Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Design contest winner Spalding made an awesome new Dogpatch Press banner.

by Patch O'Furr

Spalding does adorable furry art.  Check his Furaffinity Gallery.  A few weeks back, he answered my call for a banner artist.  Spalding says:

“It was an honor to make a banner for Patch’s furry news site. I love drawing canids, so this was a fun project!”

Thanks Spalding, for showing off the awesome talent of the furry fan community!  As thanks, he’s getting a $40 payment, and this $40 art-of book:

“Art of Animal Character Design” book debut at San Diego Comic Con.

PATCH BANNER

 

Why I Fursuit – a Burning Man story from Vignette Hyena

by Patch O'Furr

Vignette has a great post from Burning Man:

I wear my suit because I like being a pretend hyena sometimes, and a little dust in my fur isn’t going to stop me from doing it.

The video makes it’s own statement. It’s from Death Guild Thunderdome at Burning Man, where Furry burners also have a long established presence.

Gay Life TV’s “Nomi Darling Show” features fabulous furries, and my very special date with Nomi.

by Patch O'Furr

 

still2In July, I flew to Anthrocon in a rather poopy mood. Getting burdened with bad work on a fun trip will do that. I couldn’t even find a dog bowl of booze to drown my sorrows, because the stupid liquor stores had stupid closing hours. I walked back to the con hotel with a black cloud blocking the sparkles that usually follow my fursuit.

Then a stunning vision in a white fur coat grabbed me by my rainbow suspenders. She asked, “will you be my furry boyfriend?”  The cloud flew away, and we turned into TV stars!

The Nomi Darling Show, episode #2, has our date.  (It’s in “Love and the Fursuit of Happiness”, at the 26:00 mark.)

Sketch comedy/variety is the style of the show.  It highlights “Short films, parodies, topical satire, and original music videos from underground musicians”.   It reaches up to 80,000 viewers on Pittsburgh-based Gay Life Television – “the first LGBTQ-dedicated IPTV station in America that is both LGBTQ owned and operated.”

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Starting Frolic: San Francisco’s Frolic party – interview with Neonbunny part 2

by Patch O'Furr

02Interview series:  Artists, animation directors, DJ’s and event organizers, superfans, and more…
Neonbunny is founding DJ and promoter of Frolic. The 90 minute interview has 4 parts, with one a week posting this month.

2) Starting Frolic – Throwing parties, finding other furries.

 

For many furries in the world, the San Francisco Bay Area is the place to be. For many in the Bay, Frolic is THE most furry place. It isn’t the only center, but it’s an influential one. It’s not just the best Furry party… I’d call it the best party San Francisco has, period.  Check out Frolic’s website, and read about it in The Bold Italic magazine.

Neonbunny, founding DJ and promoter of Frolic, met me for a long interview over dinner. His partner Jody who handles tech, lighting and animation was with us.  It was a year ago, just after they got back from 2013’s Burning Man event in Nevada.  Neon’s early trips to Burning Man led to discovering Furries:

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(Patch) – So you got into throwing all these parties in San Francisco, in the early 2000’s…

(Neon) – My second year at Burning Man, I learned about furries.

We had this venue in 2002- a movie theater in San Francisco’s Mission district.  Back then it was called Fandanga.  It’s where Sherilyn Connelly (SF Weekly journalist who covers furry happenings) does her Bad Movie Nights.

I said, hey, lets show some bunny porn.  I went online searching.  Next thing, I was reading all about furries.  I was totally fascinated.  It was just after Fur Con, around easter time.  It wasn’t until next year I went to my first furry event.  That was Fur Con.  It’s where I met Jody.  It was his first Fur Con too, in 2003.

The owner of The Stud came to our first bunny party.  He said it was his favorite party of the year.  He would spend half his time in Hawaii, half in SF.  He always came back for Bunny Jam.

We were into the wild crazy weirdness – more than just a dance party.  If people wouldn’t complain about the music, we were doing it wrong.  It was for the WTF factor. It was more an art happening than a rave.

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Interview series: Movie directors, animators, artists, event builders, superfans, and more.

by Patch O'Furr

Creators and Doers make a subculture thrive. Whether they build it from grassroots – or feed it from outside with stuff that furries like – they have valuable words to say.  I didn’t plan to build a collection of interviews – it grew naturally from one. It will get updated often.  Let’s start with a great top example:

Michel Gagne is one of the giants of the animation world. You may have seen his work on movies for Don Bluth, Warner, Pixar, and more. He was Guest of Honor at Anthrocon 2004. In 2012, Kickstarter backers pledged $57,875 towards his own animated movie, The Saga of Rex. The result was a 4:00 teaser video, released in 2013 as progress towards producing the Rex movie.  What’s he up to since then?

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Mordrude’s Monster Manual hits funding goal, and aims higher.

by Patch O'Furr

What’s that I hear… a bunch of furries celebrating? Mordrude’s Monster Manual hit it’s goal this week.

Learn more in my previous story – A once-a-decade publishing event, for fursuit builders.

Why celebrate yet another crowdfunding plug? As my article mentioned, there aren’t a lot of permanent resources to promote the art of making fursuits. That gap has stayed open for a long time. There’s still only one formally published book: Critter Costuming. The subject is just so specialized, that it isn’t economical to publish to a fan market that’s small – but fiercely devoted. That devotion is what Mordrude brings. It’s a labor of love to publish a reference of low commercial value – but high, long-lasting benefit to suit-makers and their fans.

