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I noticed a lot of people seem to have some...pretty unoriginal fursonas. For example, there are a lot of blue versions of Balto. (Which makes sense if you're username is BlueversionofBalto. But it's really unoriginal.) So I've decided to make a guide, or rather a "Walkthru", on how to create a fursona that really reflects who you are and is a lot more personal. Using mine as an example. :] Keep in mind that there are other ways to make a fursona that's "really you", like one that fits your personality. A bright, colourful character matches someone with a happy, bubbly personality. Whilst a dark, scarred character may be more suitable for someone who has sadly suffered somehow in life.

Okay, on with the guide. I'll just start by showing you my Fursona's sheet

Okay, not exactly an interesting character that stands out. But I don't really stand out in real life, and everything about her reflects something about me. (Except for one thing. You'll see. ;P)

First of all, I needed to decide on a fur colour. Well, what colour is my hair? Actually I don't know. xD I just got it dyed before the holidays, I know it's brown with some red through it, kind of chestnut or auburn. So I made my fursona have a lighter shade of fur than my hair as a main colour, then chose cream at random for the secondary colour, since those two go well together in my opinion.

After fur, I decided my fursona needed a haircut. Cause 'eck, who wants a bald fursona? =P That was easy too! Just give it mine! I've got a sideswept fringe with some stray strands of hair, so I gave that to my fursona too. (You can't see it in the pic tho' since Deni didn't have a sheet to ref' from, here's what the hair is supposed to be like.

Next - Eyes. Simply put she had to have blue eyes like me. No brainer. xD So when designing a fursona that you'd like to represent you, try giving it features as close to yours as possible. The simple ones like eyes are really easy.

Then there are other things that most people don't think about. What size is your fursona? Well' how old are you? Or what size are you in real life? I'm 13 (Edit: 14 now), so in comparison to other peoples' fursonas mine is really small. Example. (You can probably guess who drew the pic. Wasn't me.) So making the size match your own can be a nice touch.

Gonna wiz through the next few things as they aren't exactly important.
Ears - Do you have large ears? Small ears? Something in the middle? Give it to your fursona! This is the thing that doesn't match my personality. xD I actually have small ones, freakishly small. Oo' But I gave mine large, fluffy ears just for the sake of it. :B
Paws and legs - Another thing that can match your own body. Got large feet? Make the hind-paws large! Got long or short legs? Give 'em to your character too.
Even the weight of your fursona! If you're skinny make your character skinny, if your a little on the chubby side make your character pleasently plump! :3 It's simple.
And on another note, my fursona is a wolf because I love canines. But I draw her as other things too. Golden Retrievers, horses, cats, the possibilities are endless! I just like to make sure she retains the same markings and features. If you want to draw yuor fursona as a lot of different things like a shape shifter, it's best to make their main form your favourite species/breed of animal. You have a whole world of different creatures to choose from! Go wild!

Some other things you could include.
*Got a birthmark, or scar of some sort? Add it to your fursona if you like. I have to scars on above my lip where my demon dog bit me when I was 7. >_>' And also a spot on my upper lip where a stone got stuck when I was a kid. But seeing as they're barely noticable I didn't include them.
*Got any favourite accessories you wear a lot? Throw 'em in too! I wear two bangles, so my fursona has those. I also had a purple scarf, but my neighbours dog got ahold of that one. RIP. (It's like, my 7th scarf that died. ._.) And I'm a school kid in Britain, which means uniforms. Which means ties! O: So my fursona has one of those too.

All of these little details help to make your fursona a lot more personal and a good alter ego for yourself. I hope this helps anyone who's been struggling to find a fursona that truly represents them. And again I hope I'm in the correct section. xD If you have any questions or want some advice feel free to ask or PM.

-Keilidh.

Brilliant topic i will probably make a second fursona one that represents me more.

That's exactly what I did with my fursona Lola (I also use her like a fan-character). She's got a lighter golden base color than my hair is with brown markings because I have natural highlights. She also has a bown circle marking around one eye (the spots below it mean nothing, it just looked different) because I have glasses, but half of the time I wear contacts. She also wears my favorite necklace (torquoise stone from Alaska). My favorite basic shape is a diamond so the marking on her chest is shaped like a diamond. She has the same colored eyes as I have, which basicly matches her necklace.
As for her species, I asked my closest friends and sister what kind of animal I remind them of and all five of them said a wolf. They even gave me great reasons as to why my personality reminds them of a wolf.

Yeah, so that's my Fursona in a nutshell (a very big nutshell).

Here she is if you want to see her: http://baltosource.timduru.org/art/Pika ... display=18
(old picture...)

