25 years - Renee by @ajfox (A Girtz)

I unearthed my old artwork bin from years gone by, recently. As I looked through my old works I realized a quarter century has passed since I first started my anthro style-defining journey. This March, the time seems right to mark the occasion with a special 25th anniversary "then and now" series of pieces.

1999: Sometime in the mid 90's, I cast off the Mario & Sonic based art of my younger days to try creating characters & stories I could call my own. Into the mix came this style called "Anthro" or "Furry" art which had more appeal than what I'd been used to at the time. I'd met artist friends online drawing the same way and I wanted to be apart of that. After some experimenting in previous years, 99' became the year I began to forge my own unique characters and style. It was also the year I met fellow artist, Chad Yaffe (Warskunk), (of Yerf.com at the time) who helped influence how I would create art like this going forward.

2024: 25 years later, I look at how my style has changed over time. Re-drawing these old drawings to see how far I've come and how these would look today, lets me know I made good progress, and to keep going. I'm amazed I could draw anything on the paper I used back then, let alone using only a #2 pencil and whatever pen. The subject shown is one of my first OC characters, an Arctic Fox/Arctic Wolf mix named Renee. Created for what was supposed to be a comic strip that went no where. Perhaps she'll cameo in a future project?