Must Love Frogs

Ice Age: Dawn Of St. Charlies

PebbleLion asked about civil rights and social matters in the world of When We Fly, and this might not QUITE be an answer to that inquiry, but I have to start somewhere. And that somewhere is the literal start of this version of planet Earth.

I'm fascinated by prehistory because it's by far the longest stretch of conscious existence, and we know pretty much nothing about it. Some humans (and WwF animal people) believe that there WAS no existence before a handful of millennia ago. For...

Deer And Loathing In St. Charlies

TammyTerra asked to drop in on the formidable Sous La Mer sisters! You've seen the cervine siblings in their grownup glory, now behold the garbage pail fawns in their original form. Like the Dazzlings before them, Liz had the largest hand in creating the sisters' backstory.

The Sous La Mers had a start similar to Clem's...unfortunately the trio had no cool aunts to come rescue them from squalor and neglect. Sous La Mom was a lout and an unhinged party animal, entertaining many a needle ...

Fox Rocks St. Charlies's Socks

Jazz desired some Fox and Frog! Since the dynamic duo (sans their cat and mouse companions, who are out doing other stuff) have a fairly specific role in When We Fly, let's talk about Icy's best frenemy, Vixen Grin.

Vix is a mysterious figure who ascended into the the St. Charlies limelight by performing holiday revues with full orchestral accompaniment. So enormously popular were the audacious alto's Christmas shows that she was dubbed the velvet-toned conqueror of the midwest, the f...

Here To Stay Is A New Bird

This is not an unfinished drawing. Lately I've really enjoyed sketching from the elbow: just getting my visions down on paper with minimal fuss or cleanup. The texture of the pencil tells the story, and I'm kind of living for it.

Owlcoholik suggested that I give fellow feathered friend Kittiwake some screen time. Our eagle, per the rotten hand fate dealt to her as a fledgling, suffered emotionally and physically in foster care up until her adoption as a tween. Her new mom and dad, ex...

Dolph Day Afternoon

Another Lop suggestion! A suggestion of cetaceans!

I grew up near scenic Presque Isle. One of the points on the peninsula was Kohler Beach, aka Beach 11, a shallow stretch of lake where parents often took their little kids to get used to the water. There may not be any dolphins in the real Lake Erie, but that won't stop Dolph and Rudy this somewhat overcast summer day!

Rudolpho Stenella Sr. is a mild mannered mammal and a gentle and caring dad. He and his son Rudy get along...

Barbara Bested

PrincessMuffinArt suggested I draw some hijinks pertaining to the lupine lore of Big Barbara. Who could tame this most beauteous of brawny beasts? Only Melissa, of course! When the squirrel squeaks, good doggies obey!

How's it taken me so long to do this meme... https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/down-boy-arf

When We Fly (c)Kae

Casual Child Endangerment

As per Lopoddity's double suggestion, here's Julie Scroff in the 70s and Sam Cohen in the 90s hanging out with their respective babies. Well, Julie's hanging out, and the daughter she didn't want happens to be there, which was commonplace until Julie took off and dumped Clem on her distant aunt.

One thing I will say for the Scroff women: they look like beautiful men. Androgyny runs in the blood and I don't know if I specifically planned that out, or if that's just how a Kae do. If ...

May Special: Let's Do Something New!

What, no poll this month? I've been inspired by our neighbor Lopoddity to open the floor to your suggestions! You, yes you, especially you! are encouraged to plumb your imagination for scenes of the St. Charliesverse you'd like to see me manifest. I'm open to basically all brainstorming, and I'll sketch as many of your suggestions as I can. NSFW is perfectly acceptable, though only our Seen In Green tier and up will be able to view those (sorry Tadpoles). Challenge this frog's creativity...

April Shout Out!

April shout outs bring May mantises out to play, and you folks never cease to amaze me! Here's an extra loud April scream for our Friends Of Frog and up: Mulefoot, Tineid, unsingable_name, Nutjob, Floydiana, Heartshine, Greypon3, Jonathan, Jose, Limule, Markus and Swissair171!

One Day Sketch Special!

