Small Delimma. Help?

[Wolfrham]

So I've been here in the guild foru for a few weeks now trying to learn more about the furry community/lifestyle, all the terminology and whatnot and whether or not I would like to join and take on a fursona.

I've decided that 'yes', I would like to create a fursona, but there's a little problem. I don't know where to start. So I had a few questions:

Only problem is I don't really know where to start. So I have some questions that I'd like to ask of the community.

How does one go about choosing an animal to represent themselves as a furry or even just furry art?

How do you decide whether to be anthro or feral?

And if one chooses to be anthro, how far human or animal should the furry be?

I'm pretty sure it's all about personal preference but I was just wondering if anyone had any helpful input.
Sorry to be such a noob about it. OH! oh,..and if I offended anyone by using the wrong terms,..I am also sorry for that too. Lol.  

[Sangaera Shiju]

My entire post will be just my viewpoint alone, as I am still relatively new myself, so there's still a lot for me to learn, too. So, don't talk my word for it. ^^;; I'd love for people to reply to the parts I'm unsure about, too.

Let me get this point out first and foremost about fursonas: Above all else, accuracy is important. Are you assertive? Stubborn? Cunning? It is important to evaluate your own personality in order to decide what is best for you. The animal of your fursona may or may not be the same as your favorite animal. My best friend loves snakes and wolves, but he is a fox.

I don't really have an answer for the anthro/feral question. It may just be personal preference. Or maybe those who usually pick feral fall in the category of Therian or Otherkin? Perhaps people just like the concept of "just animals" being of intelligence? (don't know how else to word that last part).

I think the human/animal ratio is personal preference. I have a friend who's not a furry, but does roleplay as an anthro. However, his concept of anthro is slightly different from others. You know the anime catgirls that are basically just humans that happen to have animal ears and tail? Well, his concept is somewhere between that and the usual anthro image (like werewolves), to create a being that's definitely humanlike, but clearly possesses animalistic features. Sorry for rambling on, I just thought I'd give an example ^^. Again, personal preference, I say.

Hope that helps.  

[[-Erik-]]

Try going for the animal you like the most, that's what I would do and what most furries have done. Why do you think many furries have nothing with their animal of choice?

As for hwo human/feral it has to be it's up to you I guess.

 

[Gotherine Foxx]

Finding my fursona i took it from an artistic and psychological point of view ... what do i look like act like what behaviers/tendencies do i share with animals and I came to this conclusion.

(keep in mind I grew up in a furry house hold)

I always knew my mom was a raccon and my brother had raccon tendencies but was more robust and took more to loungeing about the house like a large cat and ate far too much for any smaller mamal. so i went bigger than racconbut still in the same family ....Bastardized bust still. So i thought of what my father would be he wants so bad to be a wolf but he lacks the pack mentality and has a bit more terestrial tendencys . so fox was up his ally. I expanded my family tree to my grandparents to find my brother's and i speecies. My grandmother looks far much more like my brother and my grandfather looked more like my mother . Grandpa is a raccon too so grandmother must be a red panda . Makeing my brother a red panda in the color spectrum of a red fox. My father in the other paw his family is costelian and spanish Indigenous foxes to the area are red and then the costelian fox is usualy black blending into the rocks of the mediterranian. So I am a fox with grey black and white coloration like a raccon with tall ears and a longer tail throw back from my other grand mother.


but online i play a ficticous caricter.  

[Lunatyk5]

Wolfrham

How does one go about choosing an animal to represent themselves as a furry or even just furry art?

I've only started myself but I found that every animal has some culturally assigned traits to it. With me it was just a matter of what animal I was closest to in those traits and which one I felt like identifying the most.  

[Artemis Vulpes]

I am never quite sure what advice to give. I certainly did not pick a fox on a whim, I actually sat down and thought about what animal I wanted to use as my fursona fora couple days. A lot of the factors I considered where what kinds of animals I like and have an affinity for, the mythology surrounding them, had a connection to my heritage and lived locally.  

[stickfanatic]

I chose the animal that I had the strongest connection to and that reflected my personality the best...the choice on feral or not is up to you, it all depends on if you wish to have more human characteristics or not. Both choices are equally fine for rp purposes :3  

[[-Erik-]]

Mortella

Finding my fursona i took it from an artistic and psychological point of view ... what do i look like act like what behaviers/tendencies do i share with animals and I came to this conclusion.

