Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Another artist we met at Lightbox Expo was Megan Brain — yes that’s her name. Her specialty is an unusual one: Cut and folded paper sculptures. Sounds simple enough, but wait until you see what she does with it! She has been creating amazing and unique works for customers big and small for a while now. And more recently she’s been recreating some of her paper works as collectible pins too.
image c. 2023 by Megan Brain
This weekend we made a quick stop by the Lightbox Expo, an annual animation industry trade-show in Pasadena, California. Lots and lots of artists showing off their talents there, and lots of animation studios looking for help. Among the former was an artist all the way from France named Julie Mellan. Her specialty is traditional “funny animals” drawn in a very sweet style and colored in traditional inks and watercolors. (She even created the cover for the book The Last Rabbit by Shelley Moore Thomas, which we’ve reviewed here before.) You can see a lot of Ms. Mellan’s work at her web site — or, you can pick up her book Instants — The Art of Julie Mellan, and hold the art in your own two paws!
image c. 2023 by Julie Mellan
We came across an article at The Nerdist about the artist Joshua Dunlop. He’s been working on a project he calls Pokemon Zoology, trying to create realistic portrayals of what various well-known pokemon might look like out here in this world. To that end he’s set up a Kickstarter campaign — which has already surpassed its goal, even though it’s running through the end of this month. “My name is Joshua Dunlop; I’m a Senior Freelance Concept Artist from the UK. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing companies such as Disney and Netflix, and I’ve had amazing success over the last 7 years with my personal project, Pokemon Zoology! And now I’m thrilled to present this unofficial collection of 151 realistic digital concept art pieces depicting the iconic original Pokemon from Generation 1.” Looks like it’ll be available in hardcover real soon.
image c. 2023 by Joshua Dunlop
Chloe is an artist and crafts-maker that we met in the U.K. They sell their interesting wares around the world under the name of Pin & Tonic. [Oh we love it!] That includes not just an ever-expanding line of custom enamel pins (obviously), but also pin-displaying bags and a new line of t-shirts and wind-breakers. “Run by the artist, Pin and Tonic was started to bring fun, colourful, quirky and sparkly designs to life. Each illustration is thoughtfully produced with love and care in the hope you will adore it.” All available on their web site.
image c. 2023 Pin & Tonic
Another artist we met at ConFuzzled: Johanna Tarkela. From her personal web site: “I am a Finnish-born, currently UK based digital artist who specialises in realism and creating visually believable, atmospheric paintings in Photoshop… I am heavily influenced by the natural world around us, both the creatures and environments – there’s something about all the different textures especially on animals that keeps me hooked and feeds my attention to detail.” In addition to free-standing illustrations and prints, her works have been used by book publishers like Harper Collins and for games like Zoo Tycoon.
image c. 2023 by Johanna Tarkela
Recently we spent some time on vacation in the United Kingdom — and we met a lot of furry fans while we were there! Among them was the artist Lyndsey Green. She describes herself as a wildlife illustrator and creator of eco-conscious gifts: “Drawing wildlife, raising awareness about endangered species and the unusual animals you might not find in High Street shops”. Some of her work is collected in portfolios and booklets like Fauna Fusions, The A – Z of Feliformia, and The Tiny Book of Tiny Animals. She even covers more mythical animals in Gryphonology and Jackalopia. Her web site has links to her Shopify.
image c. 2023 by Lyndsey Green
Driving around Southern California, we saw this on a billboard, of all things. Bearific.com. Knowing nothing about it, we had to investigate! Here’s what we found out about Bearific Books: “Katelyn Lonas is 16 years old and the CEO of her company, Bearific. Currently, she has over 60 published books, which are sold worldwide and available on Barnes & Noble and Walmart. Katelyn has also published five apps on the Google Play Store and has a YouTube channel called Bearific Studios, where she posts drawing videos and cartoons based on her books. She published her first book when she was 9 years old, and it was called Bearific Adventure.” And yes, it’s all about bears. Check out her web site!
image c. 2023 Bearific Books
Happy New Year! Before we get too far away from 2022, we want to let you know about some cool things we found at Midwest FurFest last month. Among them was an artist who goes by the name of Straya Obscura. They specialize in dragons, all sorts of colors, all sorts of media: Standees, custom pins, prints, and so forth. But more recently they’ve branched out into a new and rather unique form of craft: Ita bags and “wing wallets”. It’s all part of the Dragon Companion series. Visit their web site to find out more, but be prepared to spend some time there — they have a lot of different designs!
image c. 2022 by Straya Obscura
We’ll admit it: We don’t recall this artist. But maybe we should learn more! And now we can, thanks to The Sergio Toppi Gallery: Bestiary. “This collection of artwork from European comics master Sergio Toppi focuses on illustrations of beasts both real and imaginary, presented in Toppi’s inimitable pen-and-ink style. Sergio Toppi’s work has been hailed as an influence by such artistic masters as Sean Gordon Murphy and Walter Simonson.” Magnetic Press has preview pages for this hardcover edition. [And with that, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Blessed Solstice Season!]
image c. 2022 Magnetic Press