Certainly I know you Patrons do plenty for me, but I thought it only right to let you in on this deal. I'm running a special promotion on full-body sketches so that I have more examples to show at future cons. I ran this offer on FA yesterday and I said I would open it up to my other socials today. Limited time $25 full body sketches are available today only! Original characters and fanart is OK by me. If you're interested, please let me know and I'll fill you in on more details. :)

RuPaw RuVisited

Hey kitty girl!

In the world of When We Fly, RuPaw Snarles took drag from the dive bars and dimly lit pageant stages and shantay'd it onto the pop culture catwalk. Naysaying opponents of drag be damned, there's just too much style in this king (queen?) cheetah's smile. Our upstart pal Evan (not shown) longs to evolve from a little possum boy in drag to a glamazon for whom Mama Ru could purr with pride. Will his glitter-dusted dreams ever come true?

You don't understand. Aunti...

Piggyback Track

Gravey doesn't care for cardio day. Good thing they've got a coach like Piggy Sue to offer motivation!

For my friend https://www.furaffinity.net/user/gravewalker

When We Fly (c)Kae

Con Badges 2025

A few early con badges for this year. Even I felt that I finally needed one!

My wife is on staff at our local con, and it's her job to bring drinks and snacks (and restroom breaks) to the artists. Hence "Snack Lady" and her signature purple puffin. Not all heroes wear capes. Furthermore, she wanted a completely different style from my usual badges, so I busted out the ball point pen and Photoshop airbrush.

I don't feel the need to censor Hodge and their porcine fabulosity, a...

April Special: The Princess And The Bug

Would sweet Agnes kiss a /mantis/ if it might transform into a weird little tomboy princess? I think she'd hop at the chance! Good thing she wore her Boggenstocks for the occasion.

Yeah, this was quick. Our young friends swept the competition so I felt fine busting out the winning pic! It's early in the month so maybe I can draw the runner up as well...I'll see what I can do.

When We Fly (c)Kae

April Special: This Is Real Life

So this month, I would like to flex my probably-Ghibli-esque muscles and draw some of our favorites as their human-world equivalents! But we're going to play hardball and portray one side of the pair as a human and the other an /animal/. Cuteness prevails. Who should I draw?

March Shout, Shout, Let It All Out

These are the frogs we can't do without: our wonderful March Patrons! An extra croak for our Friends Of Frog and up: THANK YOU Mulefoot, Tineid, unsingable_name, Nutjob, Athena's Owl, Floydiana, Greypon3, Heartshine, Jonathan, La Limule, Jose, Swissair171 and Markus!

Clem Brûlée

That was my pun for "Clem in attempted BLUEY style", but it sounds more like Clem's drag name, which may not be out of the question. I think BLUEY is really meant to be drawn in Flash or whatever they use for that charmingly limited animation style, and not by a traditional artist with a Sharpie. But it's fun to have fun.

I've seen a few brief episodes of BLUEY and I thought it was cute and nice. It didn't blow my mind, but I certainly prefer my little first cousins once removed watc...

Piggy Sue's Stupid Daddy

And now for something totally different: Piggy Sue's parents doing the "you look like your stupid father" meme. Personally I think she takes after the both of them, for different reasons.

Why does Sam need a hair net? Because rules are rules, dammit...

When We Fly (c)Kae

Short Stories: Eloisa And Daylily

Upstart roadies Eloisa and Daylily attempt to learn the business by diving into the deep end. Icy clearly assumes that, since these ladies are representatives of GenZ, they ostensibly take to all technology like frogs to water. However, as per a stereotype surrounding their generation, they're very easily distracted...at least Daylily is.

Ooh, an ipad. Back in the bad old days they would have been responsible for trailers full of massive amps, speakers, scorching hot lights, complica...

Crushing It: Icy And Henny (WIP)

Concept sketch for a CRUSHED ICE vignette I'd like to do, featuring the girls rocking out like a bunch of maniacs: this first pic presents Icy and her gigantic drum kit, as well as her regular-sized keyboardist Henny Lane. Instruments are very hard for me to draw, and I'm at constant odds with my desire to depict things clinically and my hunger for pure emotion-driven art from the shoulder. Eventually you have to stop fretting over perfection and just get drawing, or you'll never accomplish...

