Red Furros
Interview with Tempe O’Kun, Author of Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny
After the release of our last review of “Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny” by Tempe O’Kun, we had a nice conversation with him about his recent work, where he gave us some exciting news about his upcoming work, new info on the Nordguard Game, and more.
Hello Tempo! And thank you once again for agreeing to this interview! we know you are someone who likes to keep himself busy, so we are glad you are making some time for us.
Hi Arakum. It’s great to talk to you.
First of all we’d like to know a bit more about yourself, we found a bit about you on Wikifur, we learned you are 28 and you were born in Grand Forks, how was it growing up being a furry in North Dakota?
North Dakota is quiet and polite, traits which have seeped down from Canada over the years, as well as sparsely populated. While it might seem to furries in ND that they are alone, this is simply because North Dakotans generally don’t want to be seen as making a fuss, so telling everyone that you think of yourself as a talking animal person is uncommon. Once you get involved in the furry community, though, you find that there are plenty of furries in ND.
Was it hard for you to explain to friends and family about the furry fandom?
A: It was easier than I thought it would be. I found the best way to explain it to them was to start by telling them I write fantasy stories. Anything can be fantasy, really. From there, I got more specific by telling them about why I like using animal species as metaphors or to convey a lot of ideas about a character in a short time. Much like Tolkien fantasy used elves or dwarves to set up your expectations for a character, making someone a badger makes you expect something different from them than if I made them a shrew. Furthermore, it helps to remember everyone is a furry to some degree, thanks to Disney movies. I found that the less weird I acted like furry was the more easily people accepted it.
And now let’s talk about your book “Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny” which we heard is selling well. Why did you decide to write a furry book about the old west?
Because it didn’t exist! I had never seen a furry western, so it seemed like an interesting new direction to explore. One of the biggest appeals of writing for me is that I can strive to create original and interesting situations, characters, and worlds, which is both rewarding and challenging. What’s more, I was taught by my writing professors that genres are lenses with with we view stories. Sometimes seeing through more than one lens at a time allows us to see elements we otherwise wouldn’t. What’s more, I wanted to write a western about furries because I knew it would stun the western readers of the world.
Is there anyone you know that inspired the personality of?? “Six Shooter”?
Many people, actually. Six’s dialog, for example, was half various friends from the Southern US and half my grandmother when she’s being dramatic. Overall, though, I wanted to take the character of “the Old West gunfighter”, flip the gender, and see what happens. Western literature doesn’t show many people who defy traditional gender roles and I’ve always had a fondness for sassy, independant women.
We have found some animated demos of what seems to be an animation of Six Shooter, are there any plans of an animated short?
Keiron White (TheFunkyOne on FA), a professional animator in the UK, liked the novel and contacted me a while ago. He was interested in doing an animation of it, so we threw some ideas back and forth and suddenly we were working on a short. I can confirm that the short is complete and he’s going to release it when the Sixes Wild e-book comes out to celebrate. I just spent a month making the e-book (and exclusive bonus content) and Sofawolf Press is planning to release it on Kindle, Nook, and iPad.
Now, there is a question that I must ask (as you can imagine some people have asked me) the title references the old concept about the expansion of the USA throughout America which has made us a bit curious about why you choose that title for your book?
A: Ah! I’ve been waiting for someone to ask that. Basically, there are two manifestations of destiny happening: 1) the expansion of the eastern US into other lands, bringing with it both good and bad (the lawbat Blake and the businesslion Hayes represent these, one traveling there to ensure the various settlers and natives obey the law (also a somewhat naive hope for adventure), the other traveling there purely to exploit them) and 2) the fulfillment of what Six’s father failed to achieve. Furthermore, the magical “echoes” that exist in this world manifest the dead to its inhabitants in very real ways, especially for Six. Additionally, as you probably noticed in the book, US expansionism is not presented in a glorified way, which came as a shock to some of the older western fans reading this book.
What else can we expect from Six Shooter in the future?
A: I’ve been writing a number of short stories for a Sixes Wild anthology, which would include the stories from FA as well as about half a dozen new stories, each with an illustration. In addition, I’ve finished the outline for Sixes Wild 2, though both of these projects are going to have to wait other books are complete and published.
Is there any project other than Sixes Wild that you are working on?
I sent in the second-to-last draft of my Code Drop novel about a month ago. It’s a romance novel for nerds, since that also didn’t exist! I’m also 10,000 words into a my third novel, which is currently called Adaptation. It’s a modern-day cosmic horror / romance novel I’m writing with Slate.
We know that you are part of the Furry Writer’s Guild, what is the Guild?
They are a group organized to advance the quality of literature in the furry fandom as well as its perception outside the fandom. They share useful writing articles, host events at conventions, and honor books with their C??yotl Award. Sixes Wild winning the award for Best Adult Novel of 2012 has really helped elevate it in the eyes of institutions outside the fandom. For example, I’ve been a guest speaker several times at Bismarck State College (my alma mater) and the college has a giant version of the cover art hanging in their office on permanent display (it’s even signed by Shinigamigirl, the artist).
??
Previously today you told us about how you broadcast live feeds while you write stories, how do you think that interaction with your audience helps your work?
A: I was inspired to stream my writing after seeing artists in the fandom streaming their drawing. I use Google Docs for collaborating with editors and it has a chat feature, so I figured it would be useful for letting folks watch me write. I announce on Twitter (Tempo321), FA (Tempo321), and Sofurry (Tempo) when I’m streaming. The main reasons it helps are that it make me keep writing because I don’t want the watchers to get bored and lets me interact with fans as I write–they can tell me if they see a typo and I can ask them if a sentence or metaphor makes sense. Also, it’s just really encouraging to know that people are interested enough in my work to want to come and chat with me and watch it happen.
As some of our readers may know, you also helped Black Teagan and Kenket on their board game ‘Nordguard’. Do you design board games for a living? Or how did that project came to be?
A: Sofawolf Press was at CONvergence, a con that has more to do with games than furry comics and books. Brer, the CEO, was chatting online with me about how we’d be attracting more attention if we had a card game. I told him I’d be right back. Three hours later, I was over at a friend’s house taking cell phone pictures of a version of the game I’d made our of pieces of a Coke box. I had never designed a card or board game before, but I’d played plenty of them. I wanted to make something very different from what currently existed, especially Furoticon, so I made it a cooperative boxed set rather than a competitive CCG. It’s basically a boardless board game. After that, I showed the prototype to Blotch and we decided it would be an interesting way for people to learn more about the Nordguard universe. We’ve tried to squeeze as much ‘flavor’ into the game as possible, since it allows fans to see sides of that universe that aren’t covered in the graphic novels.
While we were at Further Confusion earlier this year, we got our paws on a promo card for the Nordguard game with Six Shooter on it and it got us thinking about the name of the town, is there any relation between Sixes Wild and Nordguard?
The two series are about 7 years apart and both take place in a frontier. The main characters are both tough daughters of Old West lawmen who have numbers for names and wield custom Colt Peacemakers (I swear we didn’t plan this!) Blotch and I have joked that they are the same universe. We left it unclear because the tone of the two series are very different, but we thought the idea of crossover promotional cards would be fun.
We really thank you for taking all this time to answer our questions, we now have one final question for you, what is this about you owning a kilt?
I’m happy to be interviewed! While I took a few years of Spanish in high school, it has sadly fallen to the fate of so many languages learned but not used daily, so it’s great to be able to reach out to Spanish-speaking furs via Red Furros. Also, I not only have a kilt, but a kilt in the official tartan of my family, the Murrys of Scotland. With how often ‘murr’ is a response to my works, I’m sure my ancestors would be proud.
Also, for those who purchased the the “Nordguard”Card Game, additional to the promo cards that you may have found on the furry conventions with Six Shooter as a new character, Tempo also told us that there are new cards been released this year, including one of “Blake” the Sheriff from “Sixes Wild”:??
