I say “new” but it’s more like just lurking for about 6 or so months after my “furry awakening.” I’ve sort of just experimented since that point but only ever lurked in communities such as this
I just don’t know how or where to get started? The furry community is vast and ever growing, but with no artistic ability I genuinely don’t know how to come up with a fursona or where to draw (pardon the pun) inspired from
At this point, all I have is a species that just resonates with me and not much more
So, how did all of you get started when you first realized you were a furry and/or decided to create a fursona and such?
I got started a looooong time ago. Like I discovered the fandom as a kid in the late 1990s. I’ve never been an “it’s just me but furry” furry, I’ve always tried to come up with a context of some kind for the character, even when the character is still sort of an idealized self. I just like the opportunity to be something other than myself. For all my first characters I built on top of a setting of some kind, e.g. fan characters. Later on I started coming up with more of my own stuff, and collaborating on shared worlds with online friends. As you get more practiced in it, it will get easier to make up new characters. Don’t sweat it too much about this first one.
When I was younger I really loved roleplaying as a way to build up and define characters, if you can find a group where you feel comfortable playing. If that’s not your thing, you could try writing stories, or attempt another art form. Even if you never developed drawing skills, you could try making a collage (digital or otherwise), which can give you ideas. Remember, this is all for you, you don’t have to share it. The idea is to have fun thinking about your new little guy.
You’re doing a lot better than I did. Despite exclusively having used e621 and Furaffinity for like. Six Whole Years, I wasn’t sure if I counted as a furry (thanks, school trauma!) and I was never really sure how to integrate into any community for fear of rejection, but I eventually reached the conclusion that yeah, I would rather be a dragon dude in my interactions, and… honestly, if you say you’re a member of the community, you’re a member.
Well, you don’t necessarily need to be able to do art to be part of things here. I can’t draw using digital tools to save my life, but I can do pixel art. But even without that, there are a lot of methods of creative expression that you can use to bring your fursona into reality. You can even have more than one fursona, so don’t go feeling paralysed by indecision if there are several options you like.
As for actually building my own fursona… It was actually a while ago, before I realized there was literally nothign stopping me having multiple fursonae. The first thing I decided to consider was all the things that I liked- In my case, they absolutely had to be a dragon wiith durable scales, but I wanted them to have some fluff. I also wanted them to be predominantly blue, since it’s my favourite colour, as well as reasonably athletic, since I’ve always wanted that but never been able to achieve it. Once I knew what main things I wanted, then it became a matter of taking all those things and just figuring out how to connect them all. For example, finding a secondary colour to pair with blue (I found white hit the right vibe for me), where to put some fur on without disrupting the scales (replacing the frill down the back of the neck with a mane, complete with tail tuft), and what sort of outfit design could accomodate a tail and wings well with that physique.
So anyways, what species are you into? There are obviously all the real animals, then the fandom classics, but I should say there are some slightly more obscure original species if you get into the fandom proper, and some of them are really appealing.
Ironically enough, I’m not all that much better before actually admitting it for myself haha.
- My favourite movie for a long while was Zootopia, and it still is my favourite disney movie
- I’ve obsessively sent animal pictures and videos for years to my friends to the point where they began thinking I was a furry
- I had a pngtuber and pfp of a red panda for the last year and a half for streaming on twitch
It was only when I watched The Bad Guys I finally admitted it. After that I did some light experimentation on VRC, and using a furry avatar felt more natural to me. I met some other furries there as well, all of whom were super nice and welcoming to me, so it was a really great experience from the get go!
I like the idea of building multiple fursonas. It’s something I’ve known about but never really considered. The description you have of yours sounds wonderful and unique! Describing your process is really helpful for me, it gives me a lot more to think about. The pngtuber I have is fairly plain and natural colour wise, but I might just experiment outside of that before I properly settle
I haven’t looked much into other species, but I’ve just resonated with Red Pandas the most for a good while now. I’ll probably stick with it for at least a little bit, and when I get more comfortable I may just work on a second fursona as well!