Short Stories: Extra Scratch

I've been clawing lately to draw more CRUSHED ICE, both current musical misadventures and blasts from the past. But to keep the tunes flowing we're gonna need roadies, those unsung heroes of harmony. We salute you!

If you're just now joining us, wow, hello! Icy (the bear) is an aging rocker who bangs the drums and originated CRUSHED ICE. She also runs a gym called Roughnecks, where these young ladies work. Eloisa (the burro) is a muscular straight girl with a heart of gold who is raisin...

Rotting Bristle Board: The Story Of SAJ

What the heck is SAJ (rhymes with dodge)? SAJ was an acronym for Steve, Angie (Mantiski) and Joe, three kid mantises who had wacky high school adventures around the time when I was having wacky high school adventures. Inseparable as I was from my buddies Steve (now deceased and deeply missed) and Joe (hi Joe!), at the tender age of 15 I drew the three of us as praying mantises for shits and giggles. The shits and giggles stuck, and this was the earliest evolutionary example of KaeMantis a...

Rotting Bristle Board: FIREHEART

Today I went through the oldest of my old art, the stuff that's been moving house with me since my childhood in another state. As the originals were literally falling apart, I accepted that today it was time to say goodbye to the ghosts of my teenage attempts at high fantasy. This is the abridged story of FIREHEART.

Like most closeted furry kids in the 90s, I loved the REDWALL series by Brian Jacques. It would take pretty much a decade of reading before my innocent ass really accepte...

March Special: Life Cycle Of A Frog

Forg gurl takes home the March gold!

Agnes's design has been something of a project for me since the beginning. While some herps in WwF do have hair (probably a version of gill filament in their case), Agnes does not, and speaking as a human it's difficult to wrest femininity from a bald character. Regardless, Agnes has always been a character strongly defined by her femininity, and I'm especially intrigued to see her embrace a slightly more androgynous side in her adulthood. She re...

Oh Gosh, Another Tie

March's poll is all tied up! Will it be Agnes Leepe or Miles MacFirn? I'll happily draw either!

Hey, Hey, The Big Boned Gal

One hazy night in the swingin' 1980s, Eva Hefton makes a splash at some dive where a couple of wet-behind-the-ears megafauna are pushing their rock 'n 'roll dreams. Icy Urski's best friend-slash-collaborator Hip Horowitz may not have time for a bump and grind before the next set...but better perhaps to make a lady's acquaintance now and ask the bear for forgiveness later.

I don't pretend to know Eva's specific sexuality, as she is Lopoddity's character and all I know for sure is that ...

Woodhock Blocked

When I was a teenager, I was forever at the drafting table writing two comic series, 100% certain I would make it big with my furry genius. One was a comedy about mantis kids, which I was working on with my friend Joe (hi Joe!). The other was a fantasy adventure comic in the vein of REDWALL, which I called FIREHEART. Fireheart was not well written (teenage angst is overwrought on a good day), but the art was really impressive for the time. One of these days I'll post a few pages and make ...

New Collection: Family Trees

Wonder who's related to who and how? Enjoy ogling charts and graphs? Sure you do! Now you can find the WwF family trees all in one convenient collection.

  https://www.patreon.com/collection/1369680?view=expanded

Pig Progeny

So many pigs! SO MANY NICKNAMES! Brick has no less than two! No wonder he pummeled his children with silly monikers…

I’ve already told you folks a lot about Clem and Piggy Sue’s families, but I’ll do my best to give you the fast food rundown of both herds, especially where new characters are involved. Also, you’ll notice that a lot of these folks have passed away, but that’s in accordance with the present timeline. Most of our friends lived long, full lives and died of ...

March Special: Glow Up!

There's not much to do in this bitter Smarch weather, so let's cheer ourselves up with another through-the-ages series! This time we'll choose one of WwF's youngsters and include a sneak peek of the winner as a grown adult. This will force--I mean, encourage me to think about the future of our favorite St. Charlies ankle biters. Pick your winner! Why did I fill out their full names? Why not...