Essay title: What is an artist family and why should I have one?
When I was an art student in university, my professors would often ask “who’s in your family of artists?” Even though I was told what this phrase was meant to mean, this question always posed threat to my ego, and I’d stammer with embarrassment, mentioning a few bigger names my work had only a tenuous connection to.
A “family of artists,” according to my professors, was a collection of artists whose work is in conversation with yours in some way. This connection needn’t be purely visual or formal, but conceptual, historical, or even inspirational. With this is mind, I’ll take this opportunity to highlight some of my most prominent influences.
Ken Sugimori has inspired me since early childhood – like many artists from my Millennial cohort, I’m sure. The monster and other character designs he’s been responsible for selecting, refining, and presenting have influenced the round, simpler shapes, expressive faces, and saturated colors in my work. Some of the earliest drawings I ever made were inspired by his work, especially those from that one special series that will go unnamed. Actually, I’ll mention this while we’re here: did you know that from when I was about five years old, I used to design my own “video games” on construction paper with crayons, markers, and pencils? That series and others like it had inspired a lot of my early ideas about monster capturing and adventuring – I would craft maps, party menus, monsters, and even logic dependent on dice rolls, coin flips, and chance percentages! Of course, the fun was in the game design – I would never actually PLAY the games, as that was never the point. Further, from early on in life I’d been considering working for that Japanese game company (that shall also go unnamed), but understand that it wouldn’t allow me the freedom that being a freelancer does. Also, the last thing I’d want to do is enter the kitchen where some of my favorite games are made and end up making a mess, or merely seeing the ingredients that go in the soup. I like those experiences being an enigma, and would rather be enjoying from the outside rather than making from the inside.
Do you know Scott McCloud? He’s also had some of the most remarkable impact on my work and way of thinking (not just in art, but in life). I cannot recommend his book “Understanding Comics” more, for artists and non-artists alike. The book is as conceptually rich as a textbook but presented in a humorous, engaging way that doesn’t patronize: talking about the medium of comics (and art in general) THROUGH comics! My favorite parts of his book focus on visual language (received vs. perceived information), the relationship between text and image, and timing throughout panels and gutters (but the whole book is gold, really).
I would be remiss to go without mentioning some of my most impactful influences in the furry sphere. Although countless artists have inspired me over the years, I’ve chosen four in particular to talk about: Raburigaron, Braeburned, Argon Vile, and Croix.
Raburigaron, my partner of quite a few years now, speaks in a similar visual language to my own (who’s responsible for this similarity? I’d like to say I’ve rubbed off on him over the years, but perhaps I’d be giving myself too much credit). The things that inspire me about his work are the things I CAN’T do: access a wide range of facial expressions and body language, capture a nuanced (but not deflating) humor in his adult artwork, and communicate through the medium of animation with smoothness and consistency.
Braeburned, a furry peer of mine, also speaks with similar visual language to my own, but with much more legibility and breadth of expression. In addition, I can’t help but recognize and appreciate his business sense: usually at conventions, when I see his dealer’s den setup, I have to appreciate his bright, simple but engaging branding, his small but refined selection of books, stickers, and other thoughtful merch like finger skateboards and branded condoms! He knows his audience well and how to sell to them, but also seems to be making exactly what he wants. I can't be sure if that’s true or not without asking him directly, but I look up to him as where I’d like to one day be: a self-made artist who makes what he wants and wants what he makes.
Argon Vile, a friend of mine, has inspired me for years, through employing his characters through different mediums, including but not limited to traditionally-colored comic pages and games! All the while maintaining his unique sense of humor which serves to break the uncomfortable tension a lot of overly-serious lewd materials can have. Similar to Braeburned, I can tell Argon most often makes the work he wants to see before wondering if anyone will buy it or not. To have this freedom and have fun while doing it, while I assume also making some sort of profit, is truly the goal!
Then there’s Croix. Although I love his treatment of color, line quality, and forms, that’s not why I keep coming back to his work – it really does come back to the thing I appreciate most about the other furry artists in this list, a seemingly unadulterated adherence to the idea that my artwork is meant to please me, and maybe it’ll please someone else too. Like most artists, I’m not interested in every concept they realize, but that’s not what draws me: it’s the passion, or perhaps nonchalance, with which he makes while bucking the status quo, but also wrapping up his artworks with context that ensures he’s not posting purely for shock value, but expressing his desires and thoughts about the world we share in a forward but thoughtful way. I love when he goes down little rabbit holes, exploring a concept for as long as he feels inclined, whether it be a new fetish or a character or a relationship dynamic. Especially in the world we’re living in, I can only hope to one day so confidently live my life to the fullest in my work as he seems to.
Despite everything above, I feel obligated to mention the impact “gay animated” has had on me and my work. It’s become a sort of inside joke among me and close friends – my web browser always has a bookmark ready to open the search results for “gay animated” on e621.net. Although this isn’t a singular artist or even a particularly cohesive body of work, I have the inclination to “appreciate” this work more often than most still images or comic pages. I’ve always been intrigued by this dissonance in my work: if I find animation to be so engaging, why am I not making it myself? And for someone who calls himself a comics artist, I don’t actually read many comics. I wonder as to the implications of an artist who likes what they don’t make, and they make what they don’t (oft) like. Would I be happier realizing the kinds of animations I love most?
In conclusion, the artists I appreciate most are the ones who consistently explore the concepts they love or are even obsessed with, eschewing social convention in the pursuit of happiness. It’s important to note that although artworks can indeed influence how people act in their real lives, artworks are NOT real life: it’s a critical thinking skill that has seemingly been worn away in recent decades, where it’s become difficult for people to distinguish the difference between an artwork ABOUT something and the something itself. I urge everyone to take a step back and look at the bigger picture when appreciating (or even reviling) an artwork, because this open-mindedness would encourage artists and viewers to engage with new and important topics. If an artwork makes you excited, horny, depressed, anxious, disgusted, fearful... ask yourself why and expand your horizons! Even I have trouble doing this sometimes, and I think to practice and hone this skill would allow me to become not only a better artist, but a more self-aware and richer personality.
P.S.
I reached out to Croix about his influence on my practice, yadda yadda yadda, he told me I should just go ahead and marry buizel already. In the spirit of Croix and his general artmaking attitude, I decided to go down a little rabbithole (or perhaps otterhole) of my own and took this month to explore my dynamic with buizel (including marriage!). As always, all characters are 18+ and consenting!