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny is a Western romance novel about a Gunslinger hare that falls in love with the local sheriff and is involved in many adventures with gangs, a lion with a secret, and many strange events happening everywhere.??
So, we have good news for our readers outside of the US, the Kindle version of Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny for Kindle??is??now available, Go get it!
EDIT :??Tempo gives us a sneak peek of one of the illustrations by Slate (Who just finished drawing!) that will be published on his upcoming novel “Adaptation”, a terror/romance novel. On this illustration beautifuly made , we can see the characters Kylie (on the right) and Max (left).
Max & Kylie By Slate
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en Wikifur
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en ??Sofawolf
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en Rabbit Valley
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en Amazon
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny (Kindle) en Amazon
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny??en Furplanet
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny Tempe O’Kun’s Official Blog
Nordguard Card Game??entradas de blog
Blog de Tempe O’Kun
Shinamigirl’s Furaffinity Profile
Twitter??Tempe O’Kun
Interview with Tempe O’Kun, Author of Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny
After the release of our last review of “Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny” by Tempe O’Kun, we had a nice conversation with him about his recent work, where he gave us some exciting news about his upcoming work, new info on the Nordguard Game, and more.
Hello Tempo! And thank you once again for agreeing to this interview! we know you are someone who likes to keep himself busy, so we are glad you are making some time for us.
Hi Arakum. It’s great to talk to you.
First of all we’d like to know a bit more about yourself, we found a bit about you on Wikifur, we learned you are 28 and you were born in Grand Forks, how was it growing up being a furry in North Dakota?
North Dakota is quiet and polite, traits which have seeped down from Canada over the years, as well as sparsely populated. While it might seem to furries in ND that they are alone, this is simply because North Dakotans generally don’t want to be seen as making a fuss, so telling everyone that you think of yourself as a talking animal person is uncommon. Once you get involved in the furry community, though, you find that there are plenty of furries in ND.
Was it hard for you to explain to friends and family about the furry fandom?
A: It was easier than I thought it would be. I found the best way to explain it to them was to start by telling them I write fantasy stories. Anything can be fantasy, really. From there, I got more specific by telling them about why I like using animal species as metaphors or to convey a lot of ideas about a character in a short time. Much like Tolkien fantasy used elves or dwarves to set up your expectations for a character, making someone a badger makes you expect something different from them than if I made them a shrew. Furthermore, it helps to remember everyone is a furry to some degree, thanks to Disney movies. I found that the less weird I acted like furry was the more easily people accepted it.
And now let’s talk about your book “Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny” which we heard is selling well. Why did you decide to write a furry book about the old west?
Because it didn’t exist! I had never seen a furry western, so it seemed like an interesting new direction to explore. One of the biggest appeals of writing for me is that I can strive to create original and interesting situations, characters, and worlds, which is both rewarding and challenging. What’s more, I was taught by my writing professors that genres are lenses with with we view stories. Sometimes seeing through more than one lens at a time allows us to see elements we otherwise wouldn’t. What’s more, I wanted to write a western about furries because I knew it would stun the western readers of the world.
Is there anyone you know that inspired the personality of?? “Six Shooter”?
Many people, actually. Six’s dialog, for example, was half various friends from the Southern US and half my grandmother when she’s being dramatic. Overall, though, I wanted to take the character of “the Old West gunfighter”, flip the gender, and see what happens. Western literature doesn’t show many people who defy traditional gender roles and I’ve always had a fondness for sassy, independant women.
We have found some animated demos of what seems to be an animation of Six Shooter, are there any plans of an animated short?
Keiron White (TheFunkyOne on FA), a professional animator in the UK, liked the novel and contacted me a while ago. He was interested in doing an animation of it, so we threw some ideas back and forth and suddenly we were working on a short. I can confirm that the short is complete and he’s going to release it when the Sixes Wild e-book comes out to celebrate. I just spent a month making the e-book (and exclusive bonus content) and Sofawolf Press is planning to release it on Kindle, Nook, and iPad.
Now, there is a question that I must ask (as you can imagine some people have asked me) the title references the old concept about the expansion of the USA throughout America which has made us a bit curious about why you choose that title for your book?
A: Ah! I’ve been waiting for someone to ask that. Basically, there are two manifestations of destiny happening: 1) the expansion of the eastern US into other lands, bringing with it both good and bad (the lawbat Blake and the businesslion Hayes represent these, one traveling there to ensure the various settlers and natives obey the law (also a somewhat naive hope for adventure), the other traveling there purely to exploit them) and 2) the fulfillment of what Six’s father failed to achieve. Furthermore, the magical “echoes” that exist in this world manifest the dead to its inhabitants in very real ways, especially for Six. Additionally, as you probably noticed in the book, US expansionism is not presented in a glorified way, which came as a shock to some of the older western fans reading this book.
What else can we expect from Six Shooter in the future?
A: I’ve been writing a number of short stories for a Sixes Wild anthology, which would include the stories from FA as well as about half a dozen new stories, each with an illustration. In addition, I’ve finished the outline for Sixes Wild 2, though both of these projects are going to have to wait other books are complete and published.
Is there any project other than Sixes Wild that you are working on?
I sent in the second-to-last draft of my Code Drop novel about a month ago. It’s a romance novel for nerds, since that also didn’t exist! I’m also 10,000 words into a my third novel, which is currently called Adaptation. It’s a modern-day cosmic horror / romance novel I’m writing with Slate.
We know that you are part of the Furry Writer’s Guild, what is the Guild?
They are a group organized to advance the quality of literature in the furry fandom as well as its perception outside the fandom. They share useful writing articles, host events at conventions, and honor books with their C??yotl Award. Sixes Wild winning the award for Best Adult Novel of 2012 has really helped elevate it in the eyes of institutions outside the fandom. For example, I’ve been a guest speaker several times at Bismarck State College (my alma mater) and the college has a giant version of the cover art hanging in their office on permanent display (it’s even signed by Shinigamigirl, the artist).
??
Previously today you told us about how you broadcast live feeds while you write stories, how do you think that interaction with your audience helps your work?
A: I was inspired to stream my writing after seeing artists in the fandom streaming their drawing. I use Google Docs for collaborating with editors and it has a chat feature, so I figured it would be useful for letting folks watch me write. I announce on Twitter (Tempo321), FA (Tempo321), and Sofurry (Tempo) when I’m streaming. The main reasons it helps are that it make me keep writing because I don’t want the watchers to get bored and lets me interact with fans as I write–they can tell me if they see a typo and I can ask them if a sentence or metaphor makes sense. Also, it’s just really encouraging to know that people are interested enough in my work to want to come and chat with me and watch it happen.
As some of our readers may know, you also helped Black Teagan and Kenket on their board game ‘Nordguard’. Do you design board games for a living? Or how did that project came to be?
A: Sofawolf Press was at CONvergence, a con that has more to do with games than furry comics and books. Brer, the CEO, was chatting online with me about how we’d be attracting more attention if we had a card game. I told him I’d be right back. Three hours later, I was over at a friend’s house taking cell phone pictures of a version of the game I’d made our of pieces of a Coke box. I had never designed a card or board game before, but I’d played plenty of them. I wanted to make something very different from what currently existed, especially Furoticon, so I made it a cooperative boxed set rather than a competitive CCG. It’s basically a boardless board game. After that, I showed the prototype to Blotch and we decided it would be an interesting way for people to learn more about the Nordguard universe. We’ve tried to squeeze as much ‘flavor’ into the game as possible, since it allows fans to see sides of that universe that aren’t covered in the graphic novels.
While we were at Further Confusion earlier this year, we got our paws on a promo card for the Nordguard game with Six Shooter on it and it got us thinking about the name of the town, is there any relation between Sixes Wild and Nordguard?
The two series are about 7 years apart and both take place in a frontier. The main characters are both tough daughters of Old West lawmen who have numbers for names and wield custom Colt Peacemakers (I swear we didn’t plan this!) Blotch and I have joked that they are the same universe. We left it unclear because the tone of the two series are very different, but we thought the idea of crossover promotional cards would be fun.
