The word 'furry', like the word 'artist', has many meanings. We call painters 'artists'; but by extension also sculptors, engravers, and the like. We call home decorators 'artists' of a sort, and even those who write stories or poetry or music are sometimes labeled 'artists'. All share in common, however, the notion of creative designing or forming. As with 'artist', so the word 'furry' is used in many different ways. We shall here consider what the major divisions are, and what is common to all of them.

In general, something is said to be 'furry' if it involves or concerns creatures having characteristics both distinctly human and distinctly animal – especially mammalian animals, though birds and reptiles are fairly common too. Most often, the creature has an overall humanoid body structure with such additions as fur, tail, inverse-jointed legs, pointed head, perhaps wings, etc. – an 'anthro', in other words – but sometimes one sees the opposite: an overall quadrupedal or avian body structure with such human characteristics as reason, hand-like paws, society, crafts, etc. That the creature be rational or at least have human-like intelligence seems absolutely necessary, as far as I can tell. Now that we have a vague definition of furry (not that you really needed it) we can consider the major divisions.


Yiff/Vore – What yiff means is clear enough; I will only add that it is characteristic of yiff that it arouse lust or libido or whatever, i.e. it is designed to be provocative. Nor will I give a particular examples, since it should be clear enough. I only mention it at all to say that I won't discuss it.


Cute/Romantic – By 'cute' I mean pleasing on account of some innocence or freshness. By 'romantic' I mean related to the attraction between sexes, but not in a specifically lustful way. Though these are distinct, they have a remarkable way of going together in furry art. I do believe it is because all people have a special tendency to regard animals, especially mammalians, as 'cute', provided they are safe. Somehow animals seem to retain their innocence throughout life. Yet by giving them human-like qualities, we can take them seriously or treat them as equals, as we cannot with animals, which makes romance possible. Indeed, any romance will tend to be cute for that very reason. At any rate, this seems to be one of the most prominent forms of furry art, and one that furries are most interested in.

Both cuteness and romance may include yiff, though not necessarily so. It might seem hard to distinguish romance from yiff, but the difference is arousal of passion. It is quite possible to draw a romantic scene not intended to arouse any passion in the viewer. Nonetheless, yiff and cuteness and romance are closely connected, and it is rare to see one without at least mild traces of the other two.

Examples of cuteness:
World of Warcraft: Faerie Dragon
Fox in the Snow
Examples of romance – note how they tend to be cute also:
Wolf Mates VII
Puppy Love
Castlevania


Soaring – By 'soaring' I mean artworks centering on the flight of flying creatures through the great dome of the sky, often amidst clouds. While fairly uncommon, this kind of art is probably second only to cuteness/romance in being distinctly furry. To fly like a bird with one's body, to feel the aerodynamics, while possessing the reason to appreciate it and feel the peace or excitement – this seems to fit well with the combination of human and animal properties that defines furry.

Freud aside, there seems to be no connection between soaring and yiff – quite the opposite, as far as I can tell. Cuteness and romance, too, seem rare, simply because soaring touches an emotion more serious than these. Indeed, I would even suggest that all of them – yiff, cuteness, and romance – are tied together and originate from a single characteristic or emotion, while soaring arises from a different, though associated, one.

Examples:
The Light into Earth
Cloud Surfing
Night Flight
Dream of Flying
As a counter-example of 'romantic soaring':
Summer Flight
As a counter-example of 'cute soaring':
Sunrise


World-Building – Perhaps 'world-building' is not the best word; I mean by it designing furry creatures, crafting the details of their anatomy, psychology, society, and so forth. Also writing stories which involve such creatures. This seems to be specifically furry, because we design creatures that appear and act in ways far difference from ourselves, yet are rational. We explore the variations of creatures that are strange but make sense, that are different but beautiful, or whatever.

World-building differs from yiff/cute/romantic in that it is not so concerned with appearance, as they are – for while they focus on the individual pose of an individual critter, world-building is more interested in the general arrangement, structure, and story of a kind. It differs too from soaring, since it obviously doesn't concern the grandeur of flight. Nothing prevents world-building from having these qualities in addition, of course.

