As I said in the previous journal (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8944105/ ) the commission tiers have been deleted and will reappear in January with new prices but also new perks! If you are slated in on one of those slots you can do one of three things:
1. Delete your pledge and watch out for the new tiers in January.

2. Just downgrade to a lower tier.

3. Not delete your pledge and just give me free money because you're a crazy person.



OBVIOUSLY if you wanna do that last one I will not stop you but I'll be messaging people privately sometime next week to make sure they know this is all happening!



Looking forward to the 2019 relaunch! Let's keep making the World's Greatest Furry Art, TOGETHER!!



-Bone

Halfway through my last paused month on Patreon for the year and, hopefully, ever. I took on a LOT of work in order to keep me, my fiance, and our dumb dog Ditko's life going and I'm DOING that work! It's awesome work too, have you seen the shit I get to draw? Amazingly cool single characters, giant monsters, historical warriors with furry flare, and GINORMOUS orgies. All hand painted too! I pencil, ink, and paint my little-ferret-tail off but it's worth it! So here's my plan going forward (especially important for Patreon subscribers, potential subscribers, and people interested in commission work):

-We're going into the new year and it's time for the Patreon to update itself to my current workload and supply/demand levels. To do this I'm going to CLOSE OUT all the commission slots (that's $10 and up) for December. I'm going to turn them off the site on Friday so that everyone has time to read this journal and adjust their payout level. In December it'll just be uploads of artwork, etc... since I've got a lot of work to do and December is usually a rough month for work due to the hectic nature of the holidays.

-Then, in January, I plan to relaunch the Patreon commission tiers with some changes. The big one is, yes, the prices will be going up. All my friends, business partners, my SO, and even some commissioners have told me I NEED to do this so I'm biting the bullet and... making more money? It feels weird. I feel guilty! AGGHH!!! Stop sabotaging your success Bone! BUT there will also be tiers now where you can get a full painting every month sent to your door. It'll be pricey but I think I'm the only person offering this so hopefully it's worth it!

-I also want to add in some new bonuses at smaller tiers but you'll just have to wait to see those while I iron all this out.

As always: if you have questions about anything (commission status, updates on comics, clarification, etc...) leave a comment or note me! I try to do things as transparently as possible!

-Bone

Due to how FA's submission system works, along with the weird way we've all figured out how to jury rig an auctioning system into the old code, it's considered common practice to make reminder posts and journals about YCH auctions. I always worry about it being obnoxious but  kazekoe convinced me it's not completely evil so: here it is! If you need no further introduction here is the hilariously adult piece YOU can be a part of: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/29305788/

If further salesmanship is needed, however, then allow me to wax on about what the fuck this thing even is:

I listen to a lot of weird shit on the internet. A lot of it gets banned for being too funny and hopefully that never happens to this nearly seven minute long "song" that has recently surfaced as a bit of a meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MADvxFXWvwE . In case you don't need that sort of audible debauchery coming out of your speakers the song describes, in explicit detail, a dude ranch (emphasis on "dude") where 18 strapping young cowboys get into all sorts of hijinks in the showers. These hijinks are exclusively of the "involves a steel hard penis" variety. Upon hearing the song my mind immediately went "oh hey, I like drawing complicated group sex scenes and it would be fun to have a topical hook for my next YCH" and thus the artwork ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/29305788/ ) was born. I figured I'd do it sooner rather than later since I wanted the song to be fresher in people's minds and because it'll help me restock my wares for the upcoming MFF.

As of this writing 12 of the 18 slots have bids on them. At one point there were more but two bidders have deleted their bids (presumably they bid while drunk and, upon sobering up, realized what they had done and did the responsible thing). It's also 9 AM EST in my area so that means that the bidding will end in 8 hours and my experience tells me that this is usually where the bidding gets the most heated. Still: slots are still open, prices are a fraction of what you'd pay with bigger brand names, and you can even auto-buy if you want peace of mind!

Even if you don't bid, feel free to hop on over and leave a comment or post your favorite lyrics from the song! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/29305788/

-Bone

Three weeks ago I got to write the Feel Good Furry Journal of the Year (read here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8883824/ ) and I figure people want an update on that situation along with more normal stuff. So here's some follow up happenings and thoughts on the zoophile/sadist debacle:

Update one: it ain't just about the animals anymore, we got kiddy diddlers to throw on the pyre as well! That's right: after the initial info dump happened the anonymous group of deranged zoophiles who were collecting all this information decided to drop a bunch of logs that indicated that there were also a bunch of pedophile furries running amok. Looking through the list of users I found more recognizable names; so I compiled the information and sent it to authorities. Again. Some of the people implicated are already active and acting like nothing has happened. I don't know if FA lets me directly name names (though I definitely did during this Lawstream with Dick Show Lawyer Nick Rekieta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzc.....VncM&t=11s ) so I won't here but there are people on that list that are fucking animals, torturing animals, and screwing kids and they haven't even been banned from this website. Or any cons. Or anything.

Gee whiz it's like people are more concerned about "making the fandom look good" than upholding any level of decency. I'm not saying make a huge debacle about any of this just to piss off con staff but people are angry; and it only takes one person to grab a copy of "Man's Best Friend with Benefits" at a con, walk down the aisle, and drop it off at the charity table to make all that fostered good will go sour really fucking quickly. Animal charities may not like being associated with that. These cons are attended by thousands of people, plenty of them are furious about this situation and the lack of action on behalf of the community; and it only takes one person. Just for writing this stuff there's a very real possibility I could be blacklisted from cons for being a liability. It's happened to me before and it sucks but if having the barest sense of moral decency gets me banned then I guess that's just how it's gotta be.

Honestly: what's it gonna take to get a few pedophiles and animal abusers banned?

So my last few weeks have been hell because of this; a maelstrom of info relaying, calling authorities, and stressing what connections I have to get the word out. I got on the aforementioned Lawstream, the Dire Wolf people helped me out (though we couldn't talk about the show directly on stream as it was deemed "too disturbing"), and even my main man Dick Masterson let loose on my behalf: https://thedickshow.com/episode-123/ (Last fifteen minutes, he also burns me in a grimly hilarious way). In particular he ranted about the people who keep saying "well we eat meat so fucking animals is also ok" along with other weird fucked up lines of logic that people have been throwing directly at me to try to justify their screwed up behavior. People have been thinking it's completely ok to tell me I'm the same as an animal fucker because I go hunting; and when this angers me they act like I'm a crazy person and talk in cutesy uwu speak. So let me help you through this with a thought experiment:

-Do you believe that me hunting and fishing is morally equivalent to sexually abusing an animal?

-If yes: please unsubscribe from me immediately and never speak to me again. Do not note me. Do not leave a comment. If you argue this point again to me I will block you. If you want to argue with me about it: go listen to the podcast I linked and then yell at your speakers. I have argued (and been correct about) this point over and over these past few weeks and, weirdly enough, people who want to rape animals continued to want to do so and did not seek any mental help.

I'm not your therapist. I'm not the YouTube comments section. Leave me alone.

-If no: congratulations! I probably think you are pretty cool! Thank you for not barfing your mental illness directly into my eyeballs!

So beyond having to deal with all that, on top of regular life and job stuff I also got bit by a very large dog while rescuing a puppy (not a joke, listen to the Rekieta stream for the full story, I'm tired of telling it) so my hands have been a little fucked up. Because of this and some talking with artist/business friends I've made a couple decisions about my Patreon and comics going forward:

Patreon: Payments went through for October but the service will be paused for November and December. My reasoning is that I have a lot to catch up on due to all the stuff I wrote above, MFF is somewhere in there, and the holidays always wreck my schedule due to a never ending onslaught of Family Fun. During that time I'm going to close out all the commission slots on Patreon and reopen them with, yes, higher prices in January. If you remain on any tier of the Patreon during that time you will be informed of the new tier openings first by 48 hours. Everyone I know is yelling at me, in a friendly and loving way, to raise my prices and the slots seem pretty competitive so I feel it's justified. If you feel it's NOT justified please articulate your reasoning below so I can eviscerate your dopey ass business sense in front of a cheering audience.

Comics: Working on "False Start" and "Vampire Hunter Boyfriends" is my favorite thing to do. I love comics. I don't make much money on comics. I'm told when I have physical books out I will but I do not have physical books. Physical books take time to make, time I do not have. I work a lot. I do not take weekends. If all goes well and these raised prices and other changes work out then it could potentially give me the time to make more pages and get books out, even art books. If you want to make my life easier in that regards you can always send me free money, indenture yourself to me as a servant, or simply share my work with your friends. That last one is free and exposure goes a LONG way for me (getting new followers when you have pesky standards is surprisingly difficult).

I think that's everything.

Be cool,

-Bone

Something bad has happened. That's not new. There are at least a million people on the planet by my estimate and that means a lot of things are happening at all times and sometimes they are bad (read: not good). But this bad thing was personal enough that I felt it needed to be talked about by me: a not very good sleazeball furry porn artist (it's one step up, morally, from "hard drug dealer"). Here is why I reckon it is so personal:

1. It happened in the genre I work in: furry.
2. Our Furry Morality Overlords (you know one, c'mon! Name your favorite) weren't talking about it or, at best, whipping out a quick "I disavow" before moving on to the more important business of being more sarcastic than each other on Twitter.
3. Oh yeah it involves 2k+ people raping, torturing, and murdering animals.

Now I'm not the smartest guy but I'm fairly positive that's pretty bad, and personal. So over on Furry-Twitter an anonymous user was creating throwaway burner accounts and dropping an, apparently now deleted, megaupload link that was full of stuff that has been in my nightmares for the past few nights (no joke! Hahaha! Lack of sleep is very humorous). The person who uploaded it ("Akela") claims to be "one of the good zoophiles" which isn't a thing, but what they uploaded is every bad adjective in the dictionary. Within the .rar they posted are hundreds of chatlogs, videos, and pictures from the "Zoosadist" community on Telegram. I'd never heard that particular term before but it's fairly self explanatory: you see a Zoophile is someone who rapes animals, while a Zoosadist does that as well but ALSO tortures and/or kills them. We're talking Degrees of Evil here.

Like I said: not great.

There was a lot to take away from all this and while most of it was "holy shit I don't want to ever think about this ever again it is disgusting" there was also the fact that over 2,000 furries were implicated as participating in this Community from Hell. One in particular is getting a ton of flak, one "Kero the Wolf": a furry YouTuber who is apparently really popular. I don't really know, I don't understand fursuit videos because I am old and grumpy. But the logdump indicates, among other things, that he fucks roadkill and puppies. That's just one guy and man oh man do these guys get creative in their debauchery of animals, children, and corpses.