We really thank you for taking all this time to answer our questions, we now have one final question for you, what is this about you owning a kilt?
I’m happy to be interviewed! While I took a few years of Spanish in high school, it has sadly fallen to the fate of so many languages learned but not used daily, so it’s great to be able to reach out to Spanish-speaking furs via Red Furros. Also, I not only have a kilt, but a kilt in the official tartan of my family, the Murrys of Scotland. With how often ‘murr’ is a response to my works, I’m sure my ancestors would be proud.
Also, for those who purchased the the “Nordguard”Card Game, additional to the promo cards that you may have found on the furry conventions with Six Shooter as a new character, Tempo also told us that there are new cards been released this year, including one of “Blake” the Sheriff from “Sixes Wild”:??
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny is a Western romance novel about a Gunslinger hare that falls in love with the local sheriff and is involved in many adventures with gangs, a lion with a secret, and many strange events happening everywhere.??
So, we have good news for our readers outside of the US, the Kindle version of Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny for Kindle??is??now available, Go get it!
EDIT :??Tempo gives us a sneak peek of one of the illustrations by Slate (Who just finished drawing!) that will be published on his upcoming novel “Adaptation”, a terror/romance novel. On this illustration beautifuly made , we can see the characters Kylie (on the right) and Max (left).
Max & Kylie By Slate
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en Wikifur
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en ??Sofawolf
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en Rabbit Valley
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny en Amazon
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny (Kindle) en Amazon
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny??en Furplanet
Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny Tempe O’Kun’s Official Blog
Nordguard Card Game??entradas de blog
Blog de Tempe O’Kun
Shinamigirl’s Furaffinity Profile
Twitter??Tempe O’Kun
Interview with Tempe O'Kun, Author of Sixes Wild: Manifest Destiny (And Kindle version launch announcement)
Hello Tempo! And thank you once again for agreeing to this interview! we know you are someone who likes to keep himself busy, so we are glad you are making some time for us.
Hi Arakum. It's great to talk to you.
First of all we'd like to know a bit more about yourself, we know you are 28 and you were born in Grand Forks, how was it growing up being a furry in
Interview with Rikoshi (Kevin Frane) Author of 'Sumerhill'
So, Rikoshi, what can you tell us about yourself?
Well, let's see. I grew up in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, then went to college to study Biology. I was originally planning to go on to grad
Spanish-speaking sports website features article on climbing fursuiters
Spanish-speaking sports website “Monta??ismo y Exploración” recently featured an article showing a couple of fursuiters doing mountain sports such as climbing and rappel.
The first of the videos was filmed in the Stone Summit facilities in Atlanta, GA and on it we can see “Cinnabar” climbing an artificial wall.
The second was filmed during Camp feral in Algonquin, Ontario in Canada.
And finnaly the last one we see “Oki Doki” in Robbers Cave state Park during Wild Nights 2010 showing his rappeling skills.
Additionally, browsing in Youtube we found a couple more with some trekkings and more stuff, so it seems our fursuiting friends are starting a trend on mountain sports!
You can read the original spanish article right here.
And if you are wondering with all that says, here’s an english translation of the text:
Have you ever been climbing and noticed all those mice, lizards and other animals while you climb? so why to doubt it? Animals climb and now they also do it in artificial walls.
Years ago, in one of the Banff Mountain Film Festival we saw a dog that was really climbing using paws, head and all its body to go beyond where most dogs stopped. In that moment everyone liked the film.
Maybe it was that dog, we really don’t know, but the thing is that there are many animals climbing walls. Well, what we could think it’s an animal at first sight is really a person with animal mascot costumes climbing or doing another mountaineering activity.
Let’s correct that last statement, it’s not strictly a “mascot costume”, they are called “fursuits”, in other words: an animal-shaped costume which is a representation of the people inside. Because who wears the suit is not just some random person but a member of a community that seems to have grown beyond of what they thought themselves.
The generic term for them is furry (plural: furries) and it’s an English word. It’s meaning is “with fur”, that simple.
Like everywhere else where mascots show up, where furries show up there seems to be a great commotion from children. And well, these characters begun to appear in the mountaineering scene, mainly in artificial walls where it seems they are well accepted, mainly by climber kids and teens.
These characters share their joy and fun once they are inside the suit. It’s the benefit of annonimacy. However it should be good if someone could get in touch with them and tell them a bit about security regulations. In the third video, the wall is locked on a flexible steel cable and in the last; the furry is jumping on the rope while the rope is rubbing against a sharp edge. Both are to be avoided as they may represent a security risk.
However, it seems that this will be a new way to bring people to climbing sports in mass. Just a comment, you should keep an eye on your pets, especially if you see them near to your climbing harness”.
With content from montanismo.org
translated with permission from the author.
Spanish-speaking sports website features article on climbing fursuiters
Spanish-speaking sports website “Monta??ismo y Exploración” recently featured an article showing a couple of fursuiters doing mountain sports such as climbing and rappel.
The first of the videos was filmed in the Stone Summit facilities in Atlanta, GA and on it we can see “Cinnabar” climbing an artificial wall.
The second was filmed during Camp feral in Algonquin, Ontario in Canada.
And finnaly the last one we see “Oki Doki” in Robbers Cave state Park during Wild Nights 2010 showing his rappeling skills.
Additionally, browsing in Youtube we found a couple more with some trekkings and more stuff, so it seems our fursuiting friends are starting a trend on mountain sports!
You can read the original spanish article right here.
And if you are wondering with all that says, here’s an english translation of the text:
Have you ever been climbing and noticed all those mice, lizards and other animals while you climb? so why to doubt it? Animals climb and now they also do it in artificial walls.
Years ago, in one of the Banff Mountain Film Festival we saw a dog that was really climbing using paws, head and all its body to go beyond where most dogs stopped. In that moment everyone liked the film.
Maybe it was that dog, we really don’t know, but the thing is that there are many animals climbing walls. Well, what we could think it’s an animal at first sight is really a person with animal mascot costumes climbing or doing another mountaineering activity.
Let’s correct that last statement, it’s not strictly a “mascot costume”, they are called “fursuits”, in other words: an animal-shaped costume which is a representation of the people inside. Because who wears the suit is not just some random person but a member of a community that seems to have grown beyond of what they thought themselves.
The generic term for them is furry (plural: furries) and it’s an English word. It’s meaning is “with fur”, that simple.
Like everywhere else where mascots show up, where furries show up there seems to be a great commotion from children. And well, these characters begun to appear in the mountaineering scene, mainly in artificial walls where it seems they are well accepted, mainly by climber kids and teens.
These characters share their joy and fun once they are inside the suit. It’s the benefit of annonimacy. However it should be good if someone could get in touch with them and tell them a bit about security regulations. In the third video, the wall is locked on a flexible steel cable and in the last; the furry is jumping on the rope while the rope is rubbing against a sharp edge. Both are to be avoided as they may represent a security risk.
However, it seems that this will be a new way to bring people to climbing sports in mass. Just a comment, you should keep an eye on your pets, especially if you see them near to your climbing harness”.
With content from montanismo.org
translated with permission from the author.
Spanish-speaking sports website features article on climbing fursuiters
The first of the videos was filmed in the Stone Summit facilities in Atlanta, GA and on it we can see
Podcast with Kyell Gold
The following podcast was recorded on Further Confusion, in this podcast we ask Kyell Gold about the release of his new book Isolation Play and about some of his other works like Waterways and Volle.
Arakum’s Note: I know! my english sucks and I was nervous as it is my first podcast, bear with me 
Editor’s Note: No, this is not Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel Live interviewing Kyell Gold =3
About Isolation Play:
“Devlin Miski thought coming out on national TV would be the hardest part about being a gay football player. But it’s when his press conference is over that the trouble really starts. The athletic tiger and his boyfriend Lee, a fox with a tongue as quick as his wit, still won’t get many breaks in their fight for understanding. They’ll need to deal with a stubborn reporter determined to get a story any way he can, furious parents, and hostile teammates–not to mention each other.”