Note that I have a special interest in world-building, and hence may be slightly skewing this account towards my own preferences.

Examples:
Pandragon Early Rough
Thunder-Rott
Malleus Lycantropicum 11 - Symbiosis
The Lost World of Paruda - Map
Writing on Water
Summer Rain
Here in this Place


Role Playing/Fursuiting – 'Fursuiting' is wearing a anthro suit, with paws and fur and muzzle and so forth. 'Role playing' means creating a 'fursona' – a character or 'persona' which is a fur – and acting out its behavior as if one were that character. Both have in common that they concern the behavior of the author, rather than some art that he creates. They are furry because one is oneself human, but one takes on non-human properties – whether appearance in fursuiting, or persona in role playing.

It's clear that this differs from all the preceding because it is more a matter of acting oneself as something rather than creating an artwork. For this reason there is no necessary connection or opposition between this and yiff, cuteness, and romance. Soaring, for technical reasons, is not common, and world-building as also difficult due to expenses. I'm sure there's much more to say about this, but I do not understand it well enough to say any more.

Examples:
Cryo Fursuit
Daisuke Green Husky
Snow Spottycat


Minor – There are plenty of minor subclasses of furry, like fantasy (cf. Wrath of the Dragon), awe (cf. Relict of a Forgotten Time), pastoral/scenic (cf. Canyonlands and Dog's Day End), and doubtless many many more. But I do not wish to treat them separately, for two reasons. First, because there are far too many to treat in a reasonable length of time. But second, and more importantly, because I believe that for the most part they are either combinations of the above, or the combination of a furry interest with some non-furry interest (e.g. fantasy; even yiff technically falls under this category). However, I'll go through one subclass, namely 'humor', to give an example of what a more complete division would look like.

I'm not using 'humor' in the ordinary sense of the word. I mean any amusing or interesting or unexpected contrast based on the fact that the characters portrayed are furry. This can, for example, be jokes about playing with one's food; or it can be a scene rather ordinary (say a Matrix-style poster) excepting that the characters are furry. I suppose in-jokes qualify, though usually these are placed in avatars and not in actual artwork; but a 'fat' picture would be an example of a non-avatar in-joke. Humorous works are very common, and I dare say second most prominent after cute/romantic.

Examples:
Need a Lift?
Serenade of Love
Note how these are not 'funny' but put an anthro in an 'ordinary' scene:
Resolve
Beware the Demon Barber
Aryte


So that's the division. You have no doubt eagerly been waiting for me to say where I fit in it. (Voices from the crowd: No, we don't.) Right then, I'd call myself a fringe furry. As perhaps my gallery makes clear, I fall under the world-building category. I enjoy imagining, in vivid detail, how a world with (say) great rational lizards would work; what societies they would build; the politics that would go on between them and humans; their technology; and so on. Cuteness (not yiff) is nice too, provided it's not excessive or sentimental.

I have not touched on furry music or stories. Stories generally follow the same pattern as art, I believe. Music is more difficult, however, because the 'content' is not something we grasp discursively; it does not resolve into 'things' being portrayed. To speak of what characterizes furry music is an interesting question I cannot answer.

Another interesting question arises: given that 'furry' has these different senses, is there something common which unites them? Is there some common characteristic or emotion that gives rise to all these different manifestations? Or are they all quite different, like the 'bark' of a tree and the 'bark' of a dog? I do not know, but perhaps I'll think about it later.

Comments are welcome, especially objections, provided they be reasonable and include examples.


Edit: I just found a rather remarkable article called Furry Fandom Observed. To my pleasure it matches up very well with what I said here (though using a different order), but it also brought up a point I had not thought of before: that what I call 'Soaring' might be one subclass of a general category 'Envy'. In other words, flight is just one of many abilities unique to animals, any of which may be interesting when joined with rationality.