I can't believe I'm typing any of this.

As I said earlier the initial MegaUpload appears to be gone (though some friends of mine DID get the entirety of it into the hands of Encyclopedia Dramatica) the big thread on Twitter about it is here: https://twitter.com/VenusAsABun/sta.....43539450408960 Make your own judgements.

Since this has come out a couple of things have happened. One: a lot of people claiming it's fake which, you know what? I hope it is, because that would mean only fake animals were harmed and that would be great. Granted, it's a weird thing to fake; maybe Banksy is trying to do a prank in very poor taste? Who knows. If it is fake I will breathe a sigh of relief, apologize for getting Pranked Bro, and literally never think about this ever again.

Two: remember the moral busybodies I was talking about earlier? You know one maybe like... a guy who sees an edgy tweet from some dumb teenager and then decides to ruin his life forever over it? Or maybe a free speech warrior who can literally only talk about how it's very important that they post as many racial slurs as possible? Or maybe someone who puffs out his big legal/journalistic chest when a cartoon internet villain shows up and tells us all how good of a person they are for writing snarky things about this person no one liked in the first place? Maybe they drink or tweet a lot? I'm not implying anyone in particular but I bet you know one. Well all those guys, who will tweet and blog and podcast minutes after a man with seven followers says something they don't like, have been weirdly quiet on this one. I know it sounds crazy that these guys who talk about how internet brave they are for typing bullshit at dorks are, when real monsters rear their ugly heads by thousands, suddenly really quiet but it's true! I've seen some make flippant jokes about it "just being drama", others say "well this is just my hobby! I can't go anywhere near this!" to just outright silence. And goddamn did it ever get those chestnuts roasting over my open brain-fire and, after some real nut burning, I figured out a couple of reasons maybe these Super Good Furry Internet People aren't talking:

1. It's gross, and not "hipster gross", which is what you say about movies you like so that girls will think you're thoughtful and caring; but this is sick-to-the-stomach gross. If you need an example maybe read the parts about roadkill or puppies again. People stay away from gross things, it's why there aren't bestiality laws in a lot of states: no one wants to talk about super gross stuff. It's unpleasant.

2. It's bad for metrics. Outrage is great for metrics but when it's too real and too horrible people don't go near it and you know what that means: the constant cavalcade of e-dick sucking grinds to a halt and you get the Twitter equivalent of blue balls. Since these guys have fried their brains to the point where Twitter approval is a drug to them they can't risk it, the withdrawal is too severe. Remember: you're not a person anymore, you are a metric to these guys. Currency! Isn't that cool? You're not an individual to them, you're money. Also animals getting raped isn't worth talking about, there are people WHO THINK DIFFERENTLY ON THE INTERNET TO HUNT

3. They know people who are on the list. Hell they're probably friends with them and you know what? I wouldn't doubt someone I know is on that list (presumably under a name I don't know, I've got a pretty great track record of ditching skunkfuckers) because it's a BIG list. I've been doing this furry thing for years and I've met some pretty awful people: sexual-assault happy feminists, guys who want to shoot up conventions, even a real not-on-the-internet neo-nazi (he died though, funny enough). The pattern I see with these types every time has been unfailing: circle the wagons and defend your awful friend because he's your friend. Well let me tell you: if one of your furry buds turns out to be a zoophile, sadist, whatever, you don't have to be their friend. Loyalty is a virtue and a fault that way; and there are more friends out there, trust me. If you find out one of your friends is a zoophile and all your other friends are defending them for completely amoral reasons: ditch 'em. I'll be your friend instead.

Anyhow, that's my piece on it. I wanted to spread this around because I hate people that hurt animals (I use to raise kangaroos for a living, and I've owned a lot of pets and the thought of people hurting my weird dumb actual-animal friends pisses me off). There's a bunch of other reasons getting rid of these guys is good but I don't want to talk about "the effect on the fandom" or how they're bad for business, etc... because that's way down the priority line when it comes to a moral obligation this obvious.

Boneitis Counter-Argument and Criticism Contrarian Fuckwit Corner: If you're wanting to e-own me over this journal, or be a contrarian prat, or tell me how I didn't quite own the dogfuckers properly, or you didn't like my tone, or you want to argue the merits of animal-buggery you can go to hell and never come back. I rarely look at things without nuance but this is a pretty cut and dry issue and if you think you're going to totally Stephen Crowder Change My Mind on this then you're vastly overestimating your intelligence and vastly underestimating just how much brain damage I have from all the "Rage Against the Machine" I've listened to in the past 15 years. You're not dogfucker Jesus come down from his Movie-Reviewer-on-the-Internet-LogicLord Throne to enlighten us about shit, you're just demented and pissed that someone outed a chatroom where monsters like you could feel safe.

-Bone

Boy what a month, coming straight out of Anthrocon I've been hit with a bit of Schedule-Bad-Luck. This bad-luck has manifested in the form of my truck being in and out of my local mechanic shop four times now since AC! I would've given up and switched mechanics but after they failed to address the problem the first two times they're now working on my truck pro-bono (something I can't really turn down). That's the nice part, the not so nice part is how much this has managed to inconvenience me on a daily basis: I can't run errands during the day, I'm constantly walking everywhere in hilariously high humidity, and, even more importantly, I can't take my young and energetic dog to the dog park (something he needs daily at his age) so that he can run till he's tired enough to let me work. I don't have a backyard and depleting his energy via walks takes upwards of two hours (and in this heat: depletes even more of what little energy my body has).

What I'm saying is: I really need my fucking truck back, and fixed.

You may have noticed that my uploads have been sporadic, this perfect storm of auto and energy issues is why. It has been a VERY hard month. I've had to cancel my upcoming vacation, delay projects that I would very much like to work on, operate on a very inconsistent schedule out of necessity, and just been generally running myself into the ground.

Luckily I was able to look at my options and determine a proper course of action. I'm behind on commission work and Patreon work so I did the following:

-Gathered up all orders that were completed and packaged them today, they'll be in the mail tomorrow.
-Paused my Patreon payments for August so I can focus more on overdue commissions.
-Am also going to do only one more comic page this month (next week) and then dedicate the rest of the month to commission work.
-If I'm not satisfied with the progress, or my mechanic decides to just never give me my truck back, I'll pause the comic work UNTIL I am satisfactorily caught up.

I do not like pausing the comics. I like working on them and people like when I upload them. However: they make me no money. Furries do not buy original pages or artwork the way most comic book fans do, my Patreon support is 90% commission based (If you'd like to support the comic, go in for as low as a dollar a month here: https://www.patreon.com/bone ) , and I simply do not have the time to color correct my old pages and compile them into a printable book (if YOU are someone capable of this then I might be able to hire you or do a Saturday painting for you, make me an offer). Until the comics make money I have to do what people are willing to pay me for, which is fine, but it is what it is.

I know my journals are usually funny and brisk but, and I realize this is reiteration, I really had to grind myself down hard this month to get what little done that I did. It's a case where something's gotta give (IE: my car is finally fixed, my dog becomes inexplicably lazy, someone buys all my originals, VHB gets a Netflix deal, or I keel over dead) and I don't plan on it being me. So August SHOULD be a fairly illustration heavy month. I've got lots of cool stuff to draw for all of you, it's gonna be a good time.

Time to go to work~

-Bone

This year was my tenth Anthrocon in a row, a fact anyone who's talked with me over the past month is probably a little TOO aware of; but this is the internet and repetition is necessary in the sea of noise lest people's microscopic attention spans fail you yet again. In the spirit of this auspicious anniversary I'd like to do a -brief- retrospective of my career as the World's Greatest Furry Artist (I said "brief" not "humble").

I went to my first AC in the summer of 2008, it was my first summer coming out of college. I had had a great first year of college, I had a great girl, loved my studies, and had managed to scrape together enough money to go to a con I'd wanted to go to for years. I was still circling the idea of furry with some wariness at this point; I didn't have a fursona and I still got embarrassed when my proclivity for bouncing, anthropomorphic bosoms came up. Oh yeah I was also still ardently straight. None of these things would last. I went with  talenshi (who still does cons with me) and another young man who has since... well I don't exactly know; I broke contact with him after college when he started living in some kind of furry fuck-house and decided that it was his duty as a friend to try to publicly shame me as often as possible. Also he would leave used dildos in our sink at FWA five years later and, when we called this behavior "rude", he decided we were all transphobic and never spoke to us ever again.

You meet some strange people in this line of work.

Anyhow, it was me and two other newbies at the con and we honestly didn't know what to expect but I distinctly recall feeling like I'd walked into another dimension once the con was in full swing and taking over downtown Pittsburgh. I also remember never wanting it or the wonderful feelings I was having to end; I was hooked. As if the free, fun, furry atmosphere hadn't been enough we learned about "Artist Alley"and decided to give it a try. we hustled over to the nearby FedEx Office Center and threw together signs, price sheets, and business cards. It was jank and we barely knew what we were doing but, three days later, I had more than made back the expenses of the trip and knew in my big goofy heart that I wanted to do this forever. I couldn't place my finger on it but some animalistic, artistic instinct knew, just KNEW, that there was potential here. I wanted to do this for a living.

So I did.

Well, it wasn't immediate. I first had to get through college. Graduating in 2011 from the Savannah College of Art and Design I earned a degree in "Sequential Art". A few months later I'd find myself living in Mobile, Alabama and raising kangaroos and wallabies for a living (I swear this is true, I have pictures), that job would eventually end and I would start working as a muralist and exhibit designer for science centers and history museums in the area. I was getting close to being able to quit that job though, my comic "False Start" was picking up steam, I was networking like a champ, cons were going good, and my online profile was increasing in stature. Things were looking good but, simply by virtue of the way this paragraph is structured, you know that it couldn't last.

