I've taken it upon myself to write a treatise on Anthro. My hope is that it will help to bridge the gap between anthro artists and furry haters, or at least become a convenient way to let people outside of the community learn about what anthropomorphic art is really about.

I'm going to need a lot of feedback if thing is going to be an acceptable representation of the furry and anthro views and intentions, so please help me in this effort.

Answer these questions if you can, here or in your own journal. Spread it around like a tag game if you want, but get everyone to link it back to me (which you can do in this journal or in a note). Also feel free to contribute your own questions.

I also invite non-anthro people to contribute your answers to the questions that apply to you.
Some of these may be hard questions, but the more developed your answers are, the more helpful they would be to me. And let's not get hostile; these are opinions and perceptions and therefore cannot possibly be wrong.

I've put my own elaborated answers here.

---Questions

1 *Is there a difference between anthro and furry? Why or Why Not?
2 What is Anthro to you (ie not dictionary definition)?
3 Why do you do anthro? (or why do you not)

4 What is Furry to you?
5 Why are you furry? (or why are you not)

6 Are you a Therian?

7 How do you feel about zoos? Why?
8 How do you feel about humanity? Why?
9 How do you choose an animal?
10 How do you handle hybridization? (some people mix, some people avoid it, some people go off the deep end)

---My Answers
1 Is there a difference between anthro and furry.
Yes, Anthro is a humanistic artstyle, Furry is a postmodern lifestyle. It's like the distinction between modernism and modernity. A distinction I make in anthro vs furry art is that furry art is self-referencing (which is also a postmodern trait), in the sense of drawing other people's characters, or your own character with another person's characters; whereas anthro art is not so interested in specific recurring characters, but rather each piece or comic may be about a completely new figure who will not appear in susequent work.

2 What is Anthro to you (ie not dictionary definition)?
Anthro is not a subject, it's a style or vector for a subject. Just like how people do abstract or landscape or photorealism or cubism, I do anthro. My subject is gender and sexual identity.

3 Why anthro?
You'd have to read my essay (follow the above link). This is a really big question.

4 What is Furry to you?
Furry is a community of people who, through art, roleplay, and other community interactions (such as conventions), push a non-physical environment (like the internet) into a metaphysical reality (an elaborate world that lives the combined imagination of thousands of people, to the extent that it could even become manifested in the form of fursuits and cosplay for those who do that).

5 Why are you furry?
I don't really consider myself furry; I'm sort of a recluse and don't get very involved in community functions in either real or digital space. I know some of my art is within my definition of furry art, especally in that I have recurring characters, but I think of my character more as the way a photographer may use a model to convey a more abstract concept which is the real subject of the piece.

6 Are you a Therian?
Yeah, I'm a human.

7 How do you feel about zoos. Why.
Zoos are just really creepy and perverse. I mean, I know I should be nice to them, because without them, some species would have nowhere to go (there are no wild asian elephants, because there's not enought wild in asia anymore), but to just go there and look at people like they're some kind of exhibit? Go to a zoo and look at the humans; see if they get creeped out.

8 How do you feel about humanity. Why.
Humanity really burns my biscuit. Humanity (the cities, the polution, the bad attitudes towards nature) is just killing and wrecking the world. Its harsh to say it, but the world would be much better off if humans were on the endangered species list. Yet at the same time, humanity really is the subject of my anthro art. I think maybe humans have a potential they've never tried to grasp. Slackers!

9 How do you choose an animal?
I like to aim for animals that I think are a little obscure, or have really beautiful fur patterning.

10 How do you handle hybridization?
I elaborate this in my essay, but I suspect we're all mixes anyway. I've decided that from now forward, the animal I say they are will actually refer to what the look most like.