]

Not gonna lie, I've had this sona longer than the furry fandom (at least in it's internet form) was even a thing.

I first started associating with it in this life in 1988, when i was 3 years old.

I was a furry when being a furry wasn't even a thing yet essentially.

My persona respresents my true self. How I'd invision myself if I didn't have the restrictions of reality.

If you can be what you want to be in a dream, then why not write that down into fiction.

Oh sure reading people's inner thoughts is cringy, that's why people don't say them out loud.

When you think about it, people are ridiculing you for being honest with them, which is a really daft policy, when you think about it.

From my own experience, tends to be that the ones that ridicule others for expressing their thoughts and feeling are hiding something big they don't want the rest of the world to know.

It's kind of a sort of "strike first" scenario and it's such a raw animal instinct it's hilarious to watch in my opinion.

Young males puffing themselves up to look tough when no-one questioned their status works on other young males but the older guys among us know what they're doing and why and think how silly they look being all show because we know how insecure they are.

Like when a skinhead presses his nose against yours and yells in your face so you bite a chunk of their ear off and watch them cry home to momma.

"Do not fear the dog that barks and bares its teeth. Instead fear the dog that charges without pause."
- Sun Zu

 

[Raever]

Do you worried about what the content in your gallery says about you? How much of your characters reflect who you really are -or who you want to be? How much of your "furry self" makes up YOU? Are you your art or is your art just something you draw on sticky notes out of boredom?

To put it simply; Faline has been and always will be a character in a setting I'm designing. She isn't meant to be me, and while I will use her as a stand in for vent pieces or personal work, that doesn't make her less of her own character. It's kind of like people taking a cartoon or anime character and using it as a profile picture or drawing them in an OOC (out of character) way. It doesn't make the character less of a character, it's just someone using the character in a way that benefits them.

I think that's the best way to describe what I do sometimes. So, for example...

This art (https://www.furaffinity.net/view/38851042/) would be more personal, whereas this art (https://www.furaffinity.net/view/38594914/) would be just character art. There's nothing wrong with mixing the two and in the end even if someone did judge me for [blank]...why should I care? What value do I give the people judging me? Will it effect me in my work life? Or my day to day routines?

If not...then I don't see a point in worrying.

 

[pinecones]

Every in-group distinguishes itself from the out-group. Feeling "better" than other people is fun and we crave it, but it's not the best or even the right thing to do most of the time. I understand the public perception of the furry community, but at the same time I really like the people I meet on here and agree with a lot of the interests and activities. I can't begrudge anyone fun in drawing, playing, costuming, generally being creative.

Groups are like color spectrums, with varying levels of intensity and extremes.

So, I never have needed any labels. No telling if I'm a furry, but the members of this community are generally delightful people and more accepting of "outsiders" than some groups that don't receive as much criticism. I let people be their own judge of me and I live in my world. How much do I identify with it? No telling and no point in finding out. I'm happy here and feel truly welcome and that's all that matters.

 

[MM13]

I like anthro characters, yes but while the majority of my characters are half non-human...it's kind of hard to say if any of them or my OC/self-insert is a furry. My main OC for the most part is a half-vamp with morphing powers, but I have a monster OC too. Although i'm not entirely sure if there is a species category for 'Seuss characters' since my monster OC is a Seuss character or based on one.