Once again, in this time when mainstream animation is getting more and more alike and less imaginative, I want to shout out some wonderfully unique independent animations, which are sure to appeal to those of the Furry persuasion - especially to those of us who love bears. One of them is stop-motion, one is hand-drawn, and these deserve extra support now under the AI blitzkrieg we're living through.

The first - and watch it ASAP because it will be taken off Youtube soon - is Forevergreen, directed by Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears -

https://youtu.be/B4EPW7JUMTM

The second is Snow Bear, directed by Aaron Blaise, who some of you may know as the director of Brother Bear - my own Furry gateway film.

https://youtu.be/xOXolSQcEb4

The fact that two movies that show so much of what I love about bears should come out around the same time amazes me. I also want to mention that Mushka, a wonderful hand-drawn animated story about an orphaned Siberian tiger, directed by another Disney vet Andreas Deja, is available to watch on Apple TV and Amazon Prime - for purchase and not rental, but I say it's worth it. Leave it to Deja to make a movie that feels truer to the spirit of Disney than most of what Disney itself is doing now. I urge everyone to check these films out and show support for independent artists and unique films.

That's it - sermon over. Enjoy the movies.

So I'm still coping with occasional depression, hitting me at odd moments in the day. Not the self-harming or destructive kind, more like a recurring listlessness. Like everything in life it goes up and down.

But the good news is my creative juices seem to be flowing again - at least I'm not throwing down my pencil in frustration like I was a few months ago. After taking some time to myself I've managed to start turning out a fair amount of sketches, and some of them have turned out pretty well. I've also gone back to some old abandoned sketches of mine and started reworking them, and I feel good about how they've turned out. And that gives me hope. Some of them will most definitely show up here.

As for my TF art, I'm still a little short on ideas at the moment, but hopefully they'll find their way to me in time. Never know where inspiration may hit you. If you have any ideas I don't mind hearing them. Just bear with me.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

This is just a shout-out to short independent animation - I find I'm getting more inspiration from indie animations than major studios nowadays.

In the past year I've worked a little through my general aversion to both fish and snake TFs, but one line I've been fairly sure I'd never cross was bugs. I've never taken any pleasure in imagining myself or anyone else transforming into an insect.

But every now and then I run across an artist who's able to make an anthro-insect form appealing to me, so instead of giving more away just check out this lovely two-minute short film -
https://youtu.be/iy5dh1QOWDc

Honestly it reminds me of a few of my former jobs.

Just to give a brief status check, I'm doing alright - still a bit mentally slumped, but functioning.

I'm taking some much-needed time off work, so I'm back in New England boarding with my sisters, which brings its own kind of melancholy - one sister is just married, and one is bogged down in her own work. Of course I couldn't be happier for them, but it's a bit sad that we're not constantly together playing 'Exquisite Corpse' like we used to be.

Still, something about Vermont or Mass always inspires me somehow when I'm up there, and I'm trying to get into some small sketches. If I can keep myself in a clear frame of mind I'm hoping I'll feel my creative juices flowing again soon.

I'm sorry to say I've been going through a period of deep melancholy lately. The last time I felt it like this I put it down to being ghosted out of my last job. But now there are so many things contributing that it's hard to pin anything down.

I'm generally fine - no catastrophic or self-harming thoughts - but I'm afraid my artwork is feeling it. I'm not coming up with any new ideas, and those ideas I do have don't seem to work out when I try to get them on paper; either I can't get them in any working order, or they don't seem as good anymore. Even some of my more recent posts don't quite feel like my most inspired.

I don't really like the term 'burnout' - it sounds too final. Burned out, never to ignite again? That doesn't sound like me right now. I prefer 'Slump.' It evokes my mood a lot better, and sounds funnier. And most important, it's something you can climb back up from.

I'm sure I'll pull through this eventually - but as our friend Dr. Seuss puts it, "When you're in a slump, you're not in for much fun; un-slumping yourself is not easily done."

So I may take a break for a while from making anything to post online. I won't stop drawing, of course. But for now I'll probably focus on some smaller, more personal doodles. If any of them end up looking really good, I may even post them. And if anyone wants to commission me, you can still send me your ideas - you never know when someone else's thoughts might stimulate something.

For the interim just bear with me as I get myself together. Thanks as always for your support and patience.

If you feel as I do about AI and Chat GPT and the effect they have on our collective creativity, watch this video of Stephen Fry, reading a letter by Australian rocker Nick Cave, with added animation. It gives me some measure of hope that someone was able to sum up these things so eloquently in this day and age.

https://youtu.be/_Pf4GmQY8Ow

I'm writing this because my uncle Eli Noyes passed away last night after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.

