Article: Fursuit-ONLY Aesthetics?
You’ve seen them, a detail on a character only ever present on the fursuit version of it, not in the art, certainly not on an animal it is based on… Have you wondered why its like that? Or why it “has” to be that way …or ever considered why it actually doesn’t have to be that way? Facial detailing definitely has the most impact on the overall feel and quality of a costume. Body details are important too. Carefully considering the “why” of some facial or body details can end up with some situations in which they may make a lot of sense, or not!
Most fursuit designers are following their own aesthetic designs or are following artwork they or their client created for aspects of facial or body detailing. Others focus on real animal references, especially those who work in the realm of semi-realism. Clients ultimately are at the mercy of slot availability, budget, and maker discretion (if a fursuit designer selects to make that project for example). Clients end up choosing fursuit designers for their style, cute (or adjective-of-their-choice) factor, referrals from friends, being part of a group, and overall look of their finished work, but most clients rarely are able take species hallmarks into account – If the clients are not artists themselves, they are also at the mercy of their reference artists as well. It is ultimately up to their maker to make decisions on species hallmarks, and it can be approached with the thought “I just work here” and turning it into a fursuit-only aesthetic. Or it can be approached with a goal of really making an animal “read” like the species or species combination it is intended to be. It is rare to find a client who truly doesn’t want their costume to look like the animal or animal combination they asked for. Is that the client you want?
I work in the zone of cartoon animals aka “Toony” and honestly my goal with my own work is to get it to match my drawing style as closely as I can while still having real animal hallmarks. I spend time researching the species or breeds my costumes are based on, and I highly encourage you, as a fellow fursuit designer, to check both your art AND real-animal photos any time you work, no matter if it is “toony” or “semi-realistic” or a blend of anything in between. Especially on a species you think you are familiar with, there are always new things to observe! Have you ever heard the fursuit commentary, “Everything is a dog”? This is because even the animals we are most familiar with end up having hallmarks misplaced if we don’t stick to including real-animal references in our source material. Some species hallmarks can be better translated in three dimensions from photos and videos rather than from art alone. Checking multiple photographed angles and videos of the animals in action can help you better visualize the anatomy you are sculpting and exaggerating into your headbase or body patterns.
Can it go without saying? Probably not: Don’t use other fursuit artists’ work as exclusive reference for your work. If your project is based on an animal or blend of animals, be sure to use real-animal references to form and shape your head bases! Its fun to get inspired by other makers’ shapes. There is a multitude of WIPs that exist and are shared with the intent and interest of inspiring folks. I love learning new techniques and figuring out a different approach to the same goal by looking at how others overcame a similar problem! But there is a serious trend evolving, it is one of fursuits themselves being used as the reference instead of the animals they are actually supposed to be based on. Doing it in your own way is important.
This concept has been repeated in Art History over and over. Just look at Greek copies of Roman art. The Greek copies took on characteristics the Roman art lacked, such as supports in sculptural copies built with struts, made to look like tree stumps, because they were unable to make them freestanding like the originals. Among other things that never appeared in the original Roman art form they were also evolved to meet the taste of Greek clients. They had their reasons, fursuit designers have theirs, too! But there is definitely a movement happening in fursuit art. Copies are being made, but they have characteristics that the original source inspiration (an animal) lacks!
This is how it becomes so prevalent that costume animals are expected or requested from clients to be digitigrade when really they just need some padding yet can still be plantigrade. “Digi” is a misnomer, and is often used to mean “this costume has a padded shape” when it often isn’t ever made considering the real animal’s form of locomotion. Have you noticed any animals that walk flat-footed (plantigrade) made to look like they are standing on their toes (digitigrade)? Red Pandas are a fabulous example of a popular furry fandom animal with a plantigrade form of locomotion made out to be digitigrade for the sake of a fursuit-only aesthetic. While they can still be made into a costume with body padding that represents their shape and form of locomotion better than species-off-model “knee” and “heel” padding.
As a fursuit artist, you are in a unique position to educate your buyers on what will or won’t look really great on their costume. You have the power to say “No” or at very least the power to influence their decision if they want a fursuit-only aesthetic that only meets the status quo, and you know you can do better. Build rapport with your clients so you can be satisfied with what you create for them as well.
Apologies to my dog, Turbo, he makes a good point.
Additionally, there are certain fursuit-only aesthetics that can look really great on some projects but not on others, done one way it just looks like a cover up or out-of-place, done another way and it blends naturally with no obvious nature to the technique used! What am I talking about? Some people love ‘em some people hate 'em, but do you understand the reason or history behind the nose border? Historically in the fandom, borders around fursuit noses have always been controversial since they first appeared in the early 2000’s. They featured on some popular fursuit work and the technique got a lot of attention on a fursuit-making group hosted on LiveJournal, as an “easy” way to hide a seam edge between the nose and the muzzle fur. No tutorial was written for it per se, but as it showed up in more and more maker WIPs it fast became a fursuit-only aesthetic, and certainly the status quo with not much thought put to it otherwise.
For the most part on certain styles it CAN be done well, worthy of compliments, even! Primarily on extremely cartoony pieces where it is actually intended to look like a stroked outline, like heavy ink work in art. But often times that border ends up being the most obvious cover up that is never present in art or even reference art. A good rule of thumb is: If it is not present in your art, don’t feature it on your fursuit piece.
What do you do then, how DO you overcome that dreaded seam edge? Its not like body shapes or species hallmarks that can be solved with the powers of obvservation. Its definitely down to technique! – Don’t worry, there are plenty of other options to solve this problem without a border glued on top! Here are some solutions you can practice so you too don’t become part of the status quo.
* Painting – Meet the edge of the fabric up to your nose edge in a tidy fashion and airbrush, drybrush, or otherwise paint the edge to make the transition beautifully blended. Use a matching color to the fur and avoid thick black, unless it is present as a marking in the art.
* Folding the edge under – Perhaps the simplest solution fold the edge of the fur under so there is no raw edge any longer present. This edge can be tacked with a thin line of glue or it can just be carefully folded and tucked along a line of glue.
* Treat it like a marking – Approach it differently, if your nose is a soft sewn or vinyl nose, pattern and sew the nose on as part of your furring process, rather than as a separate step. Treat a fabric nose like a marking.
* Silicone paw pad technique – Treat your nose like you would treat a set of silicone paw pads. Hand-sew it to the fur (before furring), or (this works particularly well for hand-sculpted noses) attach it after furring by covering over the entire snout in the furring process, then shave down the fur where the nose sits so the glue can contact the backing using e6000 or hot glue, or a combination of both.
Honestly, you don’t need a felt line to cover it up or “blend” anything, you aren’t hiding that transition with a felt border, you’re drawing attention to it! So if it is part of the artwork you are following to make a flat illustrated look, go for it. But don’t treat like a crutch for a cover up. If you are gluing, carefully glue it all the way to the edge. Some purchased/cast nose shapes don’t lend themselves to this however and you may have to use the painting, or folding-edge-under techniques instead.
I hope this article has helped you think critically about the status quo and the goals you have for the end look of your work. Is it a fursuit-only aesthetic or is it actually present in the artwork or real animal source material? In the end I must concede: Fursuits are fantasy animals and can be ANYTHING, so if you WANT a certain look, don’t let this stop you from embracing it!!
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