Isolation Play Cover:
The Hard Cover edition:
??
??
Additional Information
Kyell Gold on Wikipedia
Kyell Gold on Wikifur
Kyell Gold’s Official Website
Kyell on Amazon
Kyell’s Gold page on Sofawolf
Isolation Play on Sofawolf
Podcast with Kyell Gold
The following podcast was recorded on Further Confusion, in this podcast we ask Kyell Gold about the release of his new book Isolation Play and about some of his other works like Waterways and Volle.
Arakum’s Note: I know! my english sucks and I was nervous as it is my first podcast, bear with me 
Editor’s Note: No, this is not Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel Live interviewing Kyell Gold =3
About Isolation Play:
“Devlin Miski thought coming out on national TV would be the hardest part about being a gay football player. But it’s when his press conference is over that the trouble really starts. The athletic tiger and his boyfriend Lee, a fox with a tongue as quick as his wit, still won’t get many breaks in their fight for understanding. They’ll need to deal with a stubborn reporter determined to get a story any way he can, furious parents, and hostile teammates–not to mention each other.”
Isolation Play Cover:
The Hard Cover edition:
??
??
Additional Information
Kyell Gold on Wikipedia
Kyell Gold on Wikifur
Kyell Gold’s Official Website
Kyell on Amazon
Kyell’s Gold page on Sofawolf
Isolation Play on Sofawolf
Podcast with Kyell Gold
You can listen at the podcast here:
Red Furros interviews Blotch
The following is an interview we had with Blotch last Saturday 15 during the Further Confusion furry convention, who for those who doesn”t know, Blotch is the collaboration name of two very talented artists: BlackTeagan and Kenket.
They have made very popular works like Dog”s days of summer and lately they”ve made cover art and illustrations for Kyell Gold”s books (Out of Position, Isolation Play). They have captivated the furry community”s interest with their unique watercolor style and fantastic sense of animal anatomy. If you are a furry and haven ?t heard about them, you have probably been living under a rock.
They were kind enough to give us some minutes from their dealer”s room table at Further Confusion and this is what we asked them:
Red Furros: Who or what is Blotch?
BlackTeagan: Oh, it”s just collaboration between the two of us, you know, when we work together and I do the sketching and she does the painting”
Kenket: Yes”
BlackTeagan: And it is easier to work under one name when you do stuff together than doing it separately, so”it”s less confusing.
Red Furros: You two met on the fandom?
Kenket: Uh” yeah.
BlackTeagan: We met through friends who were in the fandom.
Kenket: Two furries” but not in like, a convention, so we met camping in the middle of the desert.
Red Furros: “you met camping in the middle of the desert?
BlackTeagan: Well” there were different camping groups, we were camping out with friends.
Red Furros: Oh, you like outdoor sports.
BlackTeagan: Yes, we have mutual friends that we met each other and after that, years later, we met together on a furry con.
Red Furros: So, when did you realize that you made a good team?
BlackTeagan: That”s kind of a funny story. We were house-sitting for a friend of mine and told us their dogs were there, and her dog is a big, crazy and scary dog like he”s used to run ten miles a day.
Kenket: A Labrador husky”
BlackTeagan: really it”s like some kind of deer, I mean it”s a crazy dog, anyway, so we wanted to go down to the town to get something to eat so we leave her a couple of soup bones to keep him entertained for like” 30 minutes while we went get food and come back, so we come back and he is EATING the couch”
Kenket: *laugh*
BlackTeagan: It”s just this pile of stuffing and”
Kenket: All over the house”
BlackTeagan: Yeahí? so we are like” “wow, she”s going to be home in a couple of hours, what can we do to say we are sorry for this”? so I said “I can draw something” and she said “Well, I can paint it” so that was actually the first Blotch picture, so it was sort of based on an accident.
Kenket: So we left the painting on her fridge with a little “I”m sorry”
BlackTeagan: “I”m sorry about your sofa!” “.she forgave us. And in the end we realize we really like working together, and I can”t finish the paintings very well and she doesn”t like the sketching part as much.
Kenket: I much prefer the painting”
BlackTeagan: So it was sort of natural.
Kenket: It was really fun so, we kept doing it.
Red Furros: So, how did you found about the furry fandom?
BlackTeagan: For me”I guess I was just sort of google-image-searching for a wolf or something in high school, images by Golden Wolf, the artist, came up and I”m like “Uh” a wolf person” and so I followed the link and just kept following the links through the webring ages ago so I sort of found it through the images and then I ended up meeting some other artist in a camping thing and sort of fell into the whole furry”
Red Furros: How about you Kenket?
Kenket: I actually, I found the furry when I was living in England still, and I was using the MUCKs (Multi-User Chat Kingdoms) online and I was role-playing in the Lion King MUCK, so that”s how I found the fandom, haven ?t used in years but that”s how I found the furry , and I actually went to Eurofurence and met a bunch of local Lion King buddies there, and eventually I ended up going to the US to an American Con ” and ended up here.
Red Furros: That”s something we didn”t know about you, that”s pretty cool! I”m a lion king fan myself. So you do Watercoloring, it is something very unique to find in the fandom, because not a lot of people do it.
Kenket: Yeah, I think people are moving towards digital, it”s easier and less expensive because you don”t have material cost and I guess a lot of colleges and stuff are now teaching digital stuff.
BlackTeagan: I think it”s that people want more digital art more than other art fields, like animation and stuff.
Red Furros: Have you ever been tempted to go digital?
Kenket: Actually I”ve tried to do digital a couple of times and it”s so tempting because the colors are so vibrant and you can do like, lighting, so”
BlackTeagan: The Undo button”
Kenket: But, I mean, our computer it”s so slow and it lags a lot and quite often it crashes and we lose everything.
BlackTeagan: For me, I really enjoy working with pencil and paper because” it feels” it feels better, it feels like you”re making something. For me it”s like” if you are creating a piece of art or anything, that can be erased from existence by one click, and it”s gone forever, then it doesn”t really feel like you actually made it, does that makes sense?
Red Furros: Yeah it does.
BlackTeagan: It”s not actually physically there, it”s not there
Red Furros: Yeah, and with watercolors, you can”t go digital on that.
Kenket: No, I love it, the randomness of it, with the watercolors, because it”s never really predictable.
Red Furros: What happened with the Dog”s days of summer project? We saw one issue or well, I guess it was like weekly panels or something like that”
BlackTeagan: Well it”s started like with issues of the web comic online, we would update it every week and we would put a vote and what would happen next, and that took SO long, I mean, it took every moment of our waking life to get that together every week and we just kind of got tired after six weeks”
Kenket: yeahí?
<URL=”http://www.sofawolf.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=84″>
BlackTeagan: We worked on it constantly, and we would decide you know if we should wrap up the story and then, you know, print it”
Red Furros: So that”s when you took control of the story”
Kenket: Yeah, we got to a point when we had two voting options and we were like” “if people voted for option one we would finish the online comic in one more segment and end it, but if people voted for option two it decided that people obviously cared a lot about the characters and well, they did, and then we would commit the time to basically double the length but, in order to do so we would not do the voting”.
BlackTeagan: Well we didn”t say that”
Kenket: Yeah, that”s what we decided in our head, and people voted for option two so we decided to make a book out of it instead and double the length, and sort of wrap the character”s story by not leave it hanging, so”
Red Furros: Yeah, it kind of had a random feeling in the first half”
Kenket: Yeah, it was very hard, because we never knew what people were going to vote and they always voted for what we didn”t think they were going to vote”
BlackTeagan: Actually they often voted for the opposite of what we thought”
Kenket: “So we were never quite prepared and we had a very limited time schedule”
BlackTeagan:It was not written beforehand or anything so it was something like” moment to moment”
Kenket: Yeah, so we ended up making the last part ourselves to make it more like a story and Sofawolf showed interest in publish it, they”ve never done anything in color before so it was kind of their pioneer color project to see if a color comic would sell and if it was feasible for them to make more in the future.