Eli was an independent animator and filmmaker and a true individualist. In the '70s he was one of the first to really start experimenting with claymation. He also used sand and sped up photos, and early computer animation. Some of the animated inserts on the early Sesame Street episodes were done by him, and some short claymation bits on a Nick Jr. show called Eureka's Castle. He was briefly with Pixar, but left before they became a big name. But he never regretted it - Eli was too much of an individualist to ever be happy in a major studio where he wouldn't have his creative freedom.

He was a wildly funny person who never wanted to have any title, so he always refused to be called 'Uncle Eli.' He was also, in a way, the first fursuiter I ever knew - he once made a short video on rainy day activities where he dressed in a green gorilla suit and talked in 'ape talk' with translations. I think it was meant to be a demo for a kids show that never got going. As kids we always called the tape 'Ooga-Booga.' It taught us how to make flip-books and shadow-puppets.

But I'm not writing this to try and share any grief on this site. I want to share his legacy and make more people aware of his work, which was wonderful even if it never became famous in people's minds. So here are some of the short animations he did that made it to Youtube. Please take the time to check them out. Bless you Eli.

https://youtu.be/KL75tay_Qow

https://youtu.be/GfNVCNIR19w

https://youtu.be/1i9ELxl7L10

https://youtu.be/jaY2xiy9nYE

It was 20 years ago Disney's Brother Bear was released.

I suppose most of us point to a movie as our gateway to Furry, and just as Robin Hood, NIMH and TLK were the hook for furs before me, Brother Bear was mine. It didn't lead me to discover Furry, but it convinced me that Furry was part of my identity. I was in high school and terribly unsure of myself. I knew then I had an interest in TF and animal characters that ran deeper than my peers. I didn't know what to make of it, and I was terrified of being found out. I'd discovered Transfur and the Transformation Story Archive already, but I was wary about diving into it, or deciding I was part of it. Fear of the internet ran pretty high back then.

Then came this movie. To my surprise it didn't end like I expected it, as a Beauty & the Beast clone. Instead it ended like one of the stories I'd already read on TSA, with the hero learning to enjoy, then accepting and even embracing his new form. The fact that it was a mainstream movie convinced me that the love of TF wasn't a sign of mental illness. It gave me strength. It felt like a sign, like the Universe telling me 'Go for it. Embrace it.' I saw the movie four or five times in theaters, and put myself on the waiting list for the DVD I was so obsessed. Other kids were being daring sneaking into R-rated movies, but sneaking into this movie felt dangerous to me.

Now I never thought the script for this movie was perfect - like so many animated movies nowadays it sometimes tries too hard to get laughs, and there are some moments of dialogue that I still prefer to skip through. But the story surprised me, many times. It went to places I didn't expect it to go. Very few Disney movies since then have surprised me like this one, and I try not to attribute that to growing older and more jaded. But that was another thing the movie made me realize about myself - that I wasn't the sort to demand perfection in story plots or writing. Sincerity, originality and surprise and, yes, love, mean more to me than a movie or story being perfect, and for those I'm generally willing to forgive the flaws. And one thing I've decided, in the wake of so-called 'AI art', at a certain point, perfection is overrated.

And this movie is still sending me messages. Looking back at Brother Bear now there are things that amaze me that I hadn't seen before. One is how similar Kenai and Koda's relationship was to mine with my own younger brother, alternating between playful tussling and lashing out. He's struggling with depression now and I always regret not being gentler with him back then. It gives me a lot to think on as I try to reconnect with him now.

Second, I realize how much it helped me by showing that being a man didn't have to mean being the action hero or the aggressor. There still aren't enough movies out there were male compassion resolves the story. I remember one nasty review at the time calling it a subversive "gay agenda" movie for questioning traditional male roles. In this increasingly intolerant time, I'm even more grateful for the movie's message.

Also, sad to say, Brother Bear now feels like the last true animal-featured story from Disney - that is, non-anthro animal, in the tradition of Bambi or TLK. It makes me wonder where the next generation of furries might find their catalyst, though I'm supremely grateful for Wolfwalkers, which, I was pleasantly surprised to find, also featured Brother Bear's director Aaron Blaise as a designer.

But most important, it amazes me how much more centered I feel, and how much more I know who I am when I look back on the insecure teenage me sneaking into the movie theater to watch this movie alone and hoping nobody spotted me. Again, it sounds something like Kenai's journey - sometimes the surest way to know who you are is to think back on who you were before the change.

Happy anniversary.