On March 23rd, 2013 I would begin to get extremely dizzy while bowling despite not drinking or doing anything more arduous than, well, bowling. The feeling would subsist into the next day, and the next, then the next week, the next month... you get the idea. I began to get tired rapidly, my eyesight would fail sporadically, I had sever joint pain at all times, I had constant double vision. I was 24 years old and it felt like my body was rapidly aging every day. 13 specialists and an unholy amount of time in doctor's officess later I would find out I had a double dose of Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and, if I didn't begin taking antibiotics immediately, the former would continue to make me miserable and the latter would flat out kill me; this was in September of 2013. I started the antibiotic treatment and immediately started feeling better. Then I finished the regimen and the symptoms all came back, and then worsened, and worsened. I saw more doctors and specialists than I can remember and we would eventually learn that I had "Chronic Lyme Disease", IE: the kind you don't really get better from. I developed sever chest pains, I would have small seizures, and even developed severe "waking anxiety". None of this was helped by the fact that I was being sexually harassed (possibly even assaulted, depending on your definition of the word) by a person I had believed was a friend, who had decided that, me dying and all (my own mother would later tell me that she didn't think I was going to make it), it was the perfect time to tell their fiance that they were ALSO in love with me in order to get the fiance to be more committed(?), all the while continuously trying to seduce me (I never had sex with this person, THANK GOD) Whatever this lunatic couple was doing it worked for them and, my near corpse making a convenient launch platform, they catapulted into furry stardom and got married. Figuring my feminist friends wouldn't stand for this I waited to hear from them, figuring they'd want to rectify this great injustice; a dying man being sexually manipulated and preyed upon for someone else's perverse gratification and further manipulations? That's the kind of thing my feminist allies publicly denounced daily, I would have huge support!

Just kidding, they never asked me what happened, or even spoke to me again. When it comes down to "suck up to a popufur" or "stand up for your publicly stated beliefs" the former is going to win every time, turns out. Oh well, lesson learned!

At this point, dying, alone, and abused I completely fell apart. I was in and out of mental wards and hospitals and state sanctioned mental and physical health programs. I was on huge amounts of medication and the whole thing is one big, miserable, blur. I lost all my money, my job, most of my friends, had moved back in with my parents, and was mostly bedridden. It kind of sucked.

But I slowly put things back together. I still drew every day, even still working on commissions out of sheer spite, and worked to get myself physically active and emotionally stable (I was angry a lot, I think I'd earned it) and in July of 2016  kazekoe would ask me out. We started dating long distance and I fell madly in love with the cute redhead from Michigan with the smooth voice. Then on New Years Day we would move in together. Then he would graduate, get a great job while I was working out so hard that I'd gotten to be in the best physical shape of my life. My art was coming out again, I was doing comics, conventions, had a new artist crew. And it didn't end there!

On May 1st of this year  kazekoe would propose to me at the sushi restaurant he had taken me to when I first visited him two years prior. I, of course, said yes and now I wear this beautiful ring every day: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcJjbG6X0AA-QsD.jpg . We're getting in married in late Spring of next year. Oh yeah and then we'd move into a new, and better, apartment and adopt our awesome dog: Ditko!

And that catches us up to this year's Anthrocon. It was also good; the table was a hit, the art show was a huge success, and I got to hang out and talk to all my favorite people for one weird little weekend in Pittsburgh. I've often said that "Anthrocon is my favorite holiday" and it continues to be true. AC is like a metronome that I can measure the passage of time in my life by; good or bad AC has always been a bright spot for me and this year proved no different.

So yeah, that's a quick summary of my career so far as a furry artist. Maybe someday I'll make it into a comic. Oh! I mentioned my mom ("Mama-Bone" as stream attendees have begun to call her) was at the con this year, she wanted to see it after all this time and she loved it! I called her after the con and asked if there was anything she wanted to say to you all and here's what I got:

"I think the part I liked the most was the kids with their families. I would go up and talk to every family I saw that had kids running around in ears and tails and they all said the same thing: 'This is the happiest I've ever seen my child. At school they're quiet, don't talk much, get picked on, and don't feel like themselves but here... here they blossom. They're free to be themselves and I'm so glad I took them to this'. That really meant a lot to me, having raised two strange young men myself. Any family that looked uncomfortable I brought over to your booth and, after talking with you, they always felt better about the con, like it wasn't so 'weird' anymore. I think I'll be coming back next year."

I know this journal got rough there in the middle but talk about a double pick me up at the end there! There's really only one way to end a journal like this and that is, of course, with gratification; to you: the people who come to AC, that stop by and chat, that read the comics I make, everything! Thank you so much for allowing me to continue a life that seems too crazy and wild and fun to be real.

Here's to another few decades of Anthrocon,

-Bone


PS, sorry if this wasn't too brief.

Hi kids, here's a journal you won't read about an event I'll be at where you'll complain about not being able to find me because you didn't read this journal. This will be my tenth Anthrocon, I know these patterns!

Where are you staying?
The Double Tree. Please stalk me relentlessly.

What day are you getting there?
Thursday! Look for Big Red. (not the shouty meme lady, my truck)

How are you traveling?
In my truck (not on the back of the shouty meme lady, though if she's offering...)

Who will you be rooming with?
 shadow-of-nights, her MAN, and  gunrapt0r

How is the best way to find you?
Dealer's Den! Tables 006-007.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
Not this year, too many promised meet-ups with cool kids.

What do you look like?
Spiky dark blonde hair, 6 feet tall, black dress shirt, pink tie, gorgeous, etc...

Will you be suiting?
Someday there will be Bone suits, but this is not that day.

Do you do free art?
For free money.

Do you do trades?
Only if you have a substantial following and, therefore, are good for brand awareness. Oh yeah and you have to ACTUALLY POST THE ART I DO FOR YOU

What is your gender?
The better one.

Can I talk to you?
You fucking better.

Can I touch you?
Firm handshakes are encouraged.

Can I buy you drinks?
This is encouraged. If you drug me, however, do not expect to survive.

Can I give you stuff?
Sure, preferably drugs, rare comics, or overly sexual anime figurines.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Snuggling is gay.

Are you nice?
The nicest.

Will you be going to parties?
If drugs are involved.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
"I've read all of your comics! [Blank] is my favorite character!"

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
Sure, but if you do anything at all to hinder my plans: YOU'RE OUT! Don't be late, don't be picky, don't be rude, and don't have dietary needs.

Can I look in your sketchbook?
You fucking better.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
Sure, just ask first.

Can I take your picture?
You fucking better.

Do you do commissions?
I'll have some badge and sketchbook slots open. They go quick! UNLESS YOU PRE-ORDER A BADGE RIGHT NOW AND SAVE YOURSELF A HUGE HEADACHE THERE ARE THREE SLOTS LEFT

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Make sure my mom survives (she's coming this year because she wants to see what the hell her son has been doing for a decade)


BADGE PRE-ORDER INFO HERE, THEY ARE CHEAPER AND YOU GET THEM QUICKER IF YOU DO IT THIS WAY! I KNOW THERE'S SOME WEIRD INTERNET SHADOWBAN ON INTERACTING WITH ME ONLINE BUT I ASSURE YOU THAT NO ONE WILL HURT YOU FOR TALKING TO ME LIKE A MAN: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27812471/

It's been a hectic first quarter, which I already wrote about in a previous journal (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8666631/), and amidst the flurry of activity I was nominated for my first ever Ursa Major award! For those who don't know: the Ursa Majors are an award given out annually in the furry community, it's like our own personalized little Oscars. I was nominated for "Best Published Illustration" for this piece: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24439653/ . I am REALLY flattered to have been nominated and, even better, I'm up against my friend  dreamkeepers and even a double nomination against the legendary  blackteagan . I wouldn't have it any other way, up against some of the LITERAL BEST ARTISTS IN THE COMMUNITY, I don't even care about winning, just that people would put me in the same category as them fills me with pride. If you'd like to vote for me go ahead, it's all right there: http://www.ursamajorawards.org/voting2017/

However: do not vote for me if you don't think my cover is the best. I'm a meritocratic man and wouldn't want anybody voting against their aesthetic sensibilities. It would be nice to win, but I want to win fair and, hey, there's always next year~

-Bone

I'll open this saying that I don't really like writing journals; I'm a very private person and writing these things feels like an invasion of my privacy, except that I'm committing on myself. I'm not a masochist, if that's your thing: please don't tell me, it's not as you think. Tell me about a book you read instead, but only if it's non-fiction. Good luck.

Anyway: my first quarter has been one for well... not THE record book but maybe some kind of record book. I just wanted people to know what all I've been up to, where I'm at putting the "False Start" book that about five people are VERY excited about (the rest are just wondering if the book release will contain a secret porn chapter[no]), and I like having journals that I can link people to. It's like a FAQ. So, here is what I'm in the midst of:


2017: Final Chapter Prelude

At the end of 2017 my boyfriend  kazekoe and I were very abruptly confronted with his job being terminated. We panicked, a sure thing was now a non-thing and suddenly I, the pervert artist, had to take on a LOT of responsibility. We buckled down and prepared for the worst when suddenly, like a deus ex machina that would make me curse at a film, we got a Xmas miracle.  kazekoe renegotiated with his employer and instead of not having a job ended up with the same job but they now pay him more. He's good with people that way. I had taken on some extra commission work already though (now I'm closed outside of book cover work and saturday stuff). Then I, of course, had to do the Holiday Family Shuffle. I love my family but it always sets me back on my work Blah.


2018 XV: Kingsglaive

So I somehow ended up in a movie about diversity. Points against that: I'm a very white dude. Points for that: "Ooooh! A bisexual comic artist with lyme disease! We simply MUST have him." The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGwd4Sif_lg The movie, a documentary, premiered locally to a gigantic audience (nearly 2,000 people) during a pretty crazy night. It's a smaller film but a lot of special interest groups are interested in it and it keeps having new showings, once you can view it outside of a theater I'll do a write-up about it and give y'all a link. And: YES MY FURRY ARTWORK IS IN THE FILM AND IT'S GREAT (some of you guy's commissions made it in hurhur). Also, bonus points: the producer/director called me a "gay republican" (I'm neither of these things).


False Start Versus XIII

I finished the first "False Start" arc! WOW I WAS SO PROUD! The last page even got five comments or something! Worth it. Regardless people want me to put out a book and I will be doing so via the  dreamkeepers people, who I've signed with. I just have to handle a few things:
1. Old commissions and Patreon rewards that fell behind due to The Holidays and also just living a life. I've got lots to do but after looking through my backlog I ended up thinking "goddamn do I get to draw a lot of fun things!" I'm not worried, if you are: hit me up with a note!
2. I want to make it a nice book, And to do that I did a new cover (did you see it? It's pretty! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26691139/ ) and I'm also doing color correction on a LOT of older pages since in the middle section they got way too fucking dark since my screen was improperly calibrated.
3. I want to do this right. I've supported five different comic books on Kickstarter and I've only ever gotten ONE of those comics. I will NOT be doing that to you guys! So I'm getting everything in a good place so I can do this with as few issues as possible.


GFFM

So a furry con made me Guest of Honor! AND IT WAS AWESOME, they were crazy nice to me, we made a bunch for charity, and now I've been told I'll be appearing on "The Dragget Show" (Keep bothering Alkali about it, he loves it). I also did four different presentations at the con and people wanted me to post my notes from them. Some of them were caught on video, I'll post if they go up.

