Inspired by a television advertisement for a local Honda dealer. The sound quality, as is often the case for low-budget local adverts, was indifferent, as was the quality of the voice-over talent. As a result, it really and truly sounded as if he was talking about deals on the Honda Civet. When I mentioned this, popular demand required that I produce a cartoon of it. And so I did.

First exposure to "furries": Drawn at Further Confusion for a sketchbook with the theme of "firsts". Artwork by Dave Bryant, copyright 2004.

After finishing the grayscale version of this for issue eight of _Bureau of Mana Investigation_, I decided to return to it and create a tabloid-size color version to sell as a print.

For the inside back covers of the eight-issue limited comic series _Bureau of Mana Investigation_, I wrote short background essays based on notes provided by the Christina "Smudge" Hanson, the author and artist. There was some shuffling of the last issue, however; when the dust settled that spot was left empty, so Smudge invited me to whip out a full-page grayscale image to fill it.

The figure outlines started life as part of a scan of the original image (see movie.jpeg), but everything else was created new for this version. Prints are available in tabloid size from Rabbit Valley at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/. (2003, 132 kB)

The third (and probably last -- she's moved several states away) "furry nude portrait" based on the model who sat for cruz-inc.jpeg, tigress.jpeg, and wolf.jpeg. She decided this time she wanted to be a skunk babe in vinyl coat and boots, giving some lucky fellow at the mall an eyeful. No, she didn't really sit for this in a mall, but she did wear the coat and boots. I created the background from whole cloth. (2002, 110 kB)

One of the local crowd maintains a "theme" sketchbook -- there's a list of pithy quotes in the back, and the artist is supposed to come up with something to go along with one of them. I chose "he tampered in God's domain" and decided, more or less on a whim, to go all out. It took me forever to finish it, but the book's owner was very pleased with the end result. I was semi-pleased. The movie title comes from a concept that popped into my head during a discussion with friends many moons ago: if mankind are the children of God, then surely any intelligent life mankind creates would have to be the grandchildren of God, not so? (1997, 75 kB)

The 1995 inked original depicts the same model that posed for tigress.jpeg and wolf.jpeg -- at the time, she really did own a white Honda Hurricane. The riding leathers, however, had been sold years before when she left motorcycle racing; a photograph was used for reference. By their nature, riding leathers tend to be bulky, which is why the figure's head may seem a bit smaller than one expects. The odd file name alludes to the fact she grew up in Santa Cruz County, California.

Prints are available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/. (2001, 55 kB)

The original art was a souvenir of an enjoyable visit to Susan van Camp and her husband. She proposed an art jam, and while she ran upstairs to get her inking pens, I pencilled this fellow. She said the tree "has lots of character" and suggested the fast-food bag and the box of doughnuts because, of course, "leopards always stash their lunches in trees." Over the years, this piece has shown up in a couple of fanzines.

Prints are available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/. (2001, 30 kB)

Done for a benefit portfolio to help defray unexpected medical bills for Christina "Smudge" Hanson. This was my second major piece using a no-outlines inking technique. There are some flaws, a few due to the very short deadline, others because of the relatively new ink style, but overall I'm moderately pleased with it. (2001, 47 kB)

The original version of this art was done in black ink and gray marker, and appeared as the gatepiece illustration for M. C. A. Hogarth's story "Rosettes and Ribbons" in _Yarf!_ issue fifty-eight. She rated it as the best work I'd done up to that time, which pleased me immensely. Using Photoshop to convert the piece into a full-color art print was quite an experience. It was tremendously educational, and the result, I think, was well worth the effort.

Prints are available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/. (2001, 42 kB)

Just to show how long I've been doing this stuff: This piece dates from about a year after I attended my first science fiction convention on Memorial Day weekend of 1981 and met a lot of like-minded folks. That included a bunch of other people fascinated by these "funny animal characters" -- this was long before the "furry fandom" moniker surfaced.

At the time I did the original version in black and white, I'd been drawing and attempting to write for about five years. It was a cover for one "mailing" (issue) of a writers' APA (amateur press association), in which aspiring authors would print their work and critique one another. Later, I attempted to color it, which proved to be a very bad idea. (1982, 46 kB)

The very first piece in a Christmas given me by Maggie de Alarcon Hogarth, a wire-bound sketchbook; a small inscription on the inside front cover is signed by "The Alpha Mother", which she pretty much is to the "Tampa Pack" group of furries. So, of course, Icara had to express her appreciation. At the time, she was suffering from the "muse flu" -- it was all I could do to finish those sketches. That's why the vitamin C tablet hidden in the strawberry. (1998, 48 kB)

(Nudity) I've never liked the way many artists try to shoehorn wings onto a humanoid body. Often the wing roots are crammed between the neck and shoulder or directly into the shoulderblade area, both of which look clumsy and top-heavy, not to mention biomechanically improbable. I prefer to root the wings under the shoulderblades, making for a much more graceful and impressive look. The characters' creator liked the design enough to adopt it, which was tremendously flattering to me! Peregrine Peryton and Jennifer Gray Bat are the intellectual property of Charlie H. Luce Jr. and are used with permission. (1997, 27 kB)

"Kitten" Tom Clowder, Carrie Prim, and their children (left to right) Alice Prim, Amber Prim, "Jeffy" Clowder, and Erica Prim. There was a joking comment made that obviously they have "Disney" genetics: everybody has one giant chromosome, and everything is sex-linked. Well, not quite, but it's a good commentary on a lot of funny-animal character design. (1994, 32 kB)

(Nudity) This one took way, _way_ too long, but I'm very proud of it. It was quite an experiment: I've never done a piece of art entirely without outlines, or with that kind of dramatic lighting, and the fireplace was a tremendous challenge. By the way, she did in fact pose in those nifty striped stockings and leather-and-chain collar in front of a fireplace.