Nice guide =). Hopefully this will help a lot of people. Originally, I wasn't going to use my real eye colour becauwse I didn't know what it was. I swear, it changes! But at the moment it's a grey-blue with a dark rim around the edge and light grey flecks, so that's what I'll use.

I'm thinking of having a 'natural' and an 'unnatural' fursona. My natural fursona is 1/2 Dingo, 1/4 Australian Cattle Dog, 1/4 Labrador Retriever. Her main fur colour is halfway between dark blonde and light brown, like my own hair. The brown and cream just came from random =). She's got a discoloured speck on her nose, because I have a lone freckle on my own nose. The markings are just spontaneous, but the foxtail marking isn't. It's because dingoes all have a lighter coloured tail tip, and while it's only a very small amount, I like to exaggerate. The main colour is from her dingo side, the cream and the brown from her lab side, and most of her markings are from her cattle dog side.

The fursona I posted on the fursonas topic is only a 'first test', lol. You will see updates!

And now for a general idea for my 'unnatural' fursona...

The only thing I'm actually sure of is that she'll have 'mood eyes'. Like a mood ring, but it's her eyes changing colour. This is inspired by my real eyes changing colour. The image I get in my head is of her being dark blue. I don't know why, it's just that when I try to picture her, she's dark blue. She may have two tails, but that's a bit cliche. Oh, and she may 'meow' instead of barking. Lol. She won't have wings. She may have horns. But they'll need careful designing so they don't look evil or not match at all.

Enough rambling for now, and great guide =)

Brilliant guide, I have to agree. I just don't draw my fursona enough to actually care if it looks like me or not. xD

At least this way everyone knows how to create a personal fursona and not a dream of how they'd like to be.

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into your fursona. I especially like the idea of giving her a ring around one eye as glasses. That was very creative. ^^

And to Vivid Legacy, I love that idea of using the mood stone eyes your own eyes change colour! I wish I'd thought of that now. It sounds really cool. xD

I love this guide! I've also seen a ton of fursonas that look almost identical. This will help a lot. :3

Hehe, yeah. It partly happened because almost every time I look in the mirror I think my eyes are a different colour, and also because one of my friends was wearing a mood ring the other day when I just so happened to be absently thinking about my fursona.

here is my second fursona Amy Rose (my first and middle name ) her hair is the same colour as mine she wears a purple scarf (sometimes) and bangles like me ^^. Also the spots on her nose represent my freckles .

Well,it certainly is very good.....what about thhe namethough? Does it have to be your real one or online one? And it's pursona,really. My mom said there's no such word as fursona when I told her about it. Nice guide xd. I just can't draw hair to good but I'm working on it. It'll be hard to do my hair on the pursona I'll have.
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That's what I can do.....well,I hope I can use this for awhile for future reference and right now reference.

I did the code the way I learned it....guess I can't acsess the incoding of my post and do it right......Anyways this is a really great guide. I'm serious. I hope tons of people have read this!

"Fursona" is just a term that was adopted to refer to one's animal (or 'furry') alter-ego... it's a play off of the word persona, which means "a character assumed by an author in a written work" (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary). Hence yes, it's not a 'real' word, but it's a sort of household term in the furry fandom, or really any animal-related fandom (ie Lion King, Balto, etc.)

As for the name, it can be anything you want it to be - there are really no rules to how you craft your own fursona, though as the point of this topic expresses, it's best to try and be original, unless you want to be known as the "[x color], [x official character] clone" ;P

My fursona (if you want to call it that) is Flashez, a red & white border collie :3 Her natural color/appearance doesn't exactly match mine IRL (except eye color)... but her personality and whatnot is identical to my own, since she's my 'on-paper' representation of myself And when I draw her anthro-ized, I give her my own clothing/hair and whatnot so... yeah...
Here's a page of lil doodles of Flashez I did during school one day;
http://anbu-flashez.deviantart.com/art/ ... -115884342
Fun fact; her face markings are s'posed to be like a yin yang... *nodnod* I'm a very indecisive/shades-of-grey/a-little-of-each kind of person... mhm.

(Off-topic; I really need to get back to posting more here D: I've been so gashdang distracted lately... *mumblegrumble* soon, I swear...)

I get it Kiche,now. Thanks!(notice,not in a rude tone before in text,it's easier when you're right next to the person to show what you're meaning by it).

Not at all ;3 And you're right about that. It's one of the major disadvantages of text-only conversation... I never intend to come off as sounding rude in my posts so I apologize to anyone who reads it that way

...Parents don't know these things.
A pErsona is an inanimate object that represents you.

A FURsona is an animal character that represents you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fursona#Role_playing

The name is up to you. Mine is named Keilidh, after me in real life. Some name theirs after their ursername online or just something completely different.