The Ultimate Furry Garbage Guide

Hello! Assuming you are new to the fandom, and are unsure of the definition of the word Fursona, well, that's a bit complicated. It really varies!

For some people, it's just an avatar. This character represents them. For others, it's them as an animal. For others, it's who they'd want to be as an animal. Maybe your fursona is just a character that doesn't necessarily relate to your personality in any way, but you have a deep connection with them and they represent you. For some, this character is THEM. That's who they are.

Regardless of who you are, you must figure out your own reasons for making your own unique fursona. The purpose of your fursona is important. If you want them to be their own character, their own person separate from you in their own world, you need to establish a world. If you just want this character as a cute unique avatar, feel free to skip.

Does your fursona live in a world of digitigrades? Plantigrades? Maybe just ferals? We don't discriminate, maybe your character is kind of half between feral and anthro as I have seen before.
Do they wear clothes or is this a naked world? GET CREATIVE!

Maybe they're a werewolf, or they live in a world of humans. A world of humans and animals with their own unique prejudices? Juicy story ideas, guys!

Before making your fursona, I recommend a list of favorites. What is your favorite animal? Got multiple? No worries, make a hybrid! You can have an avian sona or a scalesona. Favorite color/s that you'd like to use in their design? Favorite clothes? Favorite theme? Favorite aesthetic?

Your sona can be as deep as "This character represents all that I am, that I aspire to be, every inch of it has a meaning to me, their species, their design, their personality is incredibly important to me." or it can be "I like purple and blue together so I made a purple and blue cat!"

It isn't bad if your sona isn't too meaningful to you, or is inspired by something simple. They can be the spirit of a deceased pet, they can be inspired by your favorite food, they can be symbolic of love or hatred or your friends...

Your fursona can be anything, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Your fursona is your fursona. Not my fursona. Not Stacy's fursona (unless your name is Stacy) and not anybody else's fursona. Your fursona is YOURS.

Do you want to be a fox but think they're overrated? Go for it. Want to be the color pink but somebody told you boys can't have the color pink on their fursona? Go for it. Want to have giant neon wings? G O F O R I T. This is your fursona. You can do anything with them.

Somebody tell you you have a bad design, that those colors don't go together? Well, that's their opinion. This isn't their fursona. It's yours. While it isn't good to reject all criticism, it isn't good to let others control your fursona, something that's supposed to be incredibly personal to you.

You may see people who think yiff is nasty, and that's their opinion. Don't shove yiff in their face. But if you want to use YOUR fursona for yiff, do it, by all means. Your fursona is your fursona and you can do what you want with them. Doesn't matter what I think, doesn't matter what he or she thinks, matters what you think.

But don't use this as an excuse to trace, steal art, or do anything like that. All I am saying is that this is YOUR fursona. Nobody can change it. Just you.

You may want to make your fursona an all-blue fox. Just solid blue, with blue eyes. But you see somebody else with a similar design. If it's solid blue, don't fret. Lots of people have designs that are solid color.

If it's a more complicated design, then make sure to take a step back and compare. Do you have the same general color scheme? Do you have the same markings? Do you have a similar color scheme and similar markings? Worth thinking about, anyway.

Now, let's get back to design. The list of favorites. What you'd like to incorporate. Now start designing. If you want your character to have a backstory, a fleshed-out personality, i'll be making a guide on characters. If you only want a catchy design and a cool-sounding fursona, let's start.

Make sure to make a couple iterations of your design. Even if you end up picking the first one, you need options. Assuming you can't draw, pick a base up off of deviantart. Just make sure to credit the maker of the base.

Can't use bases? Use words to describe your character. For example:

The cat's golden eyes gleam, their long, silky russet fur with black stripes and black socks emitting a healthy glow.

A fancy-shmancy way to describe a dark red cat with black stripes and black arms and legs & glowing fur that has yellow eyes.

Of course, that isn't as good for complex designs as it is for simple ones, but if you're talented and descriptive enough, your description should give the reader an idea of what your sona looks like. And, if you have enough money, commission an artist! They'll make your sona look super nice.

That's good enough for surface design. Now to commission more art, draw your sona, write about them, connect with them...

And if you ever find you aren't connecting enough with a fursona, set their design aside, and make or adopt a new one. You might like that one better. And, if you can't connect with any design, maybe a fursona just isn't for you. That's fine, some furries don't have a fursona.

And if you still really want one, keep trying. There's a fursona out there for you.

-Kitto

The Ultimate Furry Garbage Guide

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Fursonas 101 - What are they and how do you make them?

Welcome!