I agree with her description: it’s “a documentary book that will inspire costume builders for many years to come.”

Chance to pitch in ends on Friday, September 5. Here’s what Mordrude offers those who help now:

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From counterculture to Furry: San Francisco’s Frolic party – interview with Neonbunny part 1

by Patch O'Furr

02Interview series:  Artists, animation directors, DJ’s and event organizers, superfans, and more…
Neonbunny is founding DJ and promoter of Frolic. The 90 minute interview has 4 parts, with one a week posting this month.

 

1) Counterculture to Furry – Neonbunny’s background in the SF Bay Area. 

 

For many furries in the world, the San Francisco Bay Area is the place to be. For many in the Bay, Frolic is THE most furry place. It isn’t the only center, but it’s an influential one. It’s not just the best Furry party… I’d call it the best party San Francisco has, period.  Check out Frolic’s website, and read about it in The Bold Italic magazine.

Neonbunny, founding DJ and promoter of Frolic, met me for a long interview over dinner. His partner Jody who handles tech, lighting and animation was with us.  It was a year ago, just after they got back from 2013’s Burning Man event in Nevada.  It was a nice place to start:

___________

NeonBunnyFull-Suit(Neon)  – We’re still catching up from Burning Man.  Our living room is piled with all our gear – there’s dust in everything.

(Patch) –  My friends showed me videos of all the amazing sights. I hear it’s a week of bad food and good drugs.

And dust storms.

How many people were at Camp Fur?

Camp Fur itself had 45 people.  There were lots of furries elsewhere.

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The news is full of fursuiters and animation: Furry news dump (8-31-14)

by Patch O'Furr

Here’s some news curated from a Furry view.  Enjoy a big sloppy bowl of news bites, scoops, and Snausage links.  Tips welcome- I’d love to post yours!

brony2

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Media attention is very active recently…

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– Fursuiter in San Francisco magazine. 

This feature page about bronies has local furry “Quinnton Fox” in pony suit.

– Bronies in San Francisco’s The Bold Italic.  

A photo project documents Bronies, and what being one means.

– Wall Street Journal’s furry Photo of the Day.

A police officer halts traffic as delegates arrive to Eurofurence in Berlin.

– Meetup.com’s Furry group made the cover of San Diego Reader.

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USAGI YOJIMBO gets a successful pitch for a feature film

by Patch O'Furr

The indie comic by Furry favorite artist Stan Sakai is a “funny animal series set in 17th century feudal Japan”. The rabbit samurai has never appeared in animation, except for brief appearance in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV cartoon. (A TV show pilot from 1995, Space Usagi, never aired because of lack of toy company backing and bad business involving the Bucky O-Hare comic; “anything with a rabbit in space was considered off limits”.)

Now, Usagi is in a short film that was made to present to Stan Sakai, the TMNT-affiliated creator who’s been guest of honor at a number of Furry cons. It earned his approval for feature film rights.

… And it’s intended to be stop-motion animation!

Lintika Film Studio made the pitch video.  They’re a shoestring-budget collaboration of local San Francisco Bay Area animators.  Executive production is from Fon Davis. Fon gave me a tour of his local studio (Fonco), and showed me the original, iconic spiral hill from Nightmare Before Christmas that he animated.  He’s an incredibly generous supporter of indie productions, known for hosting panels at San Diego Comic Con.  Lead animator on the pitch is Justin Kohn, known for working on all of Henry Selick’s features and supporting the Bay Area animation community.

The short’s director from Lintika says:

It’s still a work-in-progress and about 90% complete. We’re currently working on the sound mix and refining the film for the DVD release which will include behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, deleted scenes, and interesting details regarding the making of the featurette.

The most furry place in the universe? San Francisco’s Frolic party – interview with Neonbunny

by Patch O'Furr

Coming soon -one a week posting this month:

A four part interview with Neonbunny, founding DJ and promoter of Frolic.

 

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For many furries in the world, the San Francisco Bay Area is the place to be.  For many in the Bay, Frolic is THE most furry place.  It’s not the only center, but it’s an influential one. It’s not just the best Furry party… I’d call it the best party San Francisco has, period.

Check out Frolic’s website, or come every second Saturday of the month.  Wear anything, but expect costumes too fabulous for words. The Bold Italic magazine said: this is some next level shit.

FrolicFlierSince it started in 2010, Frolic has inspired club nights to spring up across the USA – a subculture movement.  Every month, it brings dedicated supporters who travel from hours away. It attracts out-of-towner friends, who show up as superstar of the night for regulars who appreciate them back the same way.

It makes a ripple in local culture in general, attracting a section of curiosity seekers who want to see what furries are. Occasionally, drunk bachelorettes roll up in a limo to annoy tolerant regulars with too many selfies. Often, the party is a gateway for newcomers who come back in freshly sewn fur. (Like me!)

It’s become a local monthly mini-con, and branched out to do a once-a-year special club night, coinciding with January’s Further Confusion con, 45 minutes south in San Jose. There’s also a once-a-year outdoor free festival in the park, “Furries in the Wild,” across the bay in Oakland.

Other parties seem tepid after Frolic.  It tops them with more hugs (even between dogs and cats) and a positively-freaky, are-those-costumes-or-am-I-hallucinating? vibe found nowhere else.

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