[ARCHIVE] Bridget (2020)

    Here are the first two pieces of art i've made featuring my OC/alternate fursona: Bridget! She wound up coming to be throughout the year when i wanted a more true-to-life fursona for myself. Somebody who is less aspirational to what i want to be and more to who i fit into now. Oh and I wanted someone that is tonally appropriate for certain more 'niche' kinks i have (heehee~). Bridget is a trans girl raccoon/possum hybrid who works part time at a thrift store. She spends her free time printmaking, writing zines, and obsessing over snack foods she finds at convenience stores. If something is discontinued, chances are she has a way to find a place that still sells fresh packages of the stuff. That ability is probably magic. She's also communist and very very gay. Bridget and Camper are very close friends and they regularly hang out to bond over punk music and their belief in mutual aid. 

    Oh and there's a funny little incident involving a jar of green stuff that Bridget found in a free-box on the sidewalk which now causes her to change size and proportions at somewhat random intervals. Don't be surprised if she wants to hang out with you, only for you to find that she is only inches tall or with a possum tail so long and thick that she is completely unable to move more than a few feet from current spot.

    Almost every sketch in the first image is referenced from a funny raccoon or possum picture i found online. I really didn't use references that much for a long time and i'm regretting that because using them made for some great art here! I'm now collecting more and more pictures for my reference folders so i can have what i need at my disposal. This is common practice among artists, yet my stubborn butt kept avoiding it for long than i should've. I'm noticing that one's art is definitely made a lot by what they reference within it. The more i pull from the stuff i like for little details the more my art feels like it looks how i want it to, even without directly copying images. 

    I've mentioned it previously, but my sketchpage process involves taking phone pics of my sketchbooks, arranging them on a page in CSP, and cleaning up any rougher pencil marks or strange artifacting/lighting that arose when taking a phone picture. However, any cleanup is also meant to be drawing of its own. I never want these to look sterile. I think my process gives my sketchpages cool zine aesthetic. It's been mentioned to me that they resemble children's books. That is very high praise to me. 

    The second painting of Bridget's tail weighing down a shower curtain-rod started as a page in my sketchbook, but quickly grew and grew once it hit my computer. I had fun learning to juggle value and contrast within a single image. The perspective is really loose and while it might not be the 'correct' way to do it, i think it works better for me making images. As long as i roughly keep track of a horizon and vanishing points, i can make an image properly convey space. At least for smaller works like this. Rigidly following the rules can be suffocating. I like to break them a little, as long as i understand them a bit. 

    I also tossed in two posters that are references to my buddies Ari and Lane. You should totally check out their work! They aren't kink artists, but they make wonderful art and are some of the hardest working people i know. Even though i've taken a different path since dropping out of art school, both have absolutely remained some of my biggest influences.

    As always, full-res files for both images are linked below.