Every once in a while, I link a friend one of my favorite pieces of macro art, and I'm surprised to find they’ve never even heard of it before. It got me thinking it would be worthwhile to provide a list of my current “top 10,” if only to expose as many people to them as possible. Hopefully this list will help generate more traffic and attention for these wonderful pieces. Maybe it will even inspire you to create something similar of your own! Because I think they would unfairly bias me, I’ve excluded any of my own commissions. Some of my choices also feature “lessons learned,” which feature my opinions on the takeaway message from the selections.

10) A Little Surprise by Nixx
I’ll begin with the most unusual selection on my list. Compared to pretty much everything else you’ll see from here on out, this picture is not explicit. I picked this piece by Nixx, however, because it shows how an adept use of lighting and pose can do more for a lover of macro than most giant paws can. Look at the obsequious pose  fumei is taking, and it really hits you that the little guy is pleading for his life. His handpaws are wringing and his foot is raised, either taking a step back or being forced to by the pressure of the shrink ray on his chest. The sickly green light the ray is casting on the scene reinforces  kartonis ‘s evil intentions. He has the smug satisfaction of a scalie completely in control of the situation. The chalkboards in the background are typical of a beloved macro trope – an evil scientist in his lair, unchained by his morality. This type of image, when executed as well as it is here, leaves the viewer with their minds racing of what could happen next.

Lesson learned: Your picture doesn’t have to have an extreme perspective or explicit content to be impactful.



9) Casually Gigantic by Nommz
No macro list would be complete without a giant dominating a city. You won’t find typical rampages on my list, however. That’s because, while many of these pictures are certainly erotic to a macrophile, they nonetheless feature rather flat characters that just feel like they’re going through the motions with their feet. I know, because I’ve commissioned that stuff at times myself. Enter  neopuc , who thankfully provides our community with a large amount of commissioned art. He has many well-developed personas, including Kil’aman here. On its surface this prime example of  Nommz ‘s work shows a dragon dominating a city by his mere presence, but it means much more to me because I know the character. I’ve read “An Innocent Little Rampage”, as well as his ”/view/13883387/”. The rendition of his paws in particular is nothing short of outstanding, but now that I know the guy I have a closer connection to him and a greater overall love of the piece as a result.

Lesson learned: Macro art doesn’t have to be avant-garde to fascinate if the characters involved are three-dimensional.



8) Rubber Prison by Raichupuppy
This is the most recently-posted submission in my list, but I think it epitomizes several finished works tackling the same subject matter. Macro/micro has its roots in domination and submission, and sexual domination is one of the strongest ways to express this. This method is somewhat unique because even unwilling micros can be forced to participate in the domination against their will, trapped and unable to move.



7) Only a Little Evil by Nommz
I love that this picture is tall, because on monitors large and small you have to scroll down to fully view the image. If you think about it, it’s a way even the physical attributes of the art can help the message. This is another example of how light can have an impact, too, as in the relatively dark room all you have is the dim, languid light source of a television screen. Did Nommz have to draw the worn-in toeprints or fissures on the surface of the fox’s flip-flop? No, but the extra detail is very welcome. This scene eventually inspired me to write something similar in my story “The Vacation,” imagining what would happen if the micro was forced to traverse between the toes.



6) Microscopic Battling by Nommz
This was the first image of  Nommz ‘s I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. He can pull off some ridiculous perspectives with ease, this being one of them. What’s really interesting is the bottom of the image is microscopic, where  Artie is trapped among sperm, but as you move further into the background the individual cells coalesce into what the naked eye sees, just the fluid, and further back we see the normal-sized world, albeit from a very warped point of view. I think the best macro art is constructed this way because it bypasses the necessity of inset pictures all together (see my thoughts on #2). It also, I think, makes extreme micro more palatable because you can still observe the presence of the macro.

Lesson learned: Don’t be afraid to go super-tiny if you think you can handle the challenges with perspective involved.