Visual Storytelling: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K.....TkpuML9j2x7xgg

Drawing for Illustration and Storytelling: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1J.....eoPbNxIc8oaUTc

Furry Marketing: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F.....nEchzPMcHu2Wds

Running a Creative Enterprise: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1p.....9Y5NCvLhT_7sOg


Furry Fantasy XV, Episode: Bone.

So what now? Well I paused my Patreon for a month, I was struggling to keep up because of, well, all of the above plus other stuff that is boring and does not have to do sexy wolf boy tempters so who cares. I'm going to be focusing on catching up over the next month a half, appearing at MCFC for the first time, and working on getting "False Start: Chapter Zero" drawn and getting my poor sweet VHB back on track. I miss all my comics! Let's get them back!

It'll be fun~

-Bone

So I had planned to launch a Kickstarter campaign for a physical version of "False Start" season one at the end of this month. Beyond the fact that I'm working my ass off catching up on holiday/we-didn't-think-my-boyfriend-was-going-to-have-a-job-for-a-while layover and, thus, haven't been promoting the KS launch much (well that and I don't like to over promote things, feeling that good products don't need to be shouted about). Still, hard work was paying off and it was looking like I'd be able to launch at the end of the month. Sadly, though, that previous sentence was past tense so you already know something didn't quite work out right; and you would be correct. First off: my grandmother died and I have to travel for the funeral. I normally wouldn't even mention it (I don't like publicly mourning) but with the promised KS right around the corner I felt it prudent. If you're a well wisher please direct thoughts/vibes/prayers to my mom as she's pretty broken up about it.

Secondly: I somehow managed to tear the patella ligament in my right knee the other day and spent all day going to different medical facilities figuring out what the hell happened. They've done X-rays, etc... and depending on how bad the damage is I'll either be out of this obnoxious knee brace in a week or two or I could need surgery. I'll post about it on my Twitter if anything interesting develops (@boneitis).

Regardless. I'd like to get the KS going before I do my GoH stint at GFM in early March so expect it soon. If I have to delay it further to make sure I do a good job though, I will, as it's more important to me to do good work than quick work.

Thanks for your understanding,

-Bone

Seriously. Holy hell guys. Let me try to sum up this crazy weekend:

Thursday:

I get on the road to  shadow-of-nights place after restocking my print binder (which y'all would proceed to decimate, thank you very much!) and I arrive relatively late. I have a chronic condition (don't get Lyme disease kids) so I take a medication that knocks me out at night, otherwise chest pains keep me up. So it got to be sleep time and I take my meds and not even fifteen minutes later I get a Twitter DM from Adum of "Your Movie Sucks" fame (AKA "The Cool Cat Guy": https://www.youtube.com/user/YourMovieSucksDOTorg )telling me "hey I'm hanging out with Dick, want to join?" Now Adum and I have never talked but I know his work, know he's a furry, and somehow he ended up hanging out with Dick and they got ahold of me. Now those sleep meds are powerful but I was NOT missing a chance to hang out with a cool guy like Adum and, quite literally, my favorite comedian in the world: Dick Masterson. A little star shocked and drugged I got driven over to the hotel by my wonderful perfect boyfriend  kazekoe , chugged a Red Bull and headed up to the room. Dick himself answered the door in what was, perhaps, the most surreal moment of my life. I've listened to this guy for YEARS now and to just have him suddenly there was pretty wild. At the room was Adum, Dick, Peach (a popular Twitch streamer: https://twitter.com/PeachSaliva ) and some other furs who apparently were at Burning Man (one was named "Uni" I believe). And so we just hung out and shot the shit. Dick, Peach, and I talked about our respective careers and I managed to come off fairly suave. Sadly this suaveness would not last as we would proceed to the rave and I would prove that I still do not know how to behave during dances and awkwardly thrust my stupid ferret butt around as best I could. Still, Dick and I made fun of the more awkward parts of the rave and that was fun. At the end of the night we got our picture together: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DP8ahySXUAA9wg1.jpg (from left to right: Me, Peach, Dick, Adum, and Uni)

Fucking awesome Thursday.


Friday: I rapidly set up my booth at the new MFF con center which is probably the Least Convenient Building to Get Anything Done In I've been in. everything was far apart, confusing, and sometimes extremely warm. I got it set up though and then proceeded to get slammed at my table for the entirety of the dealer's room hours. My voice was shot but I was in high spirits. I proceeded to go out to dinner with  dreamkeepers and a bunch of his fans. Regrettably this expenditure was "planned" by one of said fans and ended up taking in excess of four hours. Thus I got home and was unable to get any of my layouts done and would spend the rest of the weekend intermittently selling pictures of Starfox and inking badges. New rule: if you try to take me out to dinner at a con and try to load me on a FUCKING TRAIN (  fluff-kevlar has attempted this, I was not pleased) or give me a place that's a half hour away I will call you a food autist and eat with people who aren't made of spare time. Ten years in and people are still finding ways to try and sabotage me at cons, that's what I love about this job: it's a constant learning experience.

Saturday:
I woke up in a wretched mood due to last night's time wasting but perked up once the dealer's room opened (and I finally got coffee). I spent the day in the dealer's room telling people "no I can't do a badge for you, they sold out in like fifteen minutes yesterday" and would then sell them a Starfox print. It was awesome watching MFF balloon up to surpass AC as Biggest Furry Con in the World (though AC runs much better, MFF is still figuring things out though and I get that). I met lots of cool people and then...

...then The Dick Show was upon us.

For those of you not paying attention I'd spent November setting up and promoting the most amazing MFF event in the history of the con: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8478426/ and, goddamnit, I pulled it off. Me and nine other furs struck out on Saturday to go see the 20 Million Dollar Man himself: Dick Masterson. Also at the show were such characters as Madcucks, Crocodile Dundude (definitely NOT Asterios Kokkinos), Peach Saliva, Dick's Life Coach, and Sean the Audio Engineer. The show was a blast and, if you're curious, you can listen to it for free here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/15732458 Dick loved my sign ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25596186/ ) and I got it signed after the show by the whole cast. During the show people cheered when they figured out the furries were there ( I, my art, and my plan had been talked about in a previous episode, about 4:30 in : http://thedickshow.com/episode-75/ ) and people even took my picture: https://twitter.com/Boneitis/status.....70625431752704 . I got to talk a bunch with the cast of the show (some even gave me their phone numbers) and Dick asked me to draw a fursona of his girlfriend with "really big cans". It was an absolutely awesome night and I'm so glad all my planning panned out.

Sunday:

I wake up in a haze (I hadn't been drinking, I was just tired) and went to the Dealer's Room for one last round. Lots of prints were starting to sell out and I was feeling pretty damn good about that, a bunch of people even took home originals! The hours for Dealer's room came to an end though and we packed up and headed out. Nothing particularly crazy happened, I was tired and hungry but goddamn did I feel good about the weekend.

Wrap up:

The next day I emailed Dick in the morning because he had asked me to be on the show! It turns out they were recording the episode on Monday night so I hustled on back to Michigan, opened the Discord link Dick had given me and waited for the show to start. Once it did it was only about 45 minutes before they brought me in and we talked furries, an embarrassing story, and I even did a Rage! You can listen to the episode here, I'm at about the 47 minute mark: http://thedickshow.com/episode-79/ I never thought I'd be on the show, much less because of my career as a furry comic artist but it ended up being a pipe dream come true!

So that's what happened to me at the con! Did you stop by? Say something in the comments because I more-than-likely remember you and would love to reminisce about the good times. If you couldn't make MFF this year there are always more cons in the future!

Thanks for an awesome con guys, I'll see you next year.

-Bone

Going to talk about "The Dick Show" stuff because you can ignore it all you want but it's happening. The popufurs hate that I'm doing it (confirmed resposnse from current furry media darling "BoozyBadger": "Not interested. Have Fun" Curt!) but nothing can stop it now. For those who missed my previous journal ( Click for excessive deets: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8478426/ ) I'm planning a big foray on Saturday night over to the Appollo Theater to see "The Dick Show: Live! Road Rage Chicago!" a live, and insane, comedy show put on by one of the most successful podcasts in the world (currently doing $25,000 a month on Patreon). Not only that but I, my artwork, and even some of YOU got a call out on the show itself! (About 4:30 in: http://thedickshow.com/episode-75/ ) I personally am overjoyed and was super flattered to get talked about on literally-my-favorite-show by literally-my-favorite-comedian and have actually been talking back and forth with Dick about the crossover on GAB (Dick got permabanned from Twitter for telling someone to "eat a cinderblock", here's my spicy GAB account: https://gab.ai/Boneitis ) and he's kind of jazzed for the furries to show up. I've currently got four cars lined up to help people get to the show and more will probably show up as I promote the event at my table (G-6). Dick also REALLY likes fursuits so priority will be given to suiters who need transportation. ALSO: if you have a spare fursuit, that isn't garbage, I'd be willing to rent it from you for the event at a REASONABLE price. The entire event will be recorded and uploaded to the TDS website and then the plan is to have me on the show the week after to discuss the inevitable chaos. It's gonna be wild! Buy advance tickets here or RISK GETTING THEM AT THE DOOR!!! https://www1.ticketmaster.com/event.....LLO_ONSALEMAIL

So now the regular furry stuff because it's MFF time you filthy animals!


Where are you staying?
At  shadow-of-nights place, might crash some rooms depending on what sort of horrible decisions I make though.

What day are you getting there?
Thursday!

How long are you going?
Thursday through Monday

How are you traveling?
Big Red!

Who are you rooming with?
 kazekoe,  gun-rapt0r,  talenshi, and  shadow-of-nights

Who will you hang out with during the convention?
Cool people. Apparently the YMS guy is looking for me?

What is the best way to find you?
During Dealer's hours: Table G-6 (handy map I made: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25470404/ )

Are there any panels you might be attending?
The Dick Show is like a panel!

What do you look like?
Fucking gorgeous: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/22334972/

Will you be suiting?
Maybe, anyone got a loaner for Saturday?

Do you do free art?
For free money.

Do you do trades?
For cool stuff (drugs).

What is your gender?
Male.

How tall are you?
6 ft even.

Can I talk to you?
Please do!

Can I touch you?
I shake hands and do hugs and stuff.

How can I find you?
Table G-6!

Can I visit your room?
The logistics make that tricky.

Can I buy you drinks?
Hell yes! If you drug me (with not-fun-drugs) you won't live to tell about it though!

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Snuggles are for ladies and gays.