First off, thanks to those who have commissioned me in the past month; I've been feeling slightly better about myself lately. Just wanted to let everybody know I'm still open to new commissions, and my conditions are the same as before.

I just want to add something that recently occured to me - if anyone out there wants to commission a piece featuring a female subject, please feel free to ask. I don't really want to be known as someone who just does male subjects. I regret that I've only done two TFs to date featuring women, but I tend to draw men because my main model is always myself. But I can draw women.

Just send me specifics - if you ask me to just draw a 'beautiful woman' or a 'sexy woman' I have no idea what you mean - it will probably end up looking like a mannequin. If you tell me to draw a cheerful woman, or an elegant woman or a mischievous woman, that gives me more of an idea what to draw. Even better, if it's an actual person you can send a picture of, I can work with that. Gender TF art is still a bit complicated for me to draw, but I just want it known that I'm an equal opportunity TF artist.

So I'm not immune - I DID watch 'Turning Red.' I had to, as a furry, TF fan and general red-things lover.

And I loved it. Not just because Mei's red panda form, and the scene of her discovery are just TOO adorable. Obviously it has a lot to say about coming-of-age and about identity (especially for girls and women). But the movie really hit me on another level, that made me feel a need to confess something.

Where the movie really hit me was as an autism spectrum person. Just to clarify, I've been an aspie for most of my life, but that's no longer an official syndrome. I also have a mild form of tourettes. With these I've always been a fairly high-strung person, especially when it comes to feelings like stress or anger. And unlike many people around me I've never been able to really internalize it. The hard thing about it as an adult is knowing how extreme, and scary it can be to people who happen to see it. And if an unpleasant person pushes me too far it can really explode out of me - I've come close to being fired over that at times. It's another struggle to fitting into "civilized" human society, and it's a lot like having a giant, ferocious animal inside that explodes out of you at inopportune moments.

That's where I felt truly connected to Mei - at the pushed-too-far moments that almost make her go savage. For her though, it's mainly tied to adolescence. For me it's still an ongoing issue trying to handle that inner wild animal. But it made me feel like sharing that about myself.

It's nice to think of it as an asset instead of a burden the way Mei does. There's something new to fantasize. Although in my case, keeping with the ancient ancestral powers theme, I think my form would be a giant celtic badger. Who likes to sing.

Who knew?

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/politic.....on-213898.html

First off, Happy New Year to everyone.

I want to announce that I am still open for commissions, and in a little while I will be returning to my old price guidelines. Anyone who is interested in commissioning a single or a sequence can send a PM.

There is just one change in my process. In the past year, more than one person has ordered an image from me, only for them to disappear when the work is finished and refuse to respond to repeated messages from me. I can only assume these people changed their minds or ran into difficulties with payment and were too embarrassed to tell me, and chose to ignore me instead. Some of them are still watching me now. I won't mention any names, but beyond doing work for no payment to have my content ignored is honestly insulting.

With that in mind, from now on I will be requiring payment in advance of the work being done. And if you change your mind or run into financial difficulties after making your request, please be good enough to let me know, because I am willing to work these things out. As long as you are open with me I will not hold things like that against you.

If you've commissioned me before and been reliable with payments I can be more flexible.

Thank you.

Forgot to post this yesterday - to add a little more detail to the legend of the Irish man-wolves, and to Saint Patrick, Cartoon Saloon has put together this little clip, with some help from their beloved Mebh Og MacTire.

Again happy (belated) Saint Paddy's Day.

https://youtu.be/xkq5Ne6sbgU

A very sweet little video, most agreeable to Furries.

The more I look at animation projects on Youtube the more hopeful I feel about the medium.

Season's Greetings to all.

https://youtu.be/mer6X7nOY_o

If any of you don’t know, as of tonight, Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers is available for streaming on Apple TV +. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this movie for a long time, and in the wake of Covid, I’ve had to struggle to resist the urge to see it in what few theaters near me were open. But it was worth the wait. To come right to the point - if you haven’t seen it already, see it. If you don’t have Apple TV +, get it, it is well worth it, and if you can’t get it on your system, find someone else who can, because this is the most beautifully animated, and most moving animal TF-themed movie I’ve seen in many years. Even more important, it is a PRO-TF movie.

I’ve been following Cartoon Saloon very closely ever since their first movie Secret of Kells came out 11 years ago. Their style makes a nice break from the Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks school of ‘Realism.’ I’ve been saying for years, American animators shouldn’t be afraid to play with other styles, and the artwork that made ‘Kells’ and ‘Song of the Sea’ so unique is on gorgeous display here in their renderings of the lush Irish woods and the harsh, sharp angles of the city scenes.
But also, just the the fact of there being an Irish animation studio gave me a very special feeling. As some of my watchers may have guessed, I’m very close to my own Irish side. It’s definitely where I get my sense of humor and imagination, which are also key factors to my being a Furry. It's the side of me that comes out when I draw. And here, most uniquely, is a movie that speaks to Irish past and my Furry present.

