What Inspires You About Anthro Art?

  I find it intriguing that you can infuse human emotion and expression into animals

I'm inspired by arts with anthro of other artists, also I'm inspired by quality photos with wild animals and historical theme. Also I love wild feeling that art with anthro can give. I love art with wild anthro more than art with random furry in clothes, because anthro is closer to wild feral animals.

What inspires me if see art like Ovopack's work, it has so much personality and inspires me a lot ovopack.tumblr.com/

So I guess what inspires me is the different shapes, colours and textures you can get in a character so it doesn't matter if it's a fearless kitten or a cute dragon, it will always work out amazingly. Animals have so many expressions and variations that when you draw them combined with human characteristics it makes it explode with personality.

In Les Miserables, there's a passage which has stuck with me for a long time.

"Every individual of the human species corresponds to some one of the species of animal creation; and we might easily recognize the truth which has as yet scarcely occurred to the thinker, that, from the oyster to the eagle, from the hog to the tiger, all animals are in man, and that each of them is in a man; at times several of them at once."

I believe everyone feels a special connection to certain species of animals. Maybe it's just one -- a wolf, or a fox -- or perhaps it's a group of several species. We recognize their traits in ourselves, we see similarities in our behavior, whether it's the way we act or the way we wish we acted. Anthro art is a personification of this idea, that humans and animals are closely connected. The characters we create are representations of ourselves as we are, or who we wish we were. The species we choose to represent ourselves say a lot about the way we view ourselves and the world. Anthro art is an incredible way of expressing yourself on a more primal level. I've always been inspired by that idea.
 

You can reach so much higher with "digitigraded" legs. Anthro art leaves more space for imagination in many ways, for you are able to mix human and animal together. There is no "what if it can't do that." in anthro art. Yes it can!

The concept of anthropomorphic art challenges and inspires me as an artist to weld together two distinctive animals belonging to totally different animal kingdoms into one believable creature. As simple as it might be at first, it can get increasingly difficult as your choices get more expansive. I constantly have anatomy books lying about with both human and animals, so when I'm molding two different parts it can potentially look like a working group. I've completely lost my fear of using references and anatomy books long ago when I realized that my animal headed people weren't improving as fast as I'd like.

There are so many routes someone can take to get to a final concept and all these routes can effect how they appear, interact, or behave. You can implement human emotions, animal behavior, or a bit of both! A character's make-up very well may take on an important role in how people are able to relate and empathize with them. It's very hard to discredit the idea of anthro art when so many ideas hold strong to the molding of one thing to a human. The human side of them is to allow us to understand them, while the animal side is 'exotic'. From the great dragon Smaug the Stupendous to the Pink Panther, anthro art has it's place in many genres, even if people don't recognize it at first. It's quite a wonderful thing.

'It's like catching cold wind with bare teeth - you never know if you succeed but the feels are amazing!'