Can I give you stuff?
People give me all kinds of weird shit, I cannot stop them.

Are you nice?
I'm not nice, I'm charming.

Can I stalk you?
Who wrote this thing?

Do you have an artist table?
G-6! Dealer's Room! Pink tie!

Will you be going to parties?
Of course!

Will you be performing?
In the sense that life is a stage, yes.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
"Bone!"

Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
Dealers Room, hustlin'.

What/where will you be eating?
Who fucking knows at these things.

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
Are you cool?

Can I look in your sketchbook?
If you wish to pass The First Test.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
Not in the portfolios please!

Can I take your picture?
I encourage it!

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Literally live the dream.

So here's the deal: through what could perhaps only be the hand of fate I have come upon the most insane, wild party there could possibly be at MFF. That isn't hyperbole or hipster-clickbait talking: it's me; and I never lie (except to the government). Read on because I want every last one of you at this thing. I've got all the information AND I've preemptively answered every possible excuse for not showing up.

So Midwest Fur Fest is approaching (if you're going then you already know) and it falls upon the same weekend as "ROAD RAGE: CHICAGO – DICK MASTERSON’S INTERNATIONAL JASS FESTIVAL". I know what you're thinking "Bone this has nothing to do with furry and that is literally the entire scope of my interests". Well if you haven't already tabbed out then let me fill you in:

1. What is "The Dick Show"?

It's a podcast (listen here: http://thedickshow.com/ ) that has millions of downloads and is supported by one of the most successful Patreons of all time (https://www.patreon.com/thedickshow/posts if you don't believe me). It is hosted by Dick Masterson who is one of my personal heroes. He is the writer of the book "Men are Better than Women" (DUMB IDIOT DROOL ALERT: it's hilarious, calm down), was a former host on "The Biggest Problem in the Universe", and is all around one of the funniest dudes in the world.

2. What does this have to do with MFF?

Nothing and everything. Dick mentions furries all the time on the show and is genuinely curious about the subculture, even going so far as to have had furries guest on the show. When I first found out about the show being in Chicago the same week as MFF I planned to go and told Dick on Twitter that it was the same week as MFF. He responded and told me to "for real, bring your furs" (here's the tweet: https://twitter.com/Boneitis/status.....31712594694144 ) . I told him I'd try and since then he's ACTUALLY stated that furries will be at the show ( https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNel-hPU8AQ4gGJ.jpg ) and, although he's since been banned from twitter (every actually interesting/funny person is) he's even been supportive of the idea on Gab: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNe-5DeVoAAhOP_.jpg . He want us there!

3. How do you know this party will be so crazy?

This will be the third Dick Show: Live and, if previous entries are any indication, there is a lot of alcohol, rowdiness, and good times going on: http://thedickshow.com/road-rage/philly/ , http://thedickshow.com/road-rage/los-angeles/ I've also been designing a fursona for Dick (a hyena) and plan to print out a wall scroll and bring it to the show: https://twitter.com/Boneitis/status.....27771047907335

4. Where do I get tickets?

Here my man: https://www1.ticketmaster.com/event.....LLO_ONSALEMAIL The event is at the Apollo Theater at 8 PM on Saturday night. Once the dealer's room closes I will be meeting with anyone who's bought tickets and wants to go in the main lobby of MFF. I am easy to find as I am the guy in black with the pink tie. If you CANNOT find me in time (getting groups organized at cons is hard!) just drive out to the Apollo Theater and be there! Not that hard!

5. Why should I do this?

Because it's fun! Because you'll get a fuck ton of attention (ESPECIALLY if you wear your fursuit)! It'll be hilarious! It'll all be filmed and watched by thousands of fans! I can't think of a better highlight to a furry convention than this!

6. Have you really preempted every excuse someone could have not to go?

I've certainly tried! Here's my list:

-"I won't be at MFF!"
Ok then don't comment, instead use that time to tell your friends who WILL be at MFF to go to this! Then you can watch this crazy thing unfold live on the stream!

-"I don't have any friends."
Jesus tits, shut up you baby.

-"I don't like parties."
I know you're very proud of being an introvert or whatever but now is NOT THE TIME! (But seriously, if parties actually make you dizzy just tell some of your friends like to party hardy)

-"I can't afford it."
You're going to a furry convention, you can spare twenty more bucks. If you can't then you probably shouldn't be going to a con, very irresponsible!

-"I don't like Dick Masterson, I saw him on Dr. Phil eight years ago and he was mean!"
That was a joke you idiot, what are you: a Maddox fan?

-"I'm already going to a different party that night!"
Get that party to merge with this one! This one will be better!

-"I need a ride!"
I'll drive as many people as I can in my truck, fursuiters get priority access though. I want your fuzzy asses there! I'll be continuing to organize rides as the event approaches. If you CAN drive yourself please do, and please be willing to help other furs out!

-"I have [issue] with [weirdly arbitrary, personal thing that Bone has absolutely no control over]"
Then I don't want your sensitive ass around, stay home!

-"[convoluted, janky question from a contrarian just trying to prove that I didn't preempt EVERY excuse, not actually trying to solve an issue.]"
Fuck off.


Anyhow, I think that's everything one would need to know: time, place, event! If you have a question or concern that I didn't address please pipe up in the comments or send me a PM. I'll be taking lots of pictures and doing a recap of the whole event after the con!

-Bone

The final quarter of the year: all you want to do is do your job but everyone suddenly wants your time and physical presence! Everyone! The blooduscking energy leeches that is "Everyone Else"!

It's October here in ruddy northern Michigan and it's humid, hot, and my AC keeps breaking. I'm floating the household while the man finishes up college in December. Wallets are tight and the month is going to be crazy. In a little less than two weeks I'm joining  dreamkeepers , my co-host from that-comics-podcast-I'm-on-but-you-probably-don't-know-about-it-because-I-keep-it-kinda-semi-secret, and this crazy dude from Australia who I'm going to teach how to talk to women. That last dude set up the whole thing and is paying for it so I'm not saying "no", I'm just going to go out in the woods, set some trot lines, drink, and draw anyway. Leave me alone.

During that vacation a new furry con asked me to show so I'll be at Aquatifur! Please buy something since I've spent over half a grand purchasing con tables this month! I hate it! On top of that I'm trying to finish up this issue of "False Start", keep up with Patreon (I am contractually obliged to plug this: https://www.patreon.com/bone ), and run the household like an evil overlord covered in ink. November is blessedly almost-free of large obligations so I may actually catch up!

And December is always a fucking joke, I get to do MFF at the beginning (hooray!) but then it's obligation central and we all know it.

What I'm saying is: sorry I'm so slow at everything, it is NOT for lack of work ethic! As always if you need an update on a commission or want to know what's up just send me a note!

Thanks for your patience,

-Bone

Promo journals like this never get any traction and everyone hates them BUT

BUT

BUT

I constantly get asked if my originals can be bought anywhere online and I finally sat down and made myself a little storefront to sell them at. Here it is: http://boneitis.storenvy.com/

The way it's going to work is that every week I'll upload four new pieces at various sizes and prices (feel free to request certain pieces) and announce it on my twitter ( https://twitter.com/Boneitis ). I'll announce them here on FA only occasionally because I don't want to be obnoxious and over-saturate MYSELF. So those of you who have been jonesing for an original but can't make it to any of the cons I'm at: have at it and happy shopping!

-Bone

It's a bit sudden but my buddy, and con GoH,  talenshi pulled some strings and got me a dealer's table at FMN! So here's the lowdown on this out-of-the-blue con appearance:

Where are you staying?
Guest of Honor Suite, aw yeah!

What day are you getting there?
Thursday! Look for Big Red.

How are you traveling?
See previous answer.

Who will you be rooming with?
 shadow-of-nights and  talenshi

How is the best way to find you?
Dealer's Den! They haven't listed a table number yet so just look for the guy with the pink tie.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
I might talk at some of the ones  talenshi does, we'll see. Go to her panels regardless, she's a much better artist than me.

What do you look like?
Like someone who's out of your league.

Will you be suiting?
Someday there will be Bone suits, but this is not that day.

Do you do free art?
For free money.

Do you do trades?
Only if you have a substantial following and, therefore, are good for brand awareness. Oh yeah and you have to ACTUALLY POST THE ART I DO FOR YOU

What is your gender?
The better one.

Can I talk to you?
You fucking better.

Can I touch you?
Firm handshakes are encouraged.

Can I buy you drinks?
Sadly no, it might actually kill me according to the massive amount of directions I was given with this new medication!

Can I give you stuff?
Sure, preferably drugs, rare comics, or overly sexual anime figurines.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Snuggling is gay.

Are you nice?
The nicest.

Will you be going to parties?
If drugs are involved.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
"I've read all of your comics! [Blank] is my favorite character!"

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
Sure, but if you do anything at all to hinder my plans: YOU'RE OUT! Don't be late, don't be picky, don't be rude, and don't have dietary needs.

Can I look in your sketchbook?
You fucking better.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
Sure, just ask first.

Can I take your picture?
You fucking better.

Do you do commissions?
I'll have some badge and sketchbook slots open. They go quick!

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Make  talenshi look really good because she goddamn deserves it.

See you there you goddamn monsters.

-Bone

So this year has REALLY taken off and Anthrocon kind of made that point to me. Badges/sketchbooks filled up in fifteen minutes. Fox McCloud prints sold out TWICE. I stopped accepting commission work altogether due to a huge increase in interest and a growing backlog of work (more on that later). The vitriolically titled "popufurs" started to notice me in large numbers, the furry comic publishers are circling, and the constant social media feedback is a beautiful and ever-tempting distraction. What the heck did I do right all of a sudden? I blame the boyfriend (one year anniversary tomorrow!).

The above is, essentially, my way of saying "thank you for an absolutely wonderful Anthrocon". This was my ninth AC, in a row no less, and it couldn't have gone better. My crew expanded with two new members (the MRE chomping  gunrapt0r and plushie making Annie Linn, who's working on getting that FA!) who passed all my tests (that I secretly use to gauge whether people are worth having around) with flying colors! People who stopped by my table were of a consistently high-caliber, even blockading me from my arch-nemeses: the Chihuahua Men. Such bravery in the face of absolute evil is commendable. I don't even know how to follow that up, if you saw me at AC leave a comment; I read all of them and respond to the ones that I manage to conjure a readable response to.