(BTW people on pawb.social, Yiffit is having federation issues at the moment, see https://yiffit.net/post/732797 for all the responses)
I’ve had interests in certain… Parts of the fandom for a while, but only recently engaged with it “proper” recently. Basicaly, when Reddit was collapsing I went to Lemmy and signed up for Beehaw… And then drama started happening and I figured “hey, I’ve been interested in furry for a while, might as well just join the furry instance”, and here I am. So I guess I’ve been officially a furry since 27 June this year. I have sinced moved my Mastodon over to furry.engineer and am… Honestly a bit overwhelmed by the amount of furry content that I see.
I just wish circumstances in my life were better, and I had gotten involved when I was in my early twenties, or had the confidence to try things like Second Life or VRChat. Oh well, no point crying over a life misspent.
Oh yeah, I know this likely isn’t what you meant, but don’t feel obligated to make a fursona. If you want to, go for it, but it isn’t required to “be” a furry.
For my 'sona, I started with a wolf because… Well, that’s the name I use for everything and I like them as animals. I then kinda… Took some fox bits because I liked them and became a wolf/fox hybrid. A few months ago I then also added mightyena (from pokemon) into the pot because I liked how they looked. It’s now such a mix of different things and ideas that I might as well consider it my own custom species.
Recently though, I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been experimenting with how it looks, beacuse I’ve been more involved in furry or just general changes in my life, it’s just felt… “Right” imagining myself as my sona. It’s messy and clunky, but that’s… Kinda who I am as a person.
I also have the issue where I have this mental image, but beyond pixel art I don’t really have artistic abilities to put it down on paper. I also am deathly afraid of comissioning people and besides, I don’t know where to start without a reference. My writing abilities are… Passible I think, so I may put some written descriptions at !oc_appreciation@yiffit.net I guess as a way to put things out of my head and in a physical form.
I don’t know where to start without a reference
You can put together what’s called a mood board: a collection of pictures that are relevant to the concept. This species, these clothes, here’s a few pictures that give off the right vibes, this is the sort of house that they would live in, this is what they would drive, here’s a fictional character or someone else’s fursona that kinda has the right esthetic, etc
Just spending time curating this collection is pretty satisfying on its own, but then you can show this moodboard to an artist when you get your first commission, and they’ll have a decent idea. And that will be kinda the first visualization, and you can go from there.
Hello there =.= Check out https://furscience.com/ if you haven’t already, their research covers many interesting topics regarding the fandom as a whole and might give a good understanding of the experiences of other furries.
This is a pretty cool resource, thanks!!
Most people’s first fursonas are just themselves ++. I don’t think that is a bad thing and would recommend that’s where you start. What are your interests? What clothes would you where if you didn’t worry about social norms and body type.
Now for the visual representation of your fursona. You said that you have a species that’s good. The next thing I would figure out is color palette. I would recommend coolors it’s a website that uses color theory to help select colors that work together. Then I would look for f2u bases on furaffinity and use a photo editing or drawing software like gimp or krita to then color the fursona. You can also use an app like fursona maker to create a Sona. What ever you try save multiple copy’s along the way and play around with the colors and patterns you wanna add. It’s ok if this is turns out not great just aslong as you think it communicates your sonas vibe you can then find an artist you wanna commission to make a proper ref sheet
Yeah I think I’ll probably go the “idealized me++” route in terms of body type, hobbies, clothes, etc. In terms of personality, however, I’m fairly comfortable with how I am already and can just see my fursona being a self-insert in that regard.
I have a couple colors in mind from a previous commission of a redpanda pngtuber + emotes for twitch. I might stick with that, but those colors are somewhat plain so it might be a good opportunity to explore a little! I’ve never seen fursona maker, so I appreciate that as a resource too! I’ll give it a shot tonight. I don’t expect it to be amazing, but it’ll definitely be a great tool when getting a commission done for a ref sheet