Prints are available in letter and tabloid sizes through Rabbit Valley at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/. (2001, 81 kB)

Prints are now available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley (formerly Mailbox Books) at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/.

The 1989 original was done in plain ol' pencil, and was based on a co-worker at a company I worked for years ago. I don't even recall her name, though I do remember she really did own that green outfit . . . and being told by someone else that she thought I'd made her legs too fat. Well, maybe. But, overall, I still like the piece. (1989, 31 kB)

(Nudity) Prints are now available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley, formerly Mailbox Books, at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/.

This is the mother of the girl that modeled for heatherc.jpeg; she sat for the black-and-white ink original back in 1996. (So far as I know, both of them still live in Sacramento.) She isn't into the furry scene, but liked the idea of a nude portrait as a cougar. (2001, 27 kB)

This is very nearly the only furry art I've done in the last month; when I haven't been preoccupied with other matters I've been working on technical artwork -- like this character's scrungy little ammunition carrier (a class of light truck most armies don't use any more) or hardware designs on commission for a friend's comic book concept.

Janet Blaize, PhD, is a young archaeologist determined to make the Big Discovery that'll make her rich and famous. Her father was a feline genet (_Genetta felina_) with a pie-in-the-sky scheme to elevate himself into the peerage; her mother was a rebellious common genet (_Genetta genetta_) who _was_ of the peerage. Not surprisingly, Dad's Great Plan ended in catastrophe after years of fruitless searching, and as a result of her peculiar childhood, Janet has an attitude bigger than she is and, um, issues aboout her late parents, her mother's family, and the whole idea of relationships of any kind in general. I decided it would be fun to play a character who, really, isn't a very nice person.

Now that I've taken the big, _big_ step of leaving the nine-to-five world for the uncertain freedom of freelancing, by necessity I have to become a money-grubbing mercenary. Here's an example. (By the way, do you need a CD portfolio done?)

Prints are now available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley (formerly Mailbox Books) at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/.

The daughter of a former lady friend in Sacramento, California, who, we decided, was a cheetah. She sat for the portrait (back in 1996) and was very patient. I showed her what I was doing and how I was doing it, and made something of an impression; she's done some drawing since, though the last I heard she'd shifted most of her interest into music instead. This is another print-to-be, in letter- and tabloid-size. (2001, 30 kB)

(Nudity) Prints are now available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley, formerly Mailbox Books, at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/.

This is the first sitting by the same model as in the wolf lying before the fireplace. (She's also sat for a third pin-up, currently in progress, in which she'll be a striped skunk.) She loved this piece, especially the "come in or go, but don't leave the curtain open" expression. I _was_ proud of that, I admit. The original black-and-white pen-and-ink artwork was begun at Confurence several years ago. Coloring it proved an unusual challenge in that the figure was completely inked and shaded -- but the bed was only sketched in and the background didn't exist at all. As a result, three completely different techniques were required: altering the colors of the figure, filling in the colors of the bedding, and creating the bedpost, wall, and carpet from scratch. (2001, 54 kB)

(Erotic) Prints are now available in letter and tabloid sizes from Rabbit Valley (formerly Mailbox Books) at http://store.rabbitvalley.com/.

This is an extensively reworked version of a pen-and-marker piece done as a gift for a friend. She was floored by the effort and the fact that I'd managed to hit nearly all of her tastes right on the button. (2001, 30 kB)

From a science fiction role-playing campaign I once mentioned I'd like to run, in which the player characters would be an elite antiterrorist powered-armor team in an organization called IMPACT. I was rather taken aback by the enthusiasm with which this idea was greeted, and I'm still occasionally nudged about running it. Maybe someday . . .

Characters are the intellectual property of their creators and are used with permission. (Mid-1990s, 31 kB)

(Nudity) "Kitten" Tom Clowder, my avatar (or "personal furry", if you prefer). I tend to wear turtleneck shirts and a duster coat in winter, and sport shirts and bandannas in summer, thus leading to the lame joke that I switch phases with the seasons, as many mammals do. The "Jacuzzicat" gag was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. (1995, 32 kB)

Icara thinks berries of all kinds are goodness. This was done as a doodle at work, just because. (1999, 33 kB)

Another picture of Icara, my (at the time) newly adopted muse. This came after I made some headway against the depression. She still doesn't fly as much as she should, but at least her wings aren't bandaged any more. (1998, 57 kB)

(Nudity) I never created a "muse character" of my own like some artists I know. Maggie de Alarcon Hogarth commented at one point on an amusing idea —- several such characters discussing their creators. She mentioned a couple, hers and someone else's, of whom she had clear mental images. When I half-jokingly asked if she could visualize mine as well, there was a pause of a minute or two, then a detailed, paragraph-long description that took my breath away. I immediately filed formal adoption papers. Yes, the wings are bandaged, an allusion to my struggle at the time with clinical depression and its tendency to sap the creative impulse. (1998, 48 kB)

(Nudity) Okay, I'll admit it: I find Terrie Smith's character Chester to be incredibly sexy. He, of course, finds chocolate to be an aphrodisiac. But then he finds a _lot_ of things to be aphrodisiacs. Terrie seemed delighted by this piece. Chester is the intellectual property of Terrie Smith and is used with permission. (1995, 50 kB)

(Nudity) A supervillain _Champions_ role-playing campaign is in the offing. Several people piped up with character ideas, including a couple of master-villain types and a mad scientist. This, along with other inspirations like Hilda from the parody comic _Tank Vixens_, a little Masamune Shirow influence, and the general notion of omnipresent, identical minions, led to the Lab Mice. Originally they were to be clothed and accoutered in matte white, but I was persuaded to use gloss black instead. (2000, 45 kB)