Red Furros: How was it?
Kenket: They did very well, that”s how they jinged the ”
BlackTeagan: “the Nordgard thing out. Because also Dog”s days was also trying to see if we could even work our comics together”
Red Furros:…without killing each other in the process ”
BlackTeagan: Yeah!
Kenket: Yeah, we wanted to know if we could finish that thing.
BlackTeagan: If we could do Dog”s days then we could do anything. So that”s why we are very excited about Nordguard in a lot of ways in light years, way better than Dog”s days because, you know, it”s written beforehand, an entire story you know, the artist actually can take the time and make the art really nice and it”s getting, you know, better.
<URL=”http://www.nordguard.com”>
Red Furros: What inspired you to make the Nordguard story?
BlackTeagan: Well, uhm” We got a lot of ideas for stories and we had a bunch that we were like “which one are we going to start with”? and we both really like the arctic exploration theme and we both fancy Jack London and that sort of thing. So we thought “what are we going to start with”? We are going to start with something that we are pretty sure we can sell and that would be kind of easy just to ease into the whole fully-painted thing, it”s sort of like the arctic doesn”t have very complex background and it”s just kind of like, blue, and monotone, and huskies”
Kenket: We”re trying huskies this time”
Red Furros: Is this an adult story?
BlackTeagan: No, there”s no sex in it or anything, although there is violence.
Kenket: There”s violence and there”s some swearing I think, even when it”s like 19th century swearing.
Red Furros: Tea and crumpets!
BlackTeagan: Yeah, exactly! It”s more like an action/adventure so there”s no sex in there or anything, there”s some romantic tension but it”s not like explosive or anything like that.
Kenket: One of our goals with it is trying to make something that would do well outside of the fandom as well in attempt to, I don”t know, make it more feasible to make large projects because if we can make money as well and people enjoy it in and outside the fandom, for everyone I think. And if people be more accepting of furries the more we can stop being ashamed of being furries.
BlackTeagan: It”s like… if you had something mainstream that isn”t Disney or that CSI Episode”
Kenket: I think every time furries make something that is then also mainstream, you know, that”s just better for the fandom in general.
Red Furros: This leads me to my next question; we”ve seen a lot of your work with Kyell Gold”
Kenket & BlackTeagan: Yes!
Red Furros: So did you guys just met here at the con?…
BlackTeagan: We actually knew him for quite a while before we knew he was a writer and then just one day said “Hey! Do you want to make illustrations for my book” and we were like “You have a book”?
Kenket: *Laughs in the background*
BlackTeagan: So we were like “sure!” and then ?
Red Furros: And then you told him you were going to need a dog and a couch!
Kenket: *Laugh*
BlackTeagan: Yeah! We really like working with him, he”s just easy to work with.
Kenket: He”s very easy to work with, because he”s a cool guy and he”s also very open to ideas and stuff.
BlackTeagan: Yeah, he lets us sort of go with what we want to do instead of being like “you have to do this, and this”.
Kenket: He trusted us to bring his characters to life visually based on his stories, it”s cool.
BlackTeagan: It”s a good working relationship with him.
Red Furros: Actually when we were recording his webcast earlier today he kind of mentioned that when he asked you to make the illustrations to the second part of his book “Out of Position”, you were sort of waiting for him to do it, and if he didn”t you would be mad at him for not doing so”
Kenket: Yes! Well we got kind of attached to the characters because I guess we basically designed them visually based on his writing.
Red Furros: You are going to present Nordguard today right?
BlackTeagan: Yeah, we have our panel about the graphic early process for making graphic novels.
Red Furros: When is it going to be published?
BlackTeagan: It”s going to be finished this summer and we are shooting to have it out and ready by Anthrocon or Comic-con at the latest it”s just”
Kenket: It takes a lot of time”
BlackTeagan: It”s really tiring because its, you know each page Is probably around 20 to 50 hours of work” per page, and it”s you know, a hundred and plus pages and”
Kenket: Plus we have been working on other things like the sequel to Out of Position, Isolation Play, we did the art for that, so”
BlackTeagan: We”ve put so much time to it already that it wouldn”t be right for us and the project to try to rush it, so we are just going to work on it until it”s finished now but I”m not a 100% sure how long it”s gonna take.
Kenket: It will be this year!
BlackTeagan: Yeah, it will get done.
Kenket: We are going to work as hard as we can to get it on time.
Red Furros: We are all waiting for it.
Kenket: I”m excited to see how it does.
BlackTeagan: It will be great when it”s on print.
Kenket: It”s very different than Dog”s days.
Red Furros: Well, you are making quite a good reputation in the fandom so we really hope you are making enough prints for Nordguard.
BlackTeagan: Well the other thing is that Sofawolf, they are very excited that Dog”s days did so well that now they are doing offset printing for Nordguard, which means that it”s cheaper for them to produce and they can sell it for less.
Kenket: And in a much larger run.
BlackTeagan: And they are talking about making a hardcover edition that is going to be numbered and limited and then also a soft cover edition.
Red Furros: We are going to need to subscribe to your newsletter to get a hold on one of those!
Kenket & BlackTeagan: Yeah!
Red Furros: So, every artist has someone they admire artistically, who do you admire?
BlackTeagan: There are a lot of people that artistically I”m inspired by, growing up I really liked Don Bluth, you know stuff like All dogs go to heaven, Secret of Nimh, that sort of thing, and more recently when I moved into graphic novels I really like the Blacksad artist (Juanjo Guarnido).
Kenket: Yeah, that”s one of our inspirations for Nordguard, he set very high standards. And I”m a very big fan on James Gurney, he did the Dinotopia books, and Robert Bateman, he”s a Canadian wildlife painter (http://www.robertbateman.ca/), I sort of learned to paint from him, you know, trying to capture that kind of realistic look in things.
Red Furros: And speaking of all this stuff about the fandom going mainstream, where do you think this is going? I mean we see Kyell writing books that win awards outside the fandom and your work that you are trying to make it for everyone else, where do you think this is going?
BlackTeagan: Well if you look at it the furry fandom reflects in a lot of ways what the science fiction fandom originally went through in the 40″s and the 50″s which is sort of, like, for the longest time people shown it and people thought “this is just for kids” or just for people who want to have sex with green women, and you know, it took some major projects to really make it mainstream an make it ok to like things like “Star Trek” or “Star Wars”, actually “Star wars” was this big thing that everyone likes it. I think the fandom is waiting for some of those big projects.
Kenket: I think it”s a bit different with the fandom because there”s a lot of stuff that is technically furry, like for example The Lion King and all of those animated movies Disney made. All these tons of animal movies they”re making these days.
BlackTeagan: I think that when the fandom starts producing these things for itself, then I think it will just become part of that mainstream.
Kenket: I think the thing is that, the cons keep growing and more and more young people are coming into them, I think the face of Furry is changing. For instance when I started going to cons there were practically no females, they were like 9 when I started going to them, and now almost half of the convention at least if not more are girls so it”s obviously changing, and I think it”s going in the right direction.
BlackTeagan: It”s going to be very positive, I think.
Kenket: And everyone likes animals! So” I mean *laughs* I mean I think it”s pretty acceptable to a lot of people, even though a lot of people think it”s not.
BlackTeagan: I think it”s just furries who are afraid of what people think of furries; for example, I”ve shown our art to a lot of people who”ve never heard of furries you know, on the internet or whatever and they are not offended by it and they are not like, shocked or horrified and they were very positive and pleased, you know? It”s like “this is very cool, this is a very cool illustration, dog people! It”s awesome!”
Kenket: “I like Dogs””
BlackTeagan: Yeah! “I like dogs! This is cool!” there”s nothing weird about it to them.
Red Furros: It”s easier to relate to them.
Kenket: Yeah! It”s easier than aliens!
Red Furros: Yeah! And I think we ran out of time, I really thank you girls for this chance to talk to you and I hope to see you later in your panel
BlackTeagan: Thank you! It was fun.
