Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Ursa Major Awards: Published Illustration category

Miscellany
#1

Hey, anyone who’ll be attending Furry Fiesta 2015. I won’t. But Bill Haskell in Houston just sent me the Midwest FurFest 2014 souvenir book. It has a really gorgeous wraparound cover by Sabretoothed Ermine that I’d’ve recommended for the Ursa Major Award’s 2014 Recommended Published Illustration List, if I’d seen it before the 2014 Recommended List was closed. Too bad I didn’t. It’s still eligible for nominations for the 2014 Ursa Major Award for Best Published Illustration, but you’ll have to take my word for it since it’s apparently not online to be seen.

Will the cover of the Furry Fiesta 2015 souvenir book be worth recommending? That’s something that someone who attends FF 2015 will have to say. Also, one recommendation will get it onto the 2015 Recommended List, but not much further if it’s not scanned by someone and put online where it can be seen.

The Cóyotl Awards don’t have an art category, but this is something that FWG members who attend FF 2015 can do to promote worthwhile furry art. And who attend any other furry convention during 2015 and get their souvenir books. The committees of those conventions are especially urged to put their conbook cover art online and call attention to it.

#2

(At risk of propagating the off-topicness of the MWFF 2014 con book cover, it’s actually in Ermine’s Fur Affinity Gallery. The picture is called “Holidays in the City.”)

#3

Since we’re using our printer to make the conbook and my husband is the conbook staffer, I have access to the cover file. Here’s a thumbnail of it. I like the design, but it’s probably not what you’re thinking of in terms of a nomination in the illustration category.

TFF2015Cover.JPG

#4

FuzzWolf, you’re right. The FF 2015 souvenir book cover is a nice design, but not of award-winning furry published illustration caliber.

But I was using the FF 2015 souvenir book cover as an example. If any other 2015 furry convention souvenir book cover is really good, it should be posted online and publicized, so it can be seen by more than those who attended that convention. Who is responsible for that? Any attendee of that convention? That convention’s chair, or the committee member in charge of the conbook? That’s to be determined, but convention committees in general might discuss this at committee meetings

Chipotle, Sabretoothed Ermine’s Fur Affinity gallery that you cite leads to a “for registered members only” message. Her cover is still not generally available, so presumably only registered Fur Affinity members are likely to nominate it for the 2014 Ursa Major Published Illustration Award. Fans in general should not have to register for a Fur Affinity account to see what’s worth voting for.

#5

“registered Fur Affinity members” is pretty much everybody. Like anti-bacterial handwash, it’s 99.999% effective.

#6

In principle I agree; in practice there’s an awful lot of artists who don’t really maintain web presences beyond gallery web sites like Fur Affinity or deviantArt, and I suspect Fuzzwolf is correct that the vast majority of furries who can get an FA account do so. Even if you’re not an artist/writer yourself, the tools it offers for maintaining watch lists and favorites are pretty valuable. Works posted to FA have been nominated for Ursas before (E.O. Costello’s novel in 2013 and K.M. Hirosaki’s short story in 2011; I didn’t look earlier).

I rather wish FA didn’t handle blocking the way that it does – if I ran the zoo, you simply wouldn’t have the option to make your gallery only available to registered members, and the site would simply block viewing of adult art/writing to non-registered users – but it is what it is. I doubt the notion of putting the work up somewhere else and actively promoting it for an Ursa nomination would have occurred to Ermine; the Ursas still don’t have the name recognition in furrydom one might wish.

#7

Since the discussion’s moved a little further afield than just Furry Fiesta, thought this should be its own topic. :slight_smile:

#8

For what it’s worth, the illustration under discussion (Sabretoothed Ermine’s MFF 2014 cover) is currently on the Ursa Major Awards RRL, listed as entry #10 under Recommended Anthropomorphic Published Illustration.