Such a sharp increase in eyeball and people traffic has led me to *quite* the workload. I think most people find that kind of thing intimidating but I'm, honest to Furry-Lion-Jesus, excited! Every idea is a good one and, from what I've gathered of my current clientele, you lot are a patient and engaged bunch. I've finally sifted through all the post-convention messages (at least I hope!) and have things in relative order. I'll be spending this month catching up on last month's Patreon rewards, comic pages, and getting things squared away so I can go into Full Commission Burn in August and September. As always if you have questions or I've managed to overlook something do NOT be afraid to message me, I'll answer intelligibly.

Thanks again for a reading my comics and saying hi at cons. You're too good to me, but please be even better so that I can become rich on Furry-Money.

-Bone

All the information you need and some you probably don't!

Where are you staying?
AirBnB, my crew's usual.

What day are you getting there?
Thursday! Ladies in tow.

How are you traveling?
Big Red of course!

Who will you be rooming with?
 gunrapt0r,  kazekoe,  shadow-of-nights, and  talenshi

How is the best way to find you?
Dealer's Den tables E02 and E03!

Are there any panels you might be attending?
Not this year, though I will be running some next year.

What do you look like?
I'm fucking beautiful, look for the pink tie and shades.

Will you be suiting?
Not yet! Bone suit may be a thing if Patreon/business continues to grow.

Do you do free art?
For free money.

Do you do trades?
Only if you have a substantial following and, therefore, are good for brand awareness. Oh yeah and you have to ACTUALLY POST THE ART I DO FOR YOU

What is your gender?
The better one.

Can I talk to you?
You fucking better.

Can I touch you?
I shake hands like a man should and hug people who aren't sweaty.

How can I find you?
I think this was already listed but Dealer's Den E02 and E03!

Can I buy you drinks?
Sadly no, it might actually kill me according to the massive amount of directions I was given with this new medication!

Can I give you stuff?
Sure, preferably drugs or weird comics.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
If you "snuggle" me I'll break your nose but a solid hug is always welcome.

Are you nice?
I am extremely charming.

Will you be going to parties?
If it's a good one!

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
"Bone you truly are the world's greatest furry artist, here is a bar of [insert precious metal]."

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
Sure, but if you do anything at all to hinder my plans: YOU'RE OUT! Don't be late, don't be picky, don't be rude, and don't have dietary needs.

Can I look in your sketchbook?
You fucking better.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
Sure, just ask first.

Can I take your picture?
You fucking better.

Do you do commissions?
Someone already bought half of my sketchbook slots for the con so I'll have three sketchbook/badge slots at the con and will only accept larger, long term illustration commissions from people who are willing to wait a very long time. My schedule has filled up at an unprecedented rate this year and some people have been waiting a very long time. They will be getting some of the best work I've ever done out of it though!

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
I have two goals this year and they're both business related. If you're a furry publisher: hit me up for stuff; I never miss deadlines and I never cause drama. Also I can draw better.

See you there you filthy animals.

-Bone

I'm writing this journal based on a tweet I just sent out ( https://twitter.com/Boneitis/status.....41165889687552 ) that got some pretty interesting responses. Sadly it's a tweet so there isn't a lot of room for nuance, speculation, context, etc... so I figured I'd pose the question here with some of my own thoughts, and also give people a chance to respond in greater detail than twitter allows. Here's what I asked:

"Serious question: why do so many high profile furry artists hide how much they're making on Patreon? I figured it would be a point of pride!"

If you'd just like to respond to that feel free to skip the rest of this. If you'd like to hear my thoughts about this odd trend in behavior amongst the "Furry Elite" read on.

I'm a businessman, I do not hide that fact whatsoever. I like business, it's an art unto its own. I do what I do full time and live comfortably off of it but, like all men, I always want to improve my standing in life to the absolute maximum of my abilities. In trying to do so I often look at what other more successful artists are doing and take away what I can from them. With the game changer that is Patreon I often find myself reading through the Patreons of furry artists that have obscenely large followings and try to figure out some of their strategies and if they could work for me. These artists are clearly doing a lot of things right and I'd be a fool to ignore that. However, during my many perusings I've noticed that a fairly large amount (in my estimation the majority even) of highly sought after furry artists hide the dollar amount they are making. I find this very odd as I figured it would be a point of pride, a way to advertise to others how successful one is. If you're making a lot of money on Patreon you're clearly a talent that people are invested in so why not advertise "Hey people say I'm worth this much!"

To my knowledge Patreon doesn't allow people to hide the number of active Patrons they have but many of these artists have hundreds of Patrons, even thousands in some cases. To further muddle things I've noticed that this trend seems fairly exclusive to furries, as many comedians and podcasters I follow on Patreon leave the amount they are making up and in a lot of cases point to it as a source of pride. I realize that it IS unusual to tell people how much money you make at most jobs but in the age of Kickstarter and Patreon there seems to be a more fluid attitude towards that set of particular social norms.

I posited this question on Twitter and got a number of responses that were all over the place. I named this journal as I did because it was what I ended up leaning towards: do furries have a love/hate relationship with the artists they follow? If you happen to BE a very successful furry artist who hides that dollar amount: why do you do it personally? Or if you KNOW someone who fits that description point them towards this journal. Why do furry artists seem to hide how much they make on Patreon more than others? Am I completely misreading things? Please sound off in the comments! I think this is really interesting stuff and would love to hear your thoughts!

-Bone

A commissioner got ahold of me ahead of time and paid a pretty large amount to get the two badges for this Sautrday, he uh... REALLY wanted them. I'll still be streaming them TONIGHT ( picarto.tv/bone ) at 7 PM EST. So if you were interested in getting an Anthrocon Pre-Order badge then next Saturday is your last possible chance from me, after that you'll have to haul ass to my AC Dealer's Table (M14) when they let loose the flood gates. If you have an outstanding badge order from me and will BE at Anthrocon: hit me up and I'll haul my own ass on that!

-Bone

Want to get a badge from me but not have to fight the rush? Badges that I do at cons always sell out in the first hour of the Dealer's Room opening so here's an alternative:

I stream every Saturday at 7 PM EST ( https://picarto.tv/bone ). I shoot the shit with fellow furs and draw whatever, sometimes people pay me to draw stuff. It's fun and usually pretty dang funny, or so I'm told. SO! Every Saturday until Anthrocon I've got a special deal going: AC pre-order badges done live! Here's How it works for you:

1. Read my badge prices here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10839251/

2. PM me the details: what size of badge you'd like and a ref of your character (written references must be 280 characters, preferably less).

3. If you got yours in fast enough I'll PM you back with a PayPal/me link and, once you pay, I'll get you in the queue for that night.

4. Show up for the stream and watch it get done live! (Optional)

5. Pick up your badge at AC! If you don't you'll go on The Board of Shame until you do.

If you don't make it in this week I'll post this journal every Saturday until AC so you'll get another chance.

Happy Badge Hunting,

-Bone

Good afternoon Boneitis Industries beta testers! Hope you're having a great day because it's only going to get better with our unveiling of the 3.0 Patch for your HomeBone (V. Beta). Some of you may have noticed some small changes to the many different implemented functions and options for your HomeBone but the HomeBone is a versatile product and we'd hate for you to miss out on the opportunity to put your model through its paces as we draw nearer and nearer to our final product. So, without further ado, here are the new options and features we've patched into the HomeBone:

-Wednesday comic updates: One of the surprise hit features of the HomeBone was its ability to create comics. They started strange with the original 8 page "False Start", saw revisions with the more robust and ongoing "False Start" title, and we even saw our model start to make headway into more erotic territory with "Vampire Hunter Boyfriends". Our main issue was perfecting its creativity algorithms to maintain consistent comic output but with this patch the HomeBone will be putting out new comic pages EVERY Wednesday, alternating between the two mentioned titles. Further funding for the project will only increase our ability to have the HomeBone manufacture comic content. Speaking of which...

-Revised Funding Model: Currently we're using Patreon to fund the development of the HomeBone and it's been a real boon to the project. We've had to eliminate some funding tiers and tinker with others but the model is still very viable. Funding for the HomeBone project will unlock new features that are as of yet unavailable to the majority of beta testers. Features include: an Advanced Pornographic Image Generation Subroutine which causes your HomeBone to send you even more hand drawn 4k furry pornography. The black and white APIGS option is available to all users still, but we like to give our project funders a little something extra. Their are also still options that allow the HomeBone to draw you custom imagery (including one slot left for the oft sought after full color option), check out our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/bone

-Over Halfway to Our Next Tier: We're over halfway to the next upgrade tier. We realize that it's steep but considering the enthusiasm for the project we figure that people want to see this happen as hitting this kind of funding goal would allow us to greatly expedite the development process. We'll stop linking it after this we promise! https://www.patreon.com/bone

-Integrated Streaming: The Alpha HomeBone has been streaming for over a year now and his language refining algorithms have him sounding more and more human every week! We stream the Alpha product every Saturday, 7 PM EST at https://picarto.tv/bone . We've got the Alpha doing live art production for commissioners and even interacting with guests on a variety of complicated topics.

-Con Schedule: We want to show off our HomeBone to prospective buyers at cons where we've noticed a lot of interests in our little art-producing-ferret. We'll be at Anthrocon in the dealer's room at table M14 and we've also applied to Indy Fur Con and Midwest Fur Fest and will continue to keep these pages updated with dates and places: https://twitter.com/Boneitis

-Fixed a glitch where, when streaming, the HomeBone would fail to drink high enough proof alcohol. He now only responds to 80 or higher proof, as intended.

-We've finished moving the majority of our studio to our new Michigan premises and our collaborators at Project Wyvern have received new funding that has enabled further flexibility in our tinkering schedules. (They also give mean back rubs over there! Hot damn!)

-The damage from the L.Y.M.E. virus attack has largely been wiped out, home users should notice no more residual effects.

That's all for now! Hope you enjoy exploring the new features of your HomeBone and please feel free to tell us below in the comments what features you love most and which NEW features you most want to see!

-Boneitis Industries staff

If you're looking for anything shockingly graphic you'll be disappointed but this series of emails may be the weirdest of my career; so let me set the stage:

Last month I was at FurSquared, I was wearing my usual duds and doing my usual thing when someone who looks a little too, well, normal approaches. Middle aged, dressed in an understated but fashionable manner, and sporting nice hair this was not the usual con-goer (sorry y'all, ya dress terribly). After some customers clear out this clearly out-of-place woman approaches me and introduces herself (I'm keeping her name private) and informs me that she's a professor at a nearby university, teaches a number of subjects and one of them is, holy hell, a course on depictions and attitudes about bestiality/zoophilia throughout history. My initial thought about "wow you can spend money on some whacky courses in college" was immediately replaced with curiosity; it's a ferret thing I'm told. The professor has been teaching the course for a while and sees some parallels in our little community that she'd like to explore/know more about and, after perusing the room, decided I was the least frightening person in the room that drew pornography (once again: you don't have to dress like someone who makes porn just because you happen to). My thoughts on fashion aside the professor and I got to talking about what each of us does for a living and it was a bizarre but fascinating talk, wish ya could've been there, really! I had a business to run and, the Prof. recognizing this, said she would email me to ask more questions. I was game, but not expecting to hear from her, most of these things never pan out.

