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The Ursa Major Awards are Open!

Voting has opened for the 2015 Ursa Major Awards — celebrating all your favorite anthropomorphic movies, comics, TV series, novels, games, and more that were released in 2014. These are the annual furry fandom awards, chosen by YOU, the furry fans from around the world. The awards are presented every year in no less than 11 categories: Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series, Best Anthropomorphic Novel, Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction, Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work, Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story, Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip, Best Anthropomorphic Magazine, Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration, Best Anthropomorphic Game, and Best Anthropomorphic Website. Got all that?  Here, take a look at what’s up for the awards in just the first two! For Best Anthropomorphic TV Series or Short:

  • The Beach Bears
  • Bojack Horseman
  • Furry Force
  • Littlest Pet Shop, and
  • My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Then in the category of Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, there’s:

  • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • How to Train Your Dragon 2
  • The Lego Movie, and
  • Mr. Peabody & Sherman

And that’s just the first two categories — there are nine more to go! Visit www.ursamajorawards.org to find out how to get registered to vote. Remember,  you don’t have to vote in every category — just choose the things you love in the categories you know! Hurry, because voting closes on April 15th — in time to compile the votes before the big Ursa Major Awards Presentation at MorphiCon 2015 (April 30 – May 3 in Columbus, Ohio).

image c. 2015 by Foxenawolf

image c. 2015 by Foxenawolf

25 Years of Furry Conventions

Recently your humble ed-otter and his mate, Sy Sable, put up on YouTube a recording of the presentation they did at Further Confusion 2014 (in San Jose, California) celebrating 25 years of furry fandom conventions. That’s right, 25 years ago (well, 26 now!) in January of 1989 the very first furry-themed fan convention and seminar, ConFurence Zero, took place at a little Holiday Inn located in Costa Mesa, California, with a membership of just under 100 and an actual attendance of 65. At Further Confusion last year the co-directors of the original run of ConFurence (Mark and Rodney, sable and mink) lead a well-attended discussion about the early furry cons, how ConFurence came about, and where they’ve been since then. Afterwards, Changa Lion (of Furry.Today) went about creating a slide show and video sampler to go along with the recording of the discussion — and now, it’s available up on YouTube. Have a look — and learn some furry history.

image c. 2015 by Daphne Lage

image c. 2015 by Daphne Lage

One Very Mixed-Up World

Writer and artist Ian Jay refers to his on-line black & white comic Crossed Wires as an “anthro cyberpunk hacker romance action” story.  We’d be hard-pressed to find a better description! Visit his official Crossed Wires page to see what he means. While you’re at it, take a look at his on-line store. There you will find (among other things) collections of Ian’s previous anthropomorphic comics, including Epiphany and Megahertz.

image c. 2015 by Ian Jay

image c. 2015 by Ian Jay

Ursa Major Award Nominations Open Soon!

[ From Fred Patten: ] Fans of anthropomorphic/furry fiction can begin nominating for the 2014 Ursa Major Awards on January 15. The instructions are here. Wondering what to nominate? The 2014 Recommended Anthropomorphics Reading List contains all of the works first published or released during the past calendar year that have been recommended by furry fans. The list is divided into eleven categories:  Motion Picture, Dramatic Short Works or Series, Novel, Short Fiction, Other Literary Work, Graphic Story, Comic Strip, Magazine, Website, Published Illustration, and Game. Nominations close at the end of February.  Voting on the finalists will take place from March 15 through April 15. Voting and nominations are open to all. The presentations of the 2014 Ursa Major Awards will be made at Morphicon 2015 in Columbus, Ohio on April 30-May 3, 2015.

image c. 2015 by Foxenawolf

image c. 2015 by Foxenawolf

Fluff and Fangs

Yet another creative discovery from the CTN Animation Expo: Meg Park, designer and illustrator. Or as she puts it on her personal web site, character designer and visual development artist. Besides examples of her work you’ll find a link to her Etsy Store where you can purchase various prints — many of them toony and anthropomorphic — as well as her art collection book, Fluff & Fangs.

image c. 2914 by Meg Park

image c. 2914 by Meg Park

Two Little Deadly Cats

Ivette and Marilu Molina are real-life sisters who both work in animation as storyboard and character design artists. Over on their tumblr page they have a section following the development of their personal project called Sabertooth California. “Welcome to sabertooth cub adventures. Join twin saber cubs Sunny and Sky on an adventure of a lifetime.” They’ve already created test animation even as they’re busy working out the plot!

image c. 2014 by Ivette & Marilu Molina

image c. 2014 by Ivette & Marilu Molina

Sharks Just Want To Feel Pretty

Lily Williams works in illustration and visual development for animation — and she has a particular af-FIN-ity for sharks. So much so that she created her own animated mini-documentary called FIN-conceivable. It tells us several interesting facts about sharks and makes a plea for their preservation in the wild oceans. Meanwhile she’s also found time to work on various cartoon projects at Sony Animation. Take a look at her web site, and follow the links to check out FIN-conceivable at Video Press.

image c. 2014 by Lily Williams

image c. 2014 by Lily Williams

In Character. For Decades.

The career of artist Brian Ajhar has already spanned three decades. He’s a character designer and caricaturist who has illustrated more than a dozen books — furry, human, and otherwise. Many of his sketches and character designs have been gathered together in three books: In Character Volumes 1 & 2, and Mugs & Beards. Currently he travels the country as a guest lecturer and instructor at numerous art colleges and animation events. Check out his web site and make sure to watch the YouTube video featuring a collection of his work.

image c. 2014 by Brian Ajhar

image c. 2014 by Brian Ajhar

Exotic, Strange, and Beautiful

Brynn Methany is an artist who works in “concept art and illustration” (her words). “I specialize in creature design, fantasy illustration and visual development for publishing, film and games.” At her web site you’ll see many examples of her illustrations of creatures both familiar and fantastic — out of this world, literally. You will also see what became of many of those illustrations later on: Witness the trailer for Dust, an independent science fiction movie for which Brynn did both production art and creature design.

image c. 2014 by Brynn Methany

image c. 2014 by Brynn Metheny