Just to give a quick rundown, Wolfwalkers takes place in the 17th Century when the English were hell-bent on ‘civilizing’ Ireland - a precursor to what happened to the Native Americans later on - and that included wiping out the wolves. (This is also the first movie I know of to draw attention to the tragic genocide against wolves in England and Ireland). But the movie’s hero Robyn, a hunter’s daughter from England, meets a wild girl who turns out to be a ‘Wolfwalker’ - a human who becomes a wolf in her sleep - and the two of them become soul sisters.

This wild girl, Mebh (pronounced ‘Mev’) is the top reason for loving this movie. She’s irresistibly feisty and adorable, and if you’re like me you won’t be able to stop smiling from her first few minutes on screen. Also, she makes no bones that she prefers her wolf form to her human one. Is there a fur out there who doesn’t love wolves? The clear highlight of the movie, for most people, but especially for us Furries, is a breathtaking scene where Mebh shows her new friend the joys of being a wolf and going for a refreshing night run. The wolf’s POV is captured with so much detail, energy and imagination that I could almost feel wind on my fur and grass under my paws. And the actual wolves are a very appealing, shaggy, panting, affectionate pack, without being drawn as overly cute - they are wild animals after all.

Of course, the movie has its fair share of tension and sadness. I won’t give anything else away, but it manages to be fun and also take a serious look at a pretty serious part of history. I wish we in America could make an animated movie that does that. Disney tried with ‘Pocahontas’ but didn’t take the history quite seriously enough. There is so much American movie-makers could learn from this film. But even aside from that, you can always watch it just to see the heroes running with the wolves.

The director Tomm Moore has said this will be Cartoon Saloon’s last movie based on Irish folklore, but I am still eager to see what they do next. To quote one of my favorite Sondheim musicals, “Give us more to see.”

Can't wait to see this movie - Cartoon Saloon's 'Wolfwalkers' is going to be streaming on Apple TV sometime in the next month, and it is now confirmed it will involve human-animal transformation! I wasn't sure at first if "being transformed into the thing her father is tasked to destroy" was literal or metaphorical. It's probably a bit of both, but please check it out-

https://youtu.be/d_Z_tybgPgg

I have a new series I'm about to post.

But first, few more things about the 'Cats' movie which premieres today - 'Creeped out' doesn't quite describe my feelings for it - after all these years in the fandom I'm harder to creep out than some. What disgusts me is the lack of imagination behind their idea of grafting CGI fur onto the actors. They probably think they're recreating the stage show that way. I doubt any of the producers know the book it's based on.

I love the musical, and I've imagined how I'd make a movie of it for years, and I still say it DESERVED to be animated. The idea of a group of cats holding a ball in a junkyard and introducing themselves with song and dance is right out of a Silly Symphony.

And since it's based on a book of kid's poems, I'd start it in the classic Disney style with a shot of the book opening, and have a narrator read 'The Naming of Cats' over a montage of live action cats and cats in art - Japanese prints, Toulouse-Lautrec cats, Warhol cats, etc. At the end of the poem, the live cats would slowly change to animation for the opening number. And as each new Jellicle Cat is introduced, the movie would switch to a different animation style, with all the framing sequences in traditional Disney style, making for a sort of Feline Fantasia.

But the movie we're getting now inspired me to draw some of what that might look like, so to that end I'll be posting my concepts, which I drew listening to my original cast album, here and on DeviantArt.

Enjoy!

If you're as creeped out by the CGI humanoids from the new 'Cats' trailer as I am, you might want to check this out - https://ultrakeencollectionbreadfan.....-spielberg-and

It seems back in the 90s Spielberg and Amblimation almost did their own version of the musical, only this one would have been an old-school animated feature, before the studio folded.

It's a shame. Those character designs are just sparkling with imagination, and showing a lot of Don Bluth's influence, and way more inspired than CGI fur grafted onto human bodies.

At my last movie club Meetup I had to correct one assumption that the new 'Cats' movie was for "the Furries who wanted to see Judi Dench as a cat," and tell them that speaking as a Furry, I could personally attest the majority of Furs are just as creeped out by the 'Cats' trailer as almost everybody else is.

Some of you may have noticed I have a strong connection to the music and culture of the 1960s. And with the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock, I've been thinking a lot about it.