By Arakum
Additional Information
Blotch on Furaffinity
Blotch, Screwbald Spotcat LiveJournal
Blotch (Screwbald) on DeviantArt
BlackTeagan on FurAffinity.net
Dog’s Days of Summer Official Website
Dog’s Days of Summer on Sofawolf
Related Articles
Further Confusion anuncia el tema “Furries Gone Wild” para su edición 2011
Red Furros interviews Blotch
The following is an interview we had with Blotch last Saturday 15 during the Further Confusion furry convention, who for those who doesn”t know, Blotch is the collaboration name of two very talented artists: BlackTeagan and Kenket.
They have made very popular works like Dog”s days of summer and lately they”ve made cover art and illustrations for Kyell Gold”s books (Out of Position, Isolation Play). They have captivated the furry community”s interest with their unique watercolor style and fantastic sense of animal anatomy. If you are a furry and haven ?t heard about them, you have probably been living under a rock.
They were kind enough to give us some minutes from their dealer”s room table at Further Confusion and this is what we asked them:
Red Furros: Who or what is Blotch?
BlackTeagan: Oh, it”s just collaboration between the two of us, you know, when we work together and I do the sketching and she does the painting”
Kenket: Yes”
BlackTeagan: And it is easier to work under one name when you do stuff together than doing it separately, so”it”s less confusing.
Red Furros: You two met on the fandom?
Kenket: Uh” yeah.
BlackTeagan: We met through friends who were in the fandom.
Kenket: Two furries” but not in like, a convention, so we met camping in the middle of the desert.
Red Furros: “you met camping in the middle of the desert?
BlackTeagan: Well” there were different camping groups, we were camping out with friends.
Red Furros: Oh, you like outdoor sports.
BlackTeagan: Yes, we have mutual friends that we met each other and after that, years later, we met together on a furry con.
Red Furros: So, when did you realize that you made a good team?
BlackTeagan: That”s kind of a funny story. We were house-sitting for a friend of mine and told us their dogs were there, and her dog is a big, crazy and scary dog like he”s used to run ten miles a day.
Kenket: A Labrador husky”
BlackTeagan: really it”s like some kind of deer, I mean it”s a crazy dog, anyway, so we wanted to go down to the town to get something to eat so we leave her a couple of soup bones to keep him entertained for like” 30 minutes while we went get food and come back, so we come back and he is EATING the couch”
Kenket: *laugh*
BlackTeagan: It”s just this pile of stuffing and”
Kenket: All over the house”
BlackTeagan: Yeahí? so we are like” “wow, she”s going to be home in a couple of hours, what can we do to say we are sorry for this”? so I said “I can draw something” and she said “Well, I can paint it” so that was actually the first Blotch picture, so it was sort of based on an accident.
Kenket: So we left the painting on her fridge with a little “I”m sorry”
BlackTeagan: “I”m sorry about your sofa!” “.she forgave us. And in the end we realize we really like working together, and I can”t finish the paintings very well and she doesn”t like the sketching part as much.
Kenket: I much prefer the painting”
BlackTeagan: So it was sort of natural.
Kenket: It was really fun so, we kept doing it.
Red Furros: So, how did you found about the furry fandom?
BlackTeagan: For me”I guess I was just sort of google-image-searching for a wolf or something in high school, images by Golden Wolf, the artist, came up and I”m like “Uh” a wolf person” and so I followed the link and just kept following the links through the webring ages ago so I sort of found it through the images and then I ended up meeting some other artist in a camping thing and sort of fell into the whole furry”
Red Furros: How about you Kenket?
Kenket: I actually, I found the furry when I was living in England still, and I was using the MUCKs (Multi-User Chat Kingdoms) online and I was role-playing in the Lion King MUCK, so that”s how I found the fandom, haven ?t used in years but that”s how I found the furry , and I actually went to Eurofurence and met a bunch of local Lion King buddies there, and eventually I ended up going to the US to an American Con ” and ended up here.
Red Furros: That”s something we didn”t know about you, that”s pretty cool! I”m a lion king fan myself. So you do Watercoloring, it is something very unique to find in the fandom, because not a lot of people do it.
Kenket: Yeah, I think people are moving towards digital, it”s easier and less expensive because you don”t have material cost and I guess a lot of colleges and stuff are now teaching digital stuff.
BlackTeagan: I think it”s that people want more digital art more than other art fields, like animation and stuff.
Red Furros: Have you ever been tempted to go digital?
Kenket: Actually I”ve tried to do digital a couple of times and it”s so tempting because the colors are so vibrant and you can do like, lighting, so”
BlackTeagan: The Undo button”
Kenket: But, I mean, our computer it”s so slow and it lags a lot and quite often it crashes and we lose everything.
BlackTeagan: For me, I really enjoy working with pencil and paper because” it feels” it feels better, it feels like you”re making something. For me it”s like” if you are creating a piece of art or anything, that can be erased from existence by one click, and it”s gone forever, then it doesn”t really feel like you actually made it, does that makes sense?
Red Furros: Yeah it does.
BlackTeagan: It”s not actually physically there, it”s not there
Red Furros: Yeah, and with watercolors, you can”t go digital on that.
Kenket: No, I love it, the randomness of it, with the watercolors, because it”s never really predictable.
Red Furros: What happened with the Dog”s days of summer project? We saw one issue or well, I guess it was like weekly panels or something like that”
BlackTeagan: Well it”s started like with issues of the web comic online, we would update it every week and we would put a vote and what would happen next, and that took SO long, I mean, it took every moment of our waking life to get that together every week and we just kind of got tired after six weeks”
Kenket: yeahí?
<URL=”http://www.sofawolf.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=84″>
BlackTeagan: We worked on it constantly, and we would decide you know if we should wrap up the story and then, you know, print it”
Red Furros: So that”s when you took control of the story”
Kenket: Yeah, we got to a point when we had two voting options and we were like” “if people voted for option one we would finish the online comic in one more segment and end it, but if people voted for option two it decided that people obviously cared a lot about the characters and well, they did, and then we would commit the time to basically double the length but, in order to do so we would not do the voting”.
BlackTeagan: Well we didn”t say that”
Kenket: Yeah, that”s what we decided in our head, and people voted for option two so we decided to make a book out of it instead and double the length, and sort of wrap the character”s story by not leave it hanging, so”
Red Furros: Yeah, it kind of had a random feeling in the first half”
Kenket: Yeah, it was very hard, because we never knew what people were going to vote and they always voted for what we didn”t think they were going to vote”
BlackTeagan: Actually they often voted for the opposite of what we thought”
Kenket: “So we were never quite prepared and we had a very limited time schedule”
BlackTeagan:It was not written beforehand or anything so it was something like” moment to moment”
Kenket: Yeah, so we ended up making the last part ourselves to make it more like a story and Sofawolf showed interest in publish it, they”ve never done anything in color before so it was kind of their pioneer color project to see if a color comic would sell and if it was feasible for them to make more in the future.
Red Furros: How was it?
Kenket: They did very well, that”s how they jinged the ”
BlackTeagan: “the Nordgard thing out. Because also Dog”s days was also trying to see if we could even work our comics together”
Red Furros:…without killing each other in the process ”
BlackTeagan: Yeah!
Kenket: Yeah, we wanted to know if we could finish that thing.
BlackTeagan: If we could do Dog”s days then we could do anything. So that”s why we are very excited about Nordguard in a lot of ways in light years, way better than Dog”s days because, you know, it”s written beforehand, an entire story you know, the artist actually can take the time and make the art really nice and it”s getting, you know, better.
<URL=”http://www.nordguard.com”>
Red Furros: What inspired you to make the Nordguard story?
