If I had to guess it’s probably a combination of various factors: kinks/fetishes being generally more common than we collectively know or talk about, the mass appeal of anthropomorphized characters to the generations of people who grew up with them, the entertainment and general appeal of putting your everyday self aside and portraying a character that you’ve created (see also, vtubers), the furry fandom/community’s general vibe of acceptance and tolerance of just about anyone who decides to identify with it, and so on.
When it comes to the viability of furry art, I think that’s actually much simpler: furries have a ton of pride and identity behind the characters that they create, and so they really value the idea of bespoke artwork that shows off their fursona in the best/coolest/cutest possible light.
Yes, I just learned about fursonas are a big part of the movement. As an outsider, all furriest looked the same to me. I had never noticed each is basically an avatar of someone
Yeah I worked with my artist over several days, my primary sona image (I’m not a suiter and never will be) is based on photos of me, has my eye color, wears clothes and accessories I actually owned at the time, uses the same medical device I do, incorporated my hobbies into the image.
I got the final picture and was like “holy shit it’s me”. Very very cool.
Not a sociologist or a furry but…
If I had to guess it’s probably a combination of various factors: kinks/fetishes being generally more common than we collectively know or talk about, the mass appeal of anthropomorphized characters to the generations of people who grew up with them, the entertainment and general appeal of putting your everyday self aside and portraying a character that you’ve created (see also, vtubers), the furry fandom/community’s general vibe of acceptance and tolerance of just about anyone who decides to identify with it, and so on.
When it comes to the viability of furry art, I think that’s actually much simpler: furries have a ton of pride and identity behind the characters that they create, and so they really value the idea of bespoke artwork that shows off their fursona in the best/coolest/cutest possible light.
Yes, I just learned about fursonas are a big part of the movement. As an outsider, all furriest looked the same to me. I had never noticed each is basically an avatar of someone
Yeah I worked with my artist over several days, my primary sona image (I’m not a suiter and never will be) is based on photos of me, has my eye color, wears clothes and accessories I actually owned at the time, uses the same medical device I do, incorporated my hobbies into the image.
I got the final picture and was like “holy shit it’s me”. Very very cool.