But this one did.

What follows are those emails. The Prof. wanted to hear from the community so I'm positing our exchange so you all can respond. Your responses may help form a strange syllabus, lecture, or simply inform some academics about our community. I've removed some personal information (I don't want anyone bothering this woman), otherwise these emails are completely unaltered. Please share this around to anyone you think it's relevant to and also leave your thoughts!

The Exchange:


Email from Professor #1:

Hi, Kit. We met today at Fur Squared -- here's my picture to jog your memory, in case more than one professor approached your booth:

(Picture removed)

I'm a medievalist (that is, I am a professional student and teacher of the Middle Ages). My specialty is medieval literature, and I'm interested in the human/animal interface. I think I mentioned that I'm engaged on a research project on medieval bestiality right now and that I came to the convention to get a new perspective on my own research. I'm less interested in bestiality as a sexual practice and more interested in it as a kind of metaphor. Humans have always wanted to cross the species boundary. They have often done so spiritually (e. g. shamanistic practices) or intellectually (e. g. fables, animal stories). They've also crossed over sexually -- particularly via stories of animal brides and bridegrooms (such as Beauty and the Beast), hypersexed satyrs and centaurs, etc. There are also medieval traditions of masking and costuming, with a few instances of people wearing animal costume (though it's very rare).

I am teaching a course on all of this right now, in fact.

I see the furry fandom as just a modern extension to all of these very ancient desires and practices. I'm most interested in the erotic aspect, not because it's the most "sensational" but because it's in line with my research interests. I imagine that some furries are zoophiles, most aren't. I also imagine that many engage in some kind of erotic animal role-playing. I'm interested in the practices of "puppy"/"kitty"/"pony" play, the costumes that people wear (which are not revealing at all, interestingly), the "adult" nature of much of the proceedings, the clear interest in erotic furry art and fiction, but also the rather demure and childlike vibe that I get from many people. I didn't find the convention to be overtly sexual at all, which rather surprised me.

If you're still willing to shed light on what you know about the furry fandom, I'd be grateful to be allowed to ask you some questions. And if you could send me to other folks, or to websites with vital information, I'd also be grateful!


My Response #1:

Ask away! As for information based on what you've written here I think I can point you in the right direction:

-The Furry Survey: conducted every year at Anthrocon (the largest furry convention in the world) for the past five years "The Furry Survey" is probably the most accurate demographic breakdown you're going to find of the community: http://vis.adjectivespecies.com/fur.....rvey/overview/ I take it and use it every year to hone my marketing and resource management, if you found that useful here are some further analyses: http://vis.adjectivespecies.com/furrysurvey/

- Adjective Species: a furry-centric blog run by academic types: http://www.adjectivespecies.com/ They tend to lean progressive in their politics but also have a lot of very useful info and analyses of the community in general, the sidebar can take you to a host of articles on all sorts of topics, bestiality and zoophilia included.

-Wikifur: the fandom's very own wiki, http://wikifur.com/ , is a great place to dig up stats about con attendance, prevalent websites, and publications. Here's the page for FurSquared, the sidebar includes stats for each year of the con: http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/FurSquared The site's owner, "Green Reaper", is very intelligent and would probably be more than willing to talk to you about literally anything.

-Fur Affinity: this is the main hub of furry activity on the internet and is where I do most of my business, here's my page: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/boneitis/ (you'll have to create an account to see adult artwork though)

I can answer any questions you may have or point you towards those that have better answers, thanks so much for emailing me!



Professor Response #2:

Hi, Kit. Sorry for the delay. I've been reading furry stats, thinking, and talking to people about what it is I think I want to know. Also, and not coincidentally, this is a really hairy time of the semester.

Thank you for these resources: they're fascinating. I wish I had some way of directly connecting with some of the contributors to the blogs, but identities are pretty well guarded, and I respect that. I found GreenReaper's contact information, though, so thanks for that.

Here's what I've been mulling over for the past week or so: my suspicion is that furries are not a single type of person but a sort of haphazard collective of people whose interests happen to overlap in certain ways. I came to the convention expecting more zoophiles and plushophiles, and I may very well have met some of those people without realizing it. For the most part, though, I feel that the people I've met don't have a single, unified reason for doing what they do, unless it is a desire to inhabit a fantasy world that is a "better" version of our own world: thus the LARPing, fan fiction, fantasy art, and so on. But it doesn't seem to me that everyone likes all of these things, simply that furrydom lies at a nexus of several sorts of interests. People also clearly enjoy making their own costumes, learning how to draw, playing games, and so on.
It also seemed clear to me (as I think you and a few other people verified) that the sexual energy of the convention was not focused toward the costumes, ears, tails, etc. but toward other people who just happen to be wearing costumes. Your own art demonstrates that: people want to see human erotica, with a twist. People are attracted to other people, not to anthropomorphic or real animals. I personally found the convention ... not asexual, but certainly not any more overtly sexual than an academic conference. Very likely I had no idea what I was looking at, and certainly I was out of the loop, but that was my sense of things. (Of course, no one was looking at me, anyway! So what would I know.) All of that is no more than mildly surprising. It's people just being people -- easy to understand. I got the sense, and the stats seem to verify it, that most of the conference goers are young, in their 20s. Perhaps the costumes make it easier for them to interact with each other, lower the bar a bit?
I struggle a bit with two main things:

1. First, why are people choosing to identify themselves with cartoony, anthropomorphic animals? I saw a few more realistic costumes and found them very beautiful, but I'm not attracted to the usual sorts of fursuits; they are not how I would choose to refashion myself, were I to do so. People don't seem to want to commune with animals but with cartoon animals. This is hard for me to grasp. Some people I talked to mentioned their deep spiritual connection to animals, but I now have to question whether they meant real animals, or their own ideas (filtered through media) of what certain species of animals are "really like." Many people seemed to feel connections with foxes and wolves, but do they have experiences with those animals?
My research explores the way that humans have tried to connect on many different levels with real animals, mythical or not; the connection with an obviously unreal animal is new to me.
2. Second, why would the fandom be mostly made up of gay males? You've already indicated that you don't know why, and it sounds like no one does, so this is more of a rhetorical question than anything. A few people mentioned to me that it was a way for "weird" people to "be weird together," but honestly, that doesn't sound credible to me. Gay men could be getting together to share their love for golf, or opera, or slash Tolkien fan fiction. But they're not: they're getting together to celebrate their connections with cartoony animals. Something's going on here that I don't understand.

If you have any thoughts on my own rambling thoughts, or if I've misunderstood anything or left anything out, I'd love to hear anything you have to say. I also must say that I had a great time at the conference, that everyone was generous, self-aware, and intelligent. Not everyone wanted to chat, but everyone was polite. I wish I could have stayed for the late-night "adult" segment, but I'm old and my stamina is poor.


My Response #2:

Ooooh you got into the heavy stuff, this should be great! I'll answer the numbered questions as best I can.

1. There's a lot of theories as to why furries choose the "fursonas" they choose, and why they're so attached to them in the first place. If you look at the sort of base furry template you're going to have a 20-something, male, bisexual, introvert who probably works in tech; essentially a nerd but more likely to be gay (that's a whole other topic entirely). The theory I find most plausible is "Erotic Crystallization Inertia" or ECI. Basically, during puberty the subject ends up seeing a cartoon anthro creature, realizes that character has some sexual features (breasts, human musculature, a need for clothes, etc...) and fixates on it because it's odd/awkward/uncomfortable, whatever. A lot of furries can tell you the first anthro character they found attractive because it's fairly common among the populace; a common example being older furries often will cite Disney's "Robin Hood" as a film they obsessed over as a child. It's taking something loved as a child and making it acceptably adult. So a lot of furries choose Disney looking characters because that's the sort of thing that brought them into the fold. The characters that look like photo-realistic animal heads put onto fuzzy human bodies actually creep a lot of people out (myself included) because it's TOO close to the Danger Zone of bestiality. People generally want a human character with some exciting non-human traits mixed in and the amount people like varies a fair bit.
The second part of your question -" I now have to question whether they meant real animals, or their own ideas (filtered through media) of what certain species of animals are "really like." Many people seemed to feel connections with foxes and wolves, but do they have experiences with those animals?"- I can answer for you pretty succinctly: they like an idealized version of their "chosen" animal but have had little to no actual contact with them. I can speak from experience on this one: I used to raise kangaroos for a living (no joke!). It was a great job and I learned a lot about marsupials, how to raise them from birth, feed them, keep them healthy, etc... When furries who identify with kangaroos learn about this they're usually very excited but actually seem to know very little about their favorite animal. IE: people who love kangaroos will be baffled when I tell them that kangaroos aren't very intelligent because, in their mind, they are smart and therefore so should their chosen creature.
To kind of put a wrap on things: a lot of furries are the rejects of the rejects, they've generally been bullied and a lot of them don't take care of themselves and don't like the way they look. Creating an idealized animal character is an easy mental escape from a world they don't feel dealt them a very fair hand. You'll also find that autism rates amongst the furry population are pretty high and very expressive, cartoony characters (especially ones with large eyes), resonate well with people with autism because their facial expressions are easier to understand. At the end of the day the entire "furry thing" is a gigantic game of pretend where the only real "rule" is that anthropomorphic characters have to be involved.


2. There are two theories I can pontificate upon here, one is nice and one is not. The nice one is that furry became an easy outlet for the gay and kink communities of the nineties to congregate around since it was A) gaining traction and B) was an accepting place by default since it was a bunch of adults swooning over cartoon foxes. So the early sort of "seed" groups of the furry community were largely gay/bi and the culture just continued to be as such. You can see the community start to become more "deviant" around the late 90's (there was actually a bit of a culture war that happened at this point: http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Burned_Furs and it's still a dicey topic to this day).

