How to Draw Manga Furries: The Complete Guide to Anthropomorphic Fantasy Characters (750 illustrations)

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When trying to draw furries, the first wall that people hit is the muzzle (see Step 2 below). As the While often portrayed by the media as freaks, furries are simply people who love the concept of anthropomorphic animals. The only difference between them and, say, Trekkies (fans of Star Trek), is that they are more visible—by the art they create (lots and lots of original art, not just fan art, like Trekkies), and the fursuits that seem to many people more childish than "normal" cosplay. A person cosplaying as a minotaur (bull-man) will get far fewer judgmental looks than a person cosplaying as a fox-man, which can only be explained by many misconceptions about the furry community. Let’s see what happens when we incorporate comical eyes and real eyes into the same face. It’s clear that even though only the eyes have Furries usually have a vast imagination, and many of them express it through their artistic skills. Creating art is the easiest way to make a furry character real and visible to other people. Drawing your fursona and using it as an avatar on social media can let you become that character and be seen as one by others. Role-playing is also easier when you have a "photo" of your character to show other players. We can also identify to an extent with certain animals. We can think of ourselves, "I'm like a wolf, quiet and withdrawn among strangers, but very loyal to my friends," or "I'm like a lioness, I'll do everything to keep my children safe." If you're creative enough, you can imagine a detailed vision of your "animal self", taking it outside of your mindset and into actual physicality. Wouldn't it feel cool to have a tail to wag when you're happy, and express your emotions more clearly with your ears? If you like this vision, you may be a furry.

You can also simply attach an animal head to a human body. However, you lose many opportunities for an interesting design this way, because while it technically can be called an anthro, it doesn't look plausible, which kills the immersion (the "sewn" parts drag your attention away from the personality of the character). Is it a rabbit? Is it a woman? Your brain has a hard time interpreting such a hybrid as one creature.You can learn the proportions of the bones by analyzing the skeletons of both humans and the animal that you want to use. The Internet is full of great references for this, especially if the animal is one of the common ones. To analyze the proportions, gather a set of various references (the more different views, the better), and sketch the skeletons in a simple way, trying to find a recipe you can memorize.

Hypothetically, this used to help us in group hunting (silent "pointing" with eyes), but today it's mostly used to send non-verbal messages. Rolling your eyes, looking away, looking around when thinking—if you want your character to be able to communicate this way, make sure the whites of the eyes are visible. Experiment with the size of the eyes as well; bigger eyes are usually more expressive. To anthropomorphize means simply "to make something human-like". It can be done in various ways: a tree can be said to think and speak while keeping its normal tree look, but it can also have "arms" and "hands" made of branches, and a fully expressive "face" carved in the trunk. In the case of animals, they can be made bipedal and wear human clothes, and their faces can be changed to show human emotions.

What Is Anthropomorphism?

It's not only about anatomy. The jewelry, clothing, and armor must fit the body and allow for natural movement. Don't just draw a bracelet on every empty area of the skin; try to become this character for a while and see what you would wear and how if you were them. Maybe long, dangling earrings are not a good idea for a hunting cat-man? Is wearing a skirt wise if you're moving by hopping? If you keep thinking this way, you'll avoid mistakes that break the illusion you're trying to create. Besides the obvious functionality of this solution, anthropomorphic characters simply have aesthetic value to many people. There are only so many ways to make a human beautiful, while you can design a thousand amazing bird-men based on various species. Just like manga characters, anthros can be made completely fantastic and detached from reality in their look, which lets the artist get extremely creative while keeping the story grounded in reality. Simply thinking of various anthros can be quite inspiring, too—what would a cheetah-man look like? Goggly Cheetah by 0laffson