# Design Advice?



## FizzDarksight (Mar 21, 2021)

Recently I feel like I finally settled on what my fursona species is going to be but I'm not sure about how to design it. It's going to be a hybrid of a sea horse and the other half is going to be a spectacle bear. But the main problem I'm having designing my fursona is the sea horse part, I was thinking about using the sea horse's tail but the curl going the opposite way and using the fins. But I'm not sure what snout I should use or maybe I can mixed the two snouts together? Blending these two animals together is going to make a weird looking fursona.

Does anyone have any advice on how to blend an aquatic animal with a mammal? Any help will be appreciated.


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## Ziggy Schlacht (Mar 22, 2021)

You're blending two very, very different animals that don't really compliment each other, so there's going to be some level of absurdism in the look. 

A few questions
1. Anthro or "feral" (for whatever that's worth in this context)?
2. Which species do you want to dominate? I recommend you pick one, a 50/50 blend will just look bad
3. What environment would they live in? This dictates what traits would be prominent 
4. What features of each species do you care about most


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## Jaredthefox92 (Mar 22, 2021)

For the love of god, don't try to make them all "cute" when they're just there and don't try to make them like they've been tossed into a vat of molten crayons. I'm okay with intricate color patterns, but too many furries do this.


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 22, 2021)

Ziggy Schlacht said:


> You're blending two very, very different animals that don't really compliment each other, so there's going to be some level of absurdism in the look.
> 
> A few questions
> 1. Anthro or "feral" (for whatever that's worth in this context)?
> ...


I'm leaning towards making it a Anthro but I think I'll draw it both ways.
The spectacle bear is going to be the dominate one.
Maybe they'll live in a marsh.
Well I definitely want to incorporate the sea horse's tail and the bear's head.


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 22, 2021)

Jaredthefox92 said:


> For the love of god, don't try to make them all "cute" when they're just there and don't try to make them like they've been tossed into a vat of molten crayons. I'm okay with intricate color patterns, but too many furries do this.


Yeah I'm not a huge fan of lots of bright colors together, I'm definitely going to pick natural colors.


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## Jaredthefox92 (Mar 22, 2021)

FizzDarksight said:


> Yeah I'm not a huge fan of lots of bright colors together, I'm definitely going to pick natural colors.



That's for the best. If you're going to have alternate fur color, it must fit costumes and characterization.


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 22, 2021)

Jaredthefox92 said:


> That's for the best. If you're going to have alternate fur color, it must fit costumes and characterization.


I love the spectacle bear's colors and markings so I'll probably stick to those colors, plus sea horses come in so many colors but I found a species of sea horse that's more of a darker color and some are found in the ocean where I live so that's pretty cool.


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## Ziggy Schlacht (Mar 22, 2021)

So, we start with a bipedal bear. From there, we know they're in a marsh, so they likely have webbed feet and paws. That's probably hard to show, so make the whole limbs seahorse like. And by that I mean the series of ridges and seahorse colorings. Could run fur down the outside, sea horse on the inside. The torso generally stays furred, like a big ol' fur cloak. That way it says "bear." However, running down the back and leading to the tail are sea horse spines, leading to a crest on the head and a seahorse tail.

At least that's what I'm thinking of.


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 22, 2021)

Ziggy Schlacht said:


> So, we start with a bipedal bear. From there, we know they're in a marsh, so they likely have webbed feet and paws. That's probably hard to show, so make the whole limbs seahorse like. And by that I mean the series of ridges and seahorse colorings. Could run fur down the outside, sea horse on the inside. The torso generally stays furred, like a big ol' fur cloak. That way it says "bear." However, running down the back and leading to the tail are sea horse spines, leading to a crest on the head and a seahorse tail.
> 
> At least that's what I'm thinking of.


Those are all great ideas, thanks for the advice. I can't wait to start drawing my fursona!


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## Zehlua (Mar 24, 2021)

A SEAHORSE SPECTACLE BEAR?! that sounds so friggin cute!!!!!!


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 25, 2021)

Zehlua said:


> A SEAHORSE SPECTACLE BEAR?! that sounds so friggin cute!!!!!!


I guess it will be like a cute sea bear then. I definitely knew I wanted a sea horse or a sea horse hybrid fursona because of this Astrology website that has a different animal depending on the person's birth year. The sea horse sounded a lot like me. Here it is if you want to check it out https://www.primalastrology.com/animal-spirit-chart.html


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## just.chillin (Mar 26, 2021)

NEVER have I heard of a combo before, I'm very interested to see what this comes out looking like. You have my full attention.


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 26, 2021)

just.chillin said:


> NEVER have I heard of a combo before, I'm very interested to see what this comes out looking like. You have my full attention.


Well I'll definitely post a picture of it here when I finish drawing it.


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## Kuroserama (Mar 26, 2021)

I look forward to seeing it, too! I feel that MaelstromEyre is a really beautiful example of a land / sea cross. Although, she is still all mammal so I'm not sure how mammal and fish would work, but I'm excited to see your combination.


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 26, 2021)

Kuroserama said:


> I look forward to seeing it, too! I feel that MaelstromEyre is a really beautiful example of a land / sea cross. Although, she is still all mammal so I'm not sure how mammal and fish would work, but I'm excited to see your combination.


Yeah MaelstromEyre looks like a really cool character. Hopefully I'll finish my fursona soon but I'm not the best artist so it might take longer than expected plus it doesn't help that I'm a bit of a perfectionist.


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## Kuroserama (Mar 26, 2021)

FizzDarksight said:


> Yeah MaelstromEyre looks like a really cool character. Hopefully I'll finish my fursona soon but I'm not the best artist so it might take longer than expected plus it doesn't help that I'm a bit of a perfectionist.


Ugh, preaching to the choir. I started my reference sheet a year ago when I joined. And though it's a good 75% finished, I'm now nitpicking at it. I tell everyone "it doesn't have to be set in stone, you can go back and tweak later" but do I take my own advice? Of course not! It needs to be perfect.


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## FizzDarksight (Mar 26, 2021)

Kuroserama said:


> Ugh, preaching to the choir. I started my reference sheet a year ago when I joined. And though it's a good 75% finished, I'm now nitpicking at it. I tell everyone "it doesn't have to be set in stone, you can go back and tweak later" but do I take my own advice? Of course not! It needs to be perfect.


I just started drawing and I'm already redoing it. I'm using my fire tablet and my finger to draw even though I have a drawing pen, I guess it's easier or more comfortable to use my finger? But at least I'm finally designing my first fursona.


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