Tuesday, 20 April 2010 11:41 am
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deckardcanineSomeone on the "Kevin & Kell" listserv asked whether Bill Holbrook kept the furry characters unshod because of a fetish. I was sure he was wrong, because Bill rarely does anything apparent as even mild fanservice. (There are some suggestive punchlines in K&K, but even shameless furverts probably wouldn't make pinups of them.)
That said, I didn't consider it a bad question, because the real reason for otherwise fully clad anthros with bare feet was not immediately obvious. Was it out of sheer deference to a tradition, like big white gloves in tribute to the likes of Mickey Mouse? But traditions need a reason to start, like gloves making humanoid hands look more natural somehow. Besides, I wasn't sure how common the practice was before K&K, which was surely the first Web comic to observe it. (Can't think of any earlier newspaper comics in which most animals were more than half dressed.)
Then it hit me: geometric aesthetics -- virtual feng shui for character design. These furry artists like to put species reminders at every periphery. It becomes all the more important on the occasions that we see only the legs, especially when the tail doesn't hang down that low. Heck, in most of these cases of anthropomorphism, the normally covered parts of the body look basically human aside from the fur, feathers, or scales.
I voiced my notions, and Bill said I was right on all counts.
I love it when my intuition works this well.
That said, I didn't consider it a bad question, because the real reason for otherwise fully clad anthros with bare feet was not immediately obvious. Was it out of sheer deference to a tradition, like big white gloves in tribute to the likes of Mickey Mouse? But traditions need a reason to start, like gloves making humanoid hands look more natural somehow. Besides, I wasn't sure how common the practice was before K&K, which was surely the first Web comic to observe it. (Can't think of any earlier newspaper comics in which most animals were more than half dressed.)
Then it hit me: geometric aesthetics -- virtual feng shui for character design. These furry artists like to put species reminders at every periphery. It becomes all the more important on the occasions that we see only the legs, especially when the tail doesn't hang down that low. Heck, in most of these cases of anthropomorphism, the normally covered parts of the body look basically human aside from the fur, feathers, or scales.
I voiced my notions, and Bill said I was right on all counts.
I love it when my intuition works this well.
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