Andrew Dickman is a professional storyboard artist in the field of animation. He is also, in his copious spare time, the creator of the on-line anthropomorphic comic called Roomies. Actually, of late he hasn’t had much spare time while he’s working multiple animation jobs, so it’s been a while since Roomies has been updated. Which means now might be a good time to catch up with Andy, Swain, and Mary, the anthropomorphic college-age room-mates who inhabit this fair comic. Visit Andrew’s web page to find out what we mean. Andrew has said that he hopes to bring this comic back to life some day, so make sure to keep checking back!
Comic Strips
Speaking of Bears… *Ahem*
What features the likes of Prozac Bear, Crack Bear, Lech Bear, and Death Bear, among others? Why it’s Bear Nuts, a full-color on-line comic strip by Canadian artist Alison Acton. Surprisingly nice for their many… quirks, these odd bears live in a magical realm where they all learn to get along… and not disgust the neighbors. It’s all part of Studio Dooomcat, an on-line art collective (with prints, t-shirts, and more) started by Alison and Jim Charalampidis. Check out their web site, and follow the links to find the first two volumes of the collected Bear Nuts, available from DMF Comics.
Art With Issues
“Sebastien Millon is an artist. His work is noted for its lack of vision and his art is usually muddled in a turbid stew of crockery.” That’s what the artist says about himself! We don’t think you’ll agree if you visit his web site and see his surreal (to put it mildly) collection of art and comic strips. Funny animals abound… often enough, all over you! Some of his more pithy stuff is also available as prints or on t-shirts. Go play outside more often.
Awww, How Cute and Creepy…
One of the big hits at this year’s WonderCon in Anaheim (California) was Tentacle Kitty. And why not? Who wouldn’t want a little pink 8-legged beastie crawling over to them and purring? Well… Created by the delightfully odd folks at TentacleKitty.com, this feline cephalopod lives with her friend in a strange and magical place of cotton candy mice (yum!) and rat-tailed unicorns (ooo!). Not making sense? Just visit the web site and check out the latest on-line comic and some of the available plushies and t-shirts and other tie-in items coming up. Plenty of people at WonderCon did.
The Straight Poop
Michael Vash is a fine artist, illustrator, and former Disney employee with a wicked sense of humor. Mostly (but not exclusively) it’s directed at our canine companions. His first hardcover book is called Doggy Styles: The Poop and the Scoop — An Irreverent Guide to Man’s Best Friend, and it’s available at Amazon right now. Fair warning: These are not illustrations meant for kids! Also, check out Michael’s personal web site for sample pages from the book, as well as more of his illustrations both silly and not.
The Vampire Is The Nice One
It’s the far future, and one of the most popular viewing experiences out there is a deadly reality show called The Last Res0rt, where criminals from various worlds and species try to kill each other. Into this mix comes Jigsaw, a furry, who’s also a violinist — and a vampire. Or so she just discovered. She honestly wishes that she’d known that before she volunteered to be on the show! All of this comes from the mind of graphic artist Rachel Keslensky, and it’s all available for viewing at the Last Res0rt comic strip web-site. As well as in several paperback book collections Rachel has put together from previous material — books which also include extra new art work, of course. The web site also includes a handy new reader’s guide for those who need to catch up with the story and the characters.
Fastest Fox in the West
Mandi Tremblay (also known as the artist Mitti, creator of Peachy Keen) has a new on-line graphic story in full color, Lucky August Carson. It goes like this: “On his first day as a small town sheriff, August Carson’s got caught in the snare of Freddie, the legendary Bandit Queen, who kidnaps him for her own mission. Can August survive the Mojave Desert, or is there more to Freddie than she’s letting on?” Find out at the official Lucky August Carson web site.
Dragons of the Internet Era
Meadowhawk is an on-line black & white comic strip created by Nicole Johnson — aka, the artist Ribnose (check her out at FurAffinity). The comic strip deals with dragons — but dragons of a decidedly modern nature, in a decidedly modern world. “Modern dragons who, if asked to account for dragon lore, would cluelessly click to the same wikis you or I would for a quick refresher. Dragons for whom words like ‘pillage’, ‘slay’ and ‘burninate’ are the names of faraway concepts, found only in musty histories of dubious accuracy. These are dragons who have only been around as long as you or I (so far). They know as much about their Middle Ages forbears as we know about our tribal ancestors. Heck, they barely remember a time before the Internet.” The comic is updated several times a month, and guest artists have been known to stop in and do a strip or two — so to speak. Take a look at Meadowhawk.net for the latest.
Putting the ART in Furry Art
Lisa Hanawalt is a New York-based artist whose illustrations feature humans and anthropomorphic animals in a variety of artistic styles, all in the service of the creator’s wry observations of pop culture and human foibles. Her works have been seen in a variety of publications and on a variety of web sites, as you can see if you visit her home page or her shop on Tumblr. Well now, her works have been gathered together on dead trees in a new hardcover collection, My Dirty Dumb Eyes from Drawn & Quarterly. Check it out at Amazon. It’s also available as a trade paperback.