(keep in mind I grew up in a furry house hold)

I always knew my mom was a raccon and my brother had raccon tendencies but was more robust and took more to loungeing about the house like a large cat and ate far too much for any smaller mamal. so i went bigger than racconbut still in the same family ....Bastardized bust still. So i thought of what my father would be he wants so bad to be a wolf but he lacks the pack mentality and has a bit more terestrial tendencys . so fox was up his ally. I expanded my family tree to my grandparents to find my brother's and i speecies. My grandmother looks far much more like my brother and my grandfather looked more like my mother . Grandpa is a raccon too so grandmother must be a red panda . Makeing my brother a red panda in the color spectrum of a red fox. My father in the other paw his family is costelian and spanish Indigenous foxes to the area are red and then the costelian fox is usualy black blending into the rocks of the mediterranian. So I am a fox with grey black and white coloration like a raccon with tall ears and a longer tail throw back from my other grand mother.


but online i play a ficticous caricter.

...

Woah.

 

[DjCrimsonFox]

Approaching creating a persona for yourself is something you kinda have to work out in your own way. Don't pick a species that just is like "I Love it" cause I mean i've seen people who are wolves and just collect tons of dragons. Just kinda find what animal you relate to more, like you can see it and be like, yeah I'm like that.

As for the feral/anthro, you could look at it is more, are you wanting to be more like back to the basics primal urges kind of person, or a more thought out type person, more human like.

As for how much human to animal ratio, just more of a personal preference, and if you draw, it just might be what your limitations are. Just sit down, don't over think it, just kinda let your subconscious talk to you.  

[Shakeidas]

Well, my advice for picking out a species? Imagine that, for whatever reason (mad scientist, jackass wizard, etc.), you're going to be turned into an anthro animal of some kind, and there's no way to stop it or reverse it later. BUT! You get to choose the species. (And I suppose form, when deciding between humanoid/feral.) So if you have to be stuck with a certain physical form for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Of course the problem is that what you'd choose will probably change slightly over time, but this should at least help to prevent complete species/genus/kingdom changes.  

[Gotherine Foxx]

[-Erik-]

Mortella

Finding my fursona i took it from an artistic and psychological point of view ... what do i look like act like what behaviers/tendencies do i share with animals and I came to this conclusion.

(keep in mind I grew up in a furry house hold)

I always knew my mom was a raccon and my brother had raccon tendencies but was more robust and took more to loungeing about the house like a large cat and ate far too much for any smaller mamal. so i went bigger than racconbut still in the same family ....Bastardized bust still. So i thought of what my father would be he wants so bad to be a wolf but he lacks the pack mentality and has a bit more terestrial tendencys . so fox was up his ally. I expanded my family tree to my grandparents to find my brother's and i speecies. My grandmother looks far much more like my brother and my grandfather looked more like my mother . Grandpa is a raccon too so grandmother must be a red panda . Makeing my brother a red panda in the color spectrum of a red fox. My father in the other paw his family is costelian and spanish Indigenous foxes to the area are red and then the costelian fox is usualy black blending into the rocks of the mediterranian. So I am a fox with grey black and white coloration like a raccon with tall ears and a longer tail throw back from my other grand mother.


but online i play a ficticous caricter.

...

Woah.

I'm very maticulous.  

[catora]

Some furries pick their fursona out of accute fixation. As a child I was obsessed with cats. As a child I read all the cat books in the library, pretended to be a kitty all the time, I grew to associate cats with beauty. So when it came time to create my first rp character, I crafted him out of aspects of what I truely wanted to be, my perfect self.  

[Pixeliciousness]

I always enjoyed rabbits. Cosplaying as one on gaia for easter caused everyone to assume I -was- a furry, so I just decided to investigate furs.

Really I think when you find your fursona you'll know. Technically you can be a furry without one.  

[Thorn apple]

If one must conciously choose, I venture that one is...at the very least, not well in touch with one's self.

To me, this "furry-ism" is akin to totemism. It can be explained, but had better not be explained.

One must ask, "What is my nature?"

And one must answer, "This fellow creature is like my nature."

Or, this might be horseshit. sweatdrop

Point is, look into yourself. That is all.  

[Matt Blue]

Sangaera Shiju

My best friend loves snakes and wolves, but he is a fox.

Whoever could this be, I wonder...?

Huh? HUH?!

STRANGER DANGER. -Shanks-