No, it's true that at the first dozen or so Furry conventions, say from 1989 to 1999, they were like the s-f conventions in having a main emphasis on the literature with the dealers' rooms dominated by tables selling Furry fanzines, funny-animal comic books (especially Critters, Fusion, Xanadu, the titles of MU Press, Antarctic Press, Jim Groat, Mike Kazaleh, the TMNT rip-offs, etc.), and s-f books especially with aliens; and the attendees having only a few Fursuiters and those pretty amateurish. Since roughly 2000, the Fursuiters have become a growing percentage of the attendance; the Fursuits have become more elaborate and professional-looking; and the con programming has become more devoted to them with Fursuit Parades, photo sessions, panels on how to build and maintain a Fursuit, etc. At the same time, the dealers' rooms have become almost barren of literature except for the tables of the Furry specialty publishers like FurPlanet, Rabbit Valley, and Sofawolf. This is largely due to the disappearance of Furry fanzines and comic books. Today's dealers rooms are dominated by tables selling Fursuit accoutrements, artists selling prints, and jewelry.
The Art Shows have also evolved, from selling mostly original works and with more variety of subject matter, to selling more prints and with original paintings marked Not For Sale; the original paintings and prints being more imitative of what has sold best in the past; and of artists just repeating themselves over and over. I have not been able to get to conventions besides CaliFurs since my stroke in 2005, but from what I have heard, I theorize that this is mostly due to the proliferation of Furry conventions. Before the late 1990s, the ConFurences were the only Furry conventions there were, so all of the artists exhibited their best works there, and the art collectors came because they knew the best art would be for sale there. Today there are dozens of conventions splitting the artists and the buyers. Individual conventions, except for maybe Anthrocon, Further Confusion, and one or two others like Midwest FurFest and RainFurrest, do not attract either the artists or the big buyers any more.
No, it's true that at the first dozen or so Furry conventions, say from 1989 to 1999, they were like the s-f conventions in having a main emphasis on the literature with the dealers' rooms dominated by tables selling Furry fanzines, funny-animal comic books (especially Critters, Fusion, Xanadu, the titles of MU Press, Antarctic Press, Jim Groat, Mike Kazaleh, the TMNT rip-offs, etc.), and s-f books especially with aliens; and the attendees having only a few Fursuiters and those pretty amateurish. Since roughly 2000, the Fursuiters have become a growing percentage of the attendance; the Fursuits have become more elaborate and professional-looking; and the con programming has become more devoted to them with Fursuit Parades, photo sessions, panels on how to build and maintain a Fursuit, etc. At the same time, the dealers' rooms have become almost barren of literature except for the tables of the Furry specialty publishers like FurPlanet, Rabbit Valley, and Sofawolf. This is largely due to the disappearance of Furry fanzines and comic books. Today's dealers rooms are dominated by tables selling Fursuit accoutrements, artists selling prints, and jewelry.
The Art Shows have also evolved, from selling mostly original works and with more variety of subject matter, to selling more prints and with original paintings marked Not For Sale; the original paintings and prints being more imitative of what has sold best in the past; and of artists just repeating themselves over and over. I have not been able to get to conventions besides CaliFurs since my stroke in 2005, but from what I have heard, I theorize that this is mostly due to the proliferation of Furry conventions. Before the late 1990s, the ConFurences were the only Furry conventions there were, so all of the artists exhibited their best works there, and the art collectors came because they knew the best art would be for sale there. Today there are dozens of conventions splitting the artists and the buyers. Individual conventions, except for maybe Anthrocon, Further Confusion, and one or two others like Midwest FurFest and RainFurrest, do not attract either the artists or the big buyers any more.
Fred Patten