The not-as-nice theory is the Jailhouse theory which maybe you can guess based one the name but I'll lay it out anyway: the community is made up of largely males, interested in porn, who have been social rejects. The women they were interested in wouldn't give them a second look so, in desperation, they "go gay". They're surrounded by other willing and lonely men so why not shack up and circumvent the whole issue? That's how the theory goes anyway, is it true or credible at all? I have no idea, though I can imagine there are some cases where these different factors can come together and affect an individuals sexual preferences in a drastic way. I've been involved with the community as a professional for nine years and I entered straight, five years later I was bi, nine years in I live with my boyfriend. Is it exposure, desperation, or something else? We're all trying to figure it out. In my case I think it was simply exposure, I was raised Catholic and was in Catholic schools for 14 years, I just simply didn't think I could be interested in men. But after a few years of catching little bits of gay furry stuff out of the corner of my eye I found my gaze lingering longer and longer until I went "oh dang I'm bi how about that?"

So there's my answers to your questions, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your take on the community up there and you really seem to be picking it all up pretty fast. Later this week I was planning to share your questions with my weekly livestream to see what the audience thinks, if anything interesting comes out of that I could email it to you as well. If you've got more questions I've, hopefully, got more answers!



Professor Response #3:

No, definitely, kangaroos are not intelligent! I doubt that any marsupials are, as they're more primitive than placental mammals. I am currently teaching a course called "The Symbolic Animal" at UW-Milwaukee and find that my students come into the class thinking that they know what animals are like, but quickly realize that they're just extrapolating (incorrectly) from what they know about cats and dogs.

All of this is clearly and convincingly stated -- I lucked out when I found you, Kit. Here are some thoughts, interspersed with questions, both rhetorical and non-rhetorical:

1. Interesting that people find the realistic head on the human body to be creepy because I actually find the "standard" fursuit to be a little creepy. Hard to say why that is: I think that the immobile face is probably part of it, but also the cartoon head makes a strange contrast to what is often a very obviously human (usually male) body. I do find that the fursuits make bodies strangely attractive, though. The heads probably add a foot of height and they end up elongating the body in an aesthetically pleasing way. Not true of all of the suits, though: there seem to be some roly-poly suits (or bodies?). But I can see what the frisson might be between a coyly childlike head and an attractive mature body. I get it; not my thing, but I get it.

2. The observation about autism and friendly cartoon faces with large eyes makes a lot of sense to me. Perhaps it also explains why people like full suits (I've heard that people with autism often enjoy full-body pressure and being enveloped) and giant heads (which make it difficult to talk to others and not necessary to hold eye contact or pay attention to facial cues). But why not friendly cartoon human faces? It may be a completely random phenomenon, or there might be a reason for it. Perhaps the animal suits bring a completely different conversational idiom to the table, making it possible and logical to communicate in gestures or little squeaky noises instead of words.
I would imagine that the "social rejects" tend to be autistic and/or come from environments that have stunted their social and emotional capabilities, and/or are very late bloomers. I'm trying to think back to my own high school days, which were a long time ago and before "autism" was a household word. Some of my friends, it turned out, were on the autism spectrum, but we'd never heard of the autism spectrum. We just knew that some people were kind of weird, and that was the way it was. It certainly didn't keep them from having friends, though they didn't tend to be captains of the football team, either. In some ways, I really dislike the trend toward labeling and medicalizing every little human quirk. I say, Let people be weird.
3. Also interesting that bestiality is a big no-no. Bestiality is of course what I study and it indeed is one of our strongest cultural taboos (but nevertheless a very common phenomenon in the U. S.). The taboo does not exist in all cultures, it should be noted, and species boundary-crossing often has a spiritual aspect in non-Western and pre-modern cultures. What's interesting to me is that one group that is totally marginalized by society (furries) themselves shun an even more marginalized group (zoophiles) and presumably hate the fact that they're linked to them in public discourse. I assume that furries have exactly the same feelings about zoophiles that "ordinary" people do? Yet furries do deliberately play with that species-crossing thing. Which brings me to:

4. What do you know about so-called "therians" or "weres"? Is this just a fringe subset of furrydom, and/or what do those terms really mean? When people say that they're "spiritually" connected to a particular animal, what does that really mean?
5. I'm no sexologist, but it seems clear to me that humans are amazingly adaptable when it comes to sexual attraction and response, and that our "preferences" are heavily dictated by culture. I don't believe in "going gay," but I do believe that most "straight" people have the capability to find homoeroticism stimulating. Look at not only prisons but the military, boys' schools, and so on. I have no trouble believing that a straight Catholic boy could easily discover other parts of his sexuality if the cultural thumbscrews were lifted. I know plenty of people who have taken the same route and are now happily with same-sex partners (or vice-versa). I would also argue that humans can cross the species boundary in this way, if the culture allows them to conceive of the possibility of doing so.
6. More surprising, perhaps, is the fact that you found, entered, and became gainfully employed in furry subculture. What's your story there -- if you're willing to share?

Send me anything interesting that you learn from your livestream. I am an eager student of all things, including all things furry.


My Response #3 (final email in thread):

I caught mono so it might be awhile till I stream (doctors orders: voice rest). I'm glad you bring up people's preferences being more flexible than we might initially believe. Gore Vidall once said that he believed everyone had a capacity to be some level of bisexual and, as I keep watching people from behind my con table, I'm seeing that as being more and more true. And the whole deal with labeling autism on people is kind of annoying. I think my boyfriend (diagnosed autism/aspergers) would agree as he's largely, well, grown out of it. His only tell would be that he can ramble a bit, big whoop. If you want an oddball watch that's tangentially furry the "Bronies" documentary on Netflix has a section that is completely about autism as it relates to cartoon characters. The film itself is a weird watch but it's effective as a study of the socially dysfunctional, you might even recognize some people from the con in it (there's a lot of crossover).

The bestiality issue is a prickly one, though last I saw the stats were a bit odd with about 16% of furs polled admitting an interest in zoophilia, while the larger US population reported an 18% interest. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong but I thought that both numbers were surprisingly high and, of course, thought it strange that it was higher in the overall population. Admittedly I personally don't like having the genre I work in linked to bestiality simply because it's bad for business (zoophilia doesn't go over well with most focus groups) though I recognize WHY the mental link is there. The "slippery slope" argument comes up a lot and you can find countless forum posts discussing the issue. I personally stay away from anything that's classified as a sex crime because, as I stated, it's generally not good for business and I don't really want to draw that kind of thing, I've simply got different topics I want to explore through erotica. Maybe some cultural rules, constructs they may be, are important to maintain. I can't say for sure.

As for Therians and Weres: my brother attended a therian panel at Anthrocon and reported back saying that it was mostly kind of awkward and boring; I wish I had his footage! Anyhow, it's a lot of people who are spiritually elves, dragons, and unicorns (interestingly: no one's spirit animal is a Banana Slug or Botfly). Most of the fantastic creatures will come from Western/Tolkien lore but there are people who shoot for more exotic cultures; big crested Chinese Dragons or Japanese Tengu in some cases. A lot of these people co-opt a sort of cobbled together Native American spirituality crossed with the kinds of things you'll find in the "Metaphysics" aisle at Barnes and Noble. Every Therian is going to have a different take on their spirituality/religion: some will claim to be possessed by spirits from the past, others are reincarnated, and still others are communicating with beings from other dimensions. The nexus of the belief structure is that some kind of fantastic non-corporeal being inhabits them to some capacity. There are lots of talk of awakenings, meditations, communing with spirits, etc... One could call it the furry version of "New Age".

"Weres" come from a similar belief structure but like to A) form packs with like-spirited creatures and B) take an interest in "transformation" art (think the iconic scene from "American Werewolf in London"). A lot of them will even claim that film "awakened" them to their inner avatar; similar to how a lot of people "realize" they're furry because of a cartoon or comic. It's a community built on odd inner revelations.

As for how I ended up here? I took an interest in the genre in late high school but discovered it was a bit of a wasteland culturally. Fun as porn and erotica is it was kind of all people were covering within furry lit and comics so I decided to bite and do a bit of both. There's a large, and growing, sect of furrydom that won't touch the pornographic aspects and an even larger group where the porn is all they'll do. I find just doing one thing a little drab so, I decided to straddle the middle ground and draw whatever I like. I currently write and draw two comics, write and do layouts for a third, do a lot of freelance illustration work, and maintain a growing Patreon. I am by no means the most popular, or successful furry artist but my followers and readers really like that I treat them with as much intellectual respect as my intellect can dispense. My main comic that I work on, "False Start", is about a gay couple navigating a nightmare maze of corporate espionage, hyper-capitalism, and identity politics; it's not the typical furry romance plot, to say the least. I'm lucky in that people who get into it seem pretty invested. I've done this professionally for coming up on nine years and have lived off of it for four. I was forced to learn to live off of my work because I developed, unknowingly, chronic Lyme disease, lost my job, and became largely unemployable due to a plethora of ongoing health issues (they're under control at this point). The character I use/play at furry cons is named "Bone", a walking talking ferret version of myself (same body type and even clothes, keeps me accountable for my appearance). I chose a ferret because I work largely in black and white and wanted a character who was "inky" looking. Ferrets also have masks and I gave Bone a mask akin to the comic book character "Nightwing" since it was a comic my mentor, Tom Lyle, worked on for DC. My relationship to the character? Bone is fun, and it would be fun to *be* Bone, running amok with a tail and whiskers sounds like a blast (there's even a LadyBone, why not?), but I'm not exactly obsessed with the idea, being Kit is also nice. He's not JUST for marketing purposes but he's also not an essential part of my identity that I need to function and be happy.

Eeek, that went on a bit long. Hopefully it's interesting. If you ever want me to talk for one of your classes via Skype or something I'm down for it; I'm very used to public speaking and regularly do panels at furry cons. Thanks for the interesting discourse, I may share some of this exchange (with names, locations removed) on my blog since I think my followers would LOVE to read and respond to all this.



/end email chain.

So please share what you think about this! I think my views are fairly clear though if you need clarification on anything I said ask away. The Professor and I look forward to your responses.

-Bone

We thought it was Strep, then I grew all these big ass tonsil stones (seriously it looks like teeth are growing in my throat) but we finally figured out that it was just plain ol' Mono, AKA: that disease your friend gets and then you don't see them for a month.
So having Mono kinda blows, I have to sleep a lot and Gatorade has become my lifeblood. Obviously I'm still working on y'all's stuff, you can see a lot of WIPs on my twitter ( https://twitter.com/Boneitis ) but it's certainly been slower going than I'd like. I think I'm through the worst of it (  kazekoe has been taking wonderful care of me) but Mono can take awhile to clear up so hang tight with me. Hope you've been enjoying the daily uploads, I draw a lot and just don't always have time to post the hundreds of inked pieces I'll do over the course of a year 0_____0

I think Mono is DEFINITELY the worst kind of con crud I've ever gotten.

-Bone