Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Kendra Minadeo is a freelance illustrator based out of Southern California, and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. As one can see on her web site, her specialty is watercolor paintings — with more than a splash of cuteness thrown in. Her Etsy store features many of her paintings in print form and on buttons. What’s more, she’s even been working on a series of art how-to videos for YouTube.
image c. 2016 by Kendra Minadeo
From the web page of The Neenerbot Shop: “Jeannine Schafer is an SF-area based illustrator. As a child she was torn between being a zookeeper and an artist, but for reasons she can’t quite recall she eventually abandoned her dreams of opening the world’s first underwater zoo to pursue art. She continued to study and draw the animals she loved and discovered her focus as an artist in this passion. Today she strives to create stylish and fun illustrations that will also help raise awareness and interest in the animals she loves.” To that end Ms. Schafer creates and sells numerous “funny animal” prints, and some of her works are also available on T-shirts and even pillows.
image c. 2016 by Jeannine Schafer
Wrench is a new full-color comic series in development, created and written by JB Potter and illustrated by Jake Slingland. “The Iludi race have developed their planet Groc down to the very last inch to make one giant city. When daredevil mechanic Mala damages his antennae, he develops something rare on his world: A conscience.” You can keep up with the creative team’s progress over on the official Wreck Tumblr page.
image c. 2016 by Jake Slingland
Found these folks at WonderCon too: The Brothers Uber describe themselves as “… an independent, creative publishing company specializing in children’s books. Focusing on art as a gateway to another realm, we pride ourselves on finding the best illustrators and working with them to bring the best books to life.” To that end they have already published several books which you can find at their web site. Of immediate note to furry fans are two: The Dragon and the Princess (written by Erik Peterson and illustrated by Mina Sanwald) is a counting book that also tells the story of a magical friendship between, yes, a dragon and a princess. Then there’s Critters Fantastique, a coloring book by Dusty Catlett featuring a variety of legendary creatures and monsters.
image c. 2016 by Dusty Catlett
Cody Vrosh is a self-taught fantasy illustrator with at least two particular obsessions: Coffee… and teeth. Animals and fantasy creatures who grin. Wide. A lot. Hmm, with all that coffee, how do they manage to keep those teeth so white? Who knows! “His depictions of dark and whimsical companionships attempt to express the aspects of one’s personality that we typically hide from the world. With an emphasis on experimentation, his fine lines and chaotic ink patterns have graced such diverse surfaces as hand-cut burned wood and coffee-stained paper.” Cody’s web site has many examples of his watercolor works, both humanoid and anthropomorphic, as well as his various book titles.
image c. 2015 by Cody Vrosh
After years of studying fashion design, the artist Kieu Le currently works in the licensing department for Blizzard Entertainment (home of World of Warcraft and so much more). In her copious (?) spare time she also has a thriving business on her own designing cartoonish 2D art prints as well as cartoonish 3D plush animal toys. All of which can be found on her personal web site, which besides examples of her work also includes links to various on-line stores where you can buy it all.
image c. 2016 by Kieu Le
Devin Elle Kurtz is a professional illustrator and visual development artist. Her full-color paintings specialize in animals real and un-real with more than a splash of personality. She also brings the same touch of whimsy (and yes, at times weirdness) to her line of pet portrait commissions. She has released some of her work as prints, available at her web site, and we hope she brings out more soon.
image c. 2016 Devin Elle Kurtz
“I’m Lorelei Lee, the owner and proprietor of this odd little shop. I live here with my two daughters and together we care for all the lost faerie creatures that come our way. You see, the Menagerie appears to have been built upon a rather large tear in the ether that separates our universe from that of the Faerie Realm. We tend to get a lot of unusual visitors here.” That’s the story behind Lee’s Menagerie, created by Stefani Lee Scoggan. It takes several forms, including an on-line comic (illustrated by Jacob Saucedo and Erik Scoggan), an upcoming series of fantasy novels for young readers (coming later this year), and even a line of original 3-D sculptures of various fantastic creatures — crafted by Stefani herself. Find all this and more at the Lee’s Menagerie web site.
image c. 2016 by Stefani Lee Scoggan
This is just too cute, so we’ll let the creator Charles Thurston explain it: “I have two small wonderful little girls and the problem I had was trying to find ways to entertain them and at the same time introduce them to the nerdy pop culture things that mommy and daddy love. There’s plenty of stuff out for small kids 6 and up but not for children under 4. So I decided to write and draw parody books for them that gave them a friendly introduction into the world of pop culture and sci-fi while paying tribute to the creative geniuses of George Lucas, J. R. R. Tolkien, Laura Joffe Numeroff, Joss Whedon, Rod Serling, Robert Zemeckis, Russell T. Davies, and Steven Moffat all of which that helped shape my childhood/adulthood and imagination.” Charles’ original hand-made books include titles like Go, Smaug, Go!, Taylor in Ape Land, and The Dire Wolf At The End Of This Book. All those and more are available as a package deal at his Etsy Store. You can also find out more at his web site, as well as look through his extensive collection of original prints for sale.