BlackTeagan: Well, uhm” We got a lot of ideas for stories and we had a bunch that we were like “which one are we going to start with”? and we both really like the arctic exploration theme and we both fancy Jack London and that sort of thing. So we thought “what are we going to start with”? We are going to start with something that we are pretty sure we can sell and that would be kind of easy just to ease into the whole fully-painted thing, it”s sort of like the arctic doesn”t have very complex background and it”s just kind of like, blue, and monotone, and huskies”
Kenket: We”re trying huskies this time”
Red Furros: Is this an adult story?
BlackTeagan: No, there”s no sex in it or anything, although there is violence.
Kenket: There”s violence and there”s some swearing I think, even when it”s like 19th century swearing.
Red Furros: Tea and crumpets!
BlackTeagan: Yeah, exactly! It”s more like an action/adventure so there”s no sex in there or anything, there”s some romantic tension but it”s not like explosive or anything like that.
Kenket: One of our goals with it is trying to make something that would do well outside of the fandom as well in attempt to, I don”t know, make it more feasible to make large projects because if we can make money as well and people enjoy it in and outside the fandom, for everyone I think. And if people be more accepting of furries the more we can stop being ashamed of being furries.
BlackTeagan: It”s like… if you had something mainstream that isn”t Disney or that CSI Episode”
Kenket: I think every time furries make something that is then also mainstream, you know, that”s just better for the fandom in general.
Red Furros: This leads me to my next question; we”ve seen a lot of your work with Kyell Gold”
Kenket & BlackTeagan: Yes!
Red Furros: So did you guys just met here at the con?…
BlackTeagan: We actually knew him for quite a while before we knew he was a writer and then just one day said “Hey! Do you want to make illustrations for my book” and we were like “You have a book”?
Kenket: *Laughs in the background*
BlackTeagan: So we were like “sure!” and then ?
Red Furros: And then you told him you were going to need a dog and a couch!
Kenket: *Laugh*
BlackTeagan: Yeah! We really like working with him, he”s just easy to work with.
Kenket: He”s very easy to work with, because he”s a cool guy and he”s also very open to ideas and stuff.
BlackTeagan: Yeah, he lets us sort of go with what we want to do instead of being like “you have to do this, and this”.
Kenket: He trusted us to bring his characters to life visually based on his stories, it”s cool.
BlackTeagan: It”s a good working relationship with him.
Red Furros: Actually when we were recording his webcast earlier today he kind of mentioned that when he asked you to make the illustrations to the second part of his book “Out of Position”, you were sort of waiting for him to do it, and if he didn”t you would be mad at him for not doing so”
Kenket: Yes! Well we got kind of attached to the characters because I guess we basically designed them visually based on his writing.
Red Furros: You are going to present Nordguard today right?
BlackTeagan: Yeah, we have our panel about the graphic early process for making graphic novels.
Red Furros: When is it going to be published?
BlackTeagan: It”s going to be finished this summer and we are shooting to have it out and ready by Anthrocon or Comic-con at the latest it”s just”
Kenket: It takes a lot of time”
BlackTeagan: It”s really tiring because its, you know each page Is probably around 20 to 50 hours of work” per page, and it”s you know, a hundred and plus pages and”
Kenket: Plus we have been working on other things like the sequel to Out of Position, Isolation Play, we did the art for that, so”
BlackTeagan: We”ve put so much time to it already that it wouldn”t be right for us and the project to try to rush it, so we are just going to work on it until it”s finished now but I”m not a 100% sure how long it”s gonna take.
Kenket: It will be this year!
BlackTeagan: Yeah, it will get done.
Kenket: We are going to work as hard as we can to get it on time.
Red Furros: We are all waiting for it.
Kenket: I”m excited to see how it does.
BlackTeagan: It will be great when it”s on print.
Kenket: It”s very different than Dog”s days.
Red Furros: Well, you are making quite a good reputation in the fandom so we really hope you are making enough prints for Nordguard.
BlackTeagan: Well the other thing is that Sofawolf, they are very excited that Dog”s days did so well that now they are doing offset printing for Nordguard, which means that it”s cheaper for them to produce and they can sell it for less.
Kenket: And in a much larger run.
BlackTeagan: And they are talking about making a hardcover edition that is going to be numbered and limited and then also a soft cover edition.
Red Furros: We are going to need to subscribe to your newsletter to get a hold on one of those!
Kenket & BlackTeagan: Yeah!
Red Furros: So, every artist has someone they admire artistically, who do you admire?
BlackTeagan: There are a lot of people that artistically I”m inspired by, growing up I really liked Don Bluth, you know stuff like All dogs go to heaven, Secret of Nimh, that sort of thing, and more recently when I moved into graphic novels I really like the Blacksad artist (Juanjo Guarnido).
Kenket: Yeah, that”s one of our inspirations for Nordguard, he set very high standards. And I”m a very big fan on James Gurney, he did the Dinotopia books, and Robert Bateman, he”s a Canadian wildlife painter (http://www.robertbateman.ca/), I sort of learned to paint from him, you know, trying to capture that kind of realistic look in things.
Red Furros: And speaking of all this stuff about the fandom going mainstream, where do you think this is going? I mean we see Kyell writing books that win awards outside the fandom and your work that you are trying to make it for everyone else, where do you think this is going?
BlackTeagan: Well if you look at it the furry fandom reflects in a lot of ways what the science fiction fandom originally went through in the 40″s and the 50″s which is sort of, like, for the longest time people shown it and people thought “this is just for kids” or just for people who want to have sex with green women, and you know, it took some major projects to really make it mainstream an make it ok to like things like “Star Trek” or “Star Wars”, actually “Star wars” was this big thing that everyone likes it. I think the fandom is waiting for some of those big projects.
Kenket: I think it”s a bit different with the fandom because there”s a lot of stuff that is technically furry, like for example The Lion King and all of those animated movies Disney made. All these tons of animal movies they”re making these days.
BlackTeagan: I think that when the fandom starts producing these things for itself, then I think it will just become part of that mainstream.
Kenket: I think the thing is that, the cons keep growing and more and more young people are coming into them, I think the face of Furry is changing. For instance when I started going to cons there were practically no females, they were like 9 when I started going to them, and now almost half of the convention at least if not more are girls so it”s obviously changing, and I think it”s going in the right direction.
BlackTeagan: It”s going to be very positive, I think.
Kenket: And everyone likes animals! So” I mean *laughs* I mean I think it”s pretty acceptable to a lot of people, even though a lot of people think it”s not.
BlackTeagan: I think it”s just furries who are afraid of what people think of furries; for example, I”ve shown our art to a lot of people who”ve never heard of furries you know, on the internet or whatever and they are not offended by it and they are not like, shocked or horrified and they were very positive and pleased, you know? It”s like “this is very cool, this is a very cool illustration, dog people! It”s awesome!”
Kenket: “I like Dogs””
BlackTeagan: Yeah! “I like dogs! This is cool!” there”s nothing weird about it to them.
Red Furros: It”s easier to relate to them.
Kenket: Yeah! It”s easier than aliens!
Red Furros: Yeah! And I think we ran out of time, I really thank you girls for this chance to talk to you and I hope to see you later in your panel
BlackTeagan: Thank you! It was fun.
By Arakum
Additional Information
Blotch on Furaffinity
Blotch, Screwbald Spotcat LiveJournal
Blotch (Screwbald) on DeviantArt
BlackTeagan on FurAffinity.net
Dog’s Days of Summer Official Website
Dog’s Days of Summer on Sofawolf
Related Articles
Further Confusion anuncia el tema “Furries Gone Wild” para su edición 2011
Red Furros interviews Blotch
Red Furros interviews Kyell Gold
He is an amazing and succesful writer inside and outside the furry world, and his work has impressed many of us. Author of works read by thousands and that have changed the way
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Peggy Wang from the group 'The Pains of Being Pure at Heart'
Hello! I'm Arakum and this week we have an exclusive interview with Peggy Wang from the band "The Pains of being Pure at Heart", we've seen a lot of them recently, especially since the release of their music video "Higher than the Stars" that we featured a couple of weeks in Red Furros and we are so excited to be able to have this interview with such a talented group.