This goes way beyond the fact that my parents raised me on it. It's nothing to do with being an old-school lefty (which I am) or a hipster or whatever. My parents weren't hippies (though one uncle was) and neither am I. I don't do pot, except occasionally with my siblings, and I'm fussy about personal hygiene, and most rock concerts tire me out easily.
I think my connection relates to my Furry identity.

The truth is, I tend to be a fairly uptight and fussy person on my own, even repressed in a lot of important areas. And strangely, that's why, in spirit, I'm there with all those 400,000 young people lying on the grass at Woodstock. Watching the documentary I can't help admiring those hippies dancing, skinny-dipping and jumping in the mud, being their full, uninhibited selves.

And I realize, I admire animals for many of the same reasons. I like to think transforming into an animal is a way of shedding those human inhibitions that get so stifling. I aspire to be a freer more animal spirit, even if the fantasy doesn't work out. It's a fantasy worth having.

So happy anniversary, and Peace and Love.

I now have a page set up to display my non-furry illustration work on DeviantArt (a website name my Mom is decidedly uncomfortable with, despite my assurances).

Did I say non-furry? Animal and anthro characters are still very much present in a lot of these pictures. I just mean my art that was created for other-than-furry purposes. This is what I've got so far, and hopefully I'll find more of my old work to put up, or make more in the future. Please feel free to have a look.

https://www.deviantart.com/willcraig/gallery/

I discovered a recording of this excellent musical telling of Dr. Seuss' classic environmental fable, performed by the original cast of 'Seussical.' The Lorax is played by Alice Playten, best known for playing Blix and Gump in Ridley Scott's 'Legend.'

If the idea of a musical 'Lorax' sounds hokey to you, trust me, it works - it sticks to the story and moves along amazingly fast. Just believe me that it's a hundred times better than that heinous CGI version they came up with in 2012. A thousand times.
Happy Earth Day.

https://youtu.be/aRMSpmx912Y

So, something pretty big that happened recently - after 15+ years, I decided it was time to really tell my parents about the Furry Fandom. It's something I've avoided for years. My brother and my sisters have all known about me for a while, and my parents have been vaguely aware that I have this 'thing' about animal characters - my Mom even calls it my "furry creatures obsession." But the idea of a whole community of people with the same interests wasn't quite on their radar.
When I discovered Furry in high school, I was pretty nervous about it. If I told my parents I was talking to strange people with strange tastes online, I knew they'd be afraid for me. And considering the bad press Furries were getting then, more so than usual. Still, some of their fear rubbed off on me, so I was really careful about communicating with anybody I didn't know online. I decided I'd tell them when I was older and had a job, when they were sure I could be trusted. I'm not sure I can, but I decided to tell them anyway.
Some friends have told me there's no need to tell them everything I'm into, but I never felt right keeping big secrets from them. It was a bit nerve-wracking. I did have to take a few moments to tell my dad why furries aren't deviants, and to assure them both that this wasn't going to stop me from finding real relationships. I promised them that without the fandom I'd have the same difficulties I'd always had. My brother was there to back me up for that part.
So yeah - I may not be able to explain my interest to them, and they may not choose to discuss it with me at length, but at least I'm convinced they're not going to look at me any differently when I see them. So that's that - it's nice to have it out in the open.

Just came across this clip from a filmed stage version of Alice in Wonderland, featuring a young Nathan Lane playing one of the lesser-known characters. Nathan happens to be one of my all-time favorite guys, so check it out; on top of everything, that's also a very well-done mouse suit he's wearing, don't you agree?

https://youtu.be/23swYf4gXq8

"It is a LONG tail certainly - but why do you call it sad?"

A little follow-up to my tribute to the late June Foray last month -

I always mark the birthday of my hero Chuck Jones by binge-watching everything he did that I can get my hands on, but this year I realized - June's 100th birthday is only three days away from his, and she did do her greatest work with him, so it ended up being kind of a double tribute.

That said, listen to her work in Chuck's 'Jungle Book' trilogy (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, The White Seal, Mowgli's Brothers) if you're still trying to find a way to celebrate her 100th. She shows off all of her unsung talents here, warm, scary, all the rest. She has what I think is her best moment as Mowgli's wolf-mother, telling Shere Khan 'Back off, the man-cub is mine,' a moment totally left out of the Disney version.

That's all.

I can't wait to see this - Cartoon Saloon, the studio behind Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea is now working on their next feature - have a look:

https://youtu.be/BL_RH3P6Cz0
V V V V V

I hope nothing changes much between now and the release date next year; as far as I know, this is the first movie to deal with the tragic genocide against wolves in England and Ireland.