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Luther Broderick Blog Entry |
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July 9, 2021, 2:16:08 PM 7/9/21: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." Posting late today but it's just a character portrait. This is another somewhat unusual one as this character has only ever been envisioned as anthro in the past, this is his first human appearance! Meet Luther Broderick, experimental human version. (He's always been described in my writing as being blond with mesmerizing "icy blue" eyes; to be honest, he should probably look a bit more sinister and less crazy eyed.) As far as I can recall, he's had only one previous drawing done, decades ago (probably the Nineties), a rough drawing of him in canine anthro, fullbody form chasing after another anthro character with a gun. In some of my older fiction, Luther is a primary antagonist and a really, really bad guy (one of my characters I actually feel rather uncomfortable talking about in detail, just nasty stuff); he had a really messed-up childhood which explains (though does not excuse) some of his behavior. Anyway, he ends up taking control of the cult that features in my earlier writing and this puts him at odds with my protagonist Damien, who I also gave human form for the first time recently (in my Tumblr). I was in my teens, and I remember my cousin came over to spend the night; we had little in common and weren't really close, but I was lonely and tried hard to befriend and socialize with her over my arcane interests, which included my writing and then-anthro characters. I used to LOVE showing...well, TRYING to show off my creations to anyone and everyone, especially my peers, in the hopes of finding a likeminded spirit. I was largely unsuccessful and this instance was no exception. :/ After explaining my cult story a bit to my cousin, I showed her this old drawing of Luther. And all she had to say (paraphrased) was, "The bad guy is a dog...?" This was the point at which I realized if I wanted my work to be taken seriously, I needed to conceal the fact that all my characters were cats and dogs. This was before the Internet and I'd actually never heard on "furry" or "anthro" art before, and just assumed I was the only person who drew like this (Disney art never entered my mind--there were no murderous cultists in any Disney movies I'd seen). My cousin's reaction showed me how odd my ideas were, and in my writing I gradually began omitting references to "tails" and upright ears and such, and I stopped showing off art of my characters. Unfortunately, despite these efforts my writing was never taken seriously anyway, and none of the friends I made after this point were ever interested in any of it (I only ever had one friend who shared an interest in my fiction and collaborated with me--I adopted a few of her characters as my own--but she moved away a few years later and lost all interest in it, too), so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here I am today, failed wannabe writer of anthro characters. When I finally got online I learned I was NOT the only person who wrote about talking animals AND who takes such stuff seriously. But I never succeeded in fitting into any anthro communities (I think I'm not furry ENOUGH, ironically), and some ridicule of my characters persisted, so with minor exceptions like my Apsiu (original species) and Trench Rats (basically on permanent hiatus), the whitewashing of my anthro characters as human continues. Here is the latest example. I'm really no good at drawing anthro characters, either (probably the other reason I've never fit into the anthro community), so I can't really win either way. I now post these guys at Toyhou.se, which makes me feel a lot less weird, though it's near impossible to get noticed there with my mediocre skills. Oh well. ...That was a lot of text I do not think will be read, like the rest of my stuff, but it's context. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And anyway, I think I'm done. [Luther Broderick 2021 [Friday, July 9, 2021, 2:16:08 PM]] |