Hello Peggy! Well, we are honored to be able to have this interview with you, we are sure our readers are anxious to know all about you and your recent video "higher than
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Peggy Wang from the group ‘The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’
This week we have an exclusive interview with Peggy Wang from the band The Pains of being Pure at Heart, we’ve seen a lot of them recently, especially since the release of their music video “Higher than the Stars” that we featured a couple of weeks in Red Furros and we are so excited to be able to have this interview with such a talented group.
Hello! I’m Arakum and this week we have an exclusive interview with Peggy Wang from the band “The Pains of being Pure at Heart”, we’ve seen a lot of them recently, especially since the release of their music video “Higher than the Stars” that we featured a couple of weeks in Red Furros and we are so excited to be able to have this interview with such a talented group.
¿Hello Peggy! Well, we are honored to be able to have this interview with you, we are sure our readers are anxious to know all about you and your recent video “higher than the stars” but first we would like to know a little more about your project…
Red Furros: Your band has a very original name, what’s the story behind it?
Peggy: It’s the title of an unpublished children’s story by one of Kip’s friends from Portland. The last line is something like, “And these are the pains of being pure at heart, which aren’t really pains at all.” I think that really rings true for me.
Red Furros: When did the band start?
Peggy: Ahh, I thnk it was January or February of 2007. I had become fast friends with Kip, we were bonding over a lot of the same bands, going to see shows. It kind of made me feel young again, to just be sort of careless, have fun, and do whatever we wanted. Especially in this climate of New York City, where it was the same day in, day out, go to work, come home, etc. I think our friendship really revolved around feeling passionate about something. At one point, he showed me some songs he wrote and I was like, pretty taken aback by them. The rest is history, I guess?
Red Furros: How’s your first album doing?
Peggy: That’s a subjective question, but considering we didn’t expect anyone to pay attention or care, I think it’s been doing great. It’s nice to see that people appreciate an album of pop songs. It’s not like we’re trying to be super different or original, we just wanted to put out an album that projected us, and what we would want our ideal band to sound like. The fact that we succeeded in that, and that others can appreciate that is enough to for me to feel like “success achieved.”
Red Furros: How did you come up with the idea of the music video of “Higher than the Stars”
Peggy: I first discovered furries on an MTV show called “True Life: I’m a Furry.” I became really fascinated with them. I’m sure there are varied motives behind the lifestyle, but I guess for me, being a shy and self-conscious person, I can definitely see the attraction in expressing yourself through a character. Also, I like cute stuff. Ha ha.
Red Furros: How did you feel with so many furries in fursuits around you while shooting the scene?
Peggy: Everyone was soooooooo nice. I think we all got a kick out of it. It was surreal. And the furries really interacted with us and were playful with us even though they didn’t really know us. I just think it’s so cool that they agreed to participate, and I loved hearing about how they got into the lifestyle, how they had their costumes made, etc.
Red Furros: For what you’ve seen, what do you think about the furries?
Peggy: I think it’s a subculture that I can relate to, definitely. I’ve always been really obsessed with clothes and style, I think because it was a way to define myself without me having to compensate by having an over-the-top personality. I think the furry costume is a similar thing. It’s a way to project yourself, and be yourself, and extend yourself without having to put yourself all the way out there.
Red Furros: Are you releasing any new album soon?
Peggy: We’re recording it this summer! It’s hard to say how long it will take, because we want to get it right, but the songs are there, and I’m really excited to start working on them.
Red Furros: Do you have any final words for your fans and your furry fans?
Peggy: I guess I just think it’s so cool that we have been able to reach this community through the video. After we shot the video, I talked to a couple of the furries who came, and they were super down-to-earth, nice, cool people who were refreshing because of their lack of pretension. People always ask me if we used real furries, and I’m really proud to say that we did. I also think it’s really cool that you guys might have heard about our band through this video, and I hope you like the music as well as the concept.
Red Furros: Thank you very much for this interview; let’s hope we get to hear from you soon! And something tells me we will hear from you everywhere! Congratulations.
By Arakum.
VIDEO: Higher than the Stars
Additional Information
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart article on Wikipedia
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Peggy Wang from the group ‘The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’
This week we have an exclusive interview with Peggy Wang from the band The Pains of being Pure at Heart, we’ve seen a lot of them recently, especially since the release of their music video “Higher than the Stars” that we featured a couple of weeks in Red Furros and we are so excited to be able to have this interview with such a talented group.
Hello! I’m Arakum and this week we have an exclusive interview with Peggy Wang from the band “The Pains of being Pure at Heart”, we’ve seen a lot of them recently, especially since the release of their music video “Higher than the Stars” that we featured a couple of weeks in Red Furros and we are so excited to be able to have this interview with such a talented group.
¿Hello Peggy! Well, we are honored to be able to have this interview with you, we are sure our readers are anxious to know all about you and your recent video “higher than the stars” but first we would like to know a little more about your project…
Red Furros: Your band has a very original name, what’s the story behind it?
Peggy: It’s the title of an unpublished children’s story by one of Kip’s friends from Portland. The last line is something like, “And these are the pains of being pure at heart, which aren’t really pains at all.” I think that really rings true for me.
Red Furros: When did the band start?
Peggy: Ahh, I thnk it was January or February of 2007. I had become fast friends with Kip, we were bonding over a lot of the same bands, going to see shows. It kind of made me feel young again, to just be sort of careless, have fun, and do whatever we wanted. Especially in this climate of New York City, where it was the same day in, day out, go to work, come home, etc. I think our friendship really revolved around feeling passionate about something. At one point, he showed me some songs he wrote and I was like, pretty taken aback by them. The rest is history, I guess?
Red Furros: How’s your first album doing?
Peggy: That’s a subjective question, but considering we didn’t expect anyone to pay attention or care, I think it’s been doing great. It’s nice to see that people appreciate an album of pop songs. It’s not like we’re trying to be super different or original, we just wanted to put out an album that projected us, and what we would want our ideal band to sound like. The fact that we succeeded in that, and that others can appreciate that is enough to for me to feel like “success achieved.”
Red Furros: How did you come up with the idea of the music video of “Higher than the Stars”
Peggy: I first discovered furries on an MTV show called “True Life: I’m a Furry.” I became really fascinated with them. I’m sure there are varied motives behind the lifestyle, but I guess for me, being a shy and self-conscious person, I can definitely see the attraction in expressing yourself through a character. Also, I like cute stuff. Ha ha.
Red Furros: How did you feel with so many furries in fursuits around you while shooting the scene?
Peggy: Everyone was soooooooo nice. I think we all got a kick out of it. It was surreal. And the furries really interacted with us and were playful with us even though they didn’t really know us. I just think it’s so cool that they agreed to participate, and I loved hearing about how they got into the lifestyle, how they had their costumes made, etc.
Red Furros: For what you’ve seen, what do you think about the furries?
Peggy: I think it’s a subculture that I can relate to, definitely. I’ve always been really obsessed with clothes and style, I think because it was a way to define myself without me having to compensate by having an over-the-top personality. I think the furry costume is a similar thing. It’s a way to project yourself, and be yourself, and extend yourself without having to put yourself all the way out there.
Red Furros: Are you releasing any new album soon?
Peggy: We’re recording it this summer! It’s hard to say how long it will take, because we want to get it right, but the songs are there, and I’m really excited to start working on them.
Red Furros: Do you have any final words for your fans and your furry fans?
Peggy: I guess I just think it’s so cool that we have been able to reach this community through the video. After we shot the video, I talked to a couple of the furries who came, and they were super down-to-earth, nice, cool people who were refreshing because of their lack of pretension. People always ask me if we used real furries, and I’m really proud to say that we did. I also think it’s really cool that you guys might have heard about our band through this video, and I hope you like the music as well as the concept.
Red Furros: Thank you very much for this interview; let’s hope we get to hear from you soon! And something tells me we will hear from you everywhere! Congratulations.
By Arakum.
VIDEO: Higher than the Stars
Additional Information
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart article on Wikipedia