5) Puddle by 5-D
Depicting mega macros is one of  5-D ‘s many talents. But in this picture we’re not seeing explicit destruction. Instead the macro is sipping from a lake or ocean adjacent to the city, perhaps drinking a few boats into his maw but leaving the metropolis alone for now. This type of scene compliments my thoughts on #10 well, because the feeling the tension creates is far greater than any action. If that dragon snorted, would the city get blown away or even sucked in? What about the waves he’ll undoubtedly create; would there be a tsunami? When he’s finished, are his paws next on the scene? A sketch like this sticks with me because it generates many questions that keep me thinking.



4) Globe Trotting by 5-D
Sometimes in macro it’s important to detail the grotesque. What I’m talking about here is the extreme detail on the closeup of the claw. Face it folks, the micro world isn’t pretty, and  5-D doesn’t shy away from that fact here. A sharpened clawtip is uneven and ragged close-up. This is one of the greatest size-differences I’ve seen that still has a meaningful value. As we’ll see later with my number one picture, not showing any part of the macro’s body beyond the feet tells a story in and of itself. Other than being vaguely saurian, we know nothing of the giant. And that allows us to project our thoughts and desires onto him, whether it be looks, intentions, feelings, or more.

Lesson learned: Depict your close-ups realistically, even if it isn’t pretty.



3) The Harvest~ A Taste… by xtreme7
Blowjobs are not a particularly rare event, doubly so for the world of furry art. But when you have size differences involved, the pleasurable can become horrific, the erotic, deadly. We saw a similar case above with Nommz’s “Only a Little Evil.” Of all the ways to depict a blowjob, an internal maw shot has to be uniquely macro/micro, and  xtreme7 pulls it off perfectly.

Lesson learned: The ordinary can take on an extraordinary form when you approach it from a macro/micro perspective.



2) A Speck Underfoot by thaz
Here’s extreme macro that’s the opposite of 5-D’s work. Regular-sized macro, truly micro micro. In the closeups, we see the micro, in this case  Artie compared next to the incidental debris stuck to  Teren ‘s foot. This is hugely important detail to the picture, and yet it’s not overdone by having his feet be filthy. Tact in this manner is important to me as a consumer (I really can’t enjoy it if the detail is too extreme), but I would like to focus on another aspect of the piece. The inset pictures at the bottom are necessary in this case because of the extreme size difference, but even if they weren’t they would have been a welcome addition. I’m of the opinion that insets are great for bringing two-dimensional pictures into the three-dimensional world, with the possibility of showing action from multiple perspectives and angles that would be impossible to show otherwise.

Lesson learned: Showing the action from multiple perspectives using inset views is particularly useful for macro art.



1) Emergence by xtreme7
Thaz’s picture and this one were neck-and-neck in my mind for a while, but eventually I decided that “Emergence” is the perfect representation of everything I love about macro.  xtreme7 did a follow up to this picture called Overboard, and in both the orca’s entire face is never deliberately shown. I think this is perfect, because the character takes on a godlike air to the viewer. He’s so massive, so powerful that we only snatch glimpses of his eye, of his chin. The landscape is impressively detailed by the artist…notice the baseball diamond in the bottom left panel? Or that food cart in the top right? Little details can make the scene more believable and more realistic. The top right panel is actually my favorite, because the perspective invokes an entire scene from a movie in my head. The ominous sounds of the foot coming closer, the sights and sounds of chaos. While xtreme7 probably intended that panel to be his sole simply coming down flat, I prefer to think of it as sliding slowly overhead for a bit before finally falling. The orca’s nudity is there, but it’s not overbearing and garish. It’s more of a nice little bonus than anything. Zoom out for a minute and realize that the entire series only shows the first step. Everything we’re seeing takes place in a few seconds of the orca’s time. A vital aspect of macro is the amount of destruction the giant could cause in a short amount of time if they chose to do so.

Lesson learned: The large amount of work you put into your art will be appreciated, by someone, somewhere. So keep drawing, writing, and animating!