Hello folks! It’s everyone favorite feline interviewer, Alex, here with yet another exclusive Kemono Cafe interview featuring one of the many artists out there.
This time; however, I’m going to mix it up with a very special artist that has ties to Kemono Cafe.
But as always, a special shout out to the stellar Kemono Cafe Crew for hosting this interview.
Let’s not delay it anymore.
Introducing…ABD!!!
Hi everyone!
It’s always weird for me to get interviewed.
But fun!
Glad to have you here. Are things going well down given the upcoming holiday celebrations?
The second half of the year is usually the busier in terms of commissions.
And for some weird reason, even personal projects tend to pile up even more than usual.
But aside of having a painful back and cramped hands, everything is great!
I know your pain all too well.
So much paperwork…so much…
And let’s get started with a little introductory. Tell me about yourself.
What can I say? I’m an artist that’s been drawing full time since 2011. For some reason studied programming and digital electronics in college and ended up doing nothing related to that. And now I enjoy of the chance of drawing all the time, the thing that I love the most, and even make a living out of it! Not much to say aside to that, I think. I just draw whatever makes me happy, and furries is one of those things.
2011!?!?!? You’re almost a decade into the art world!
That does remind me. Your username is ABD, but I’ve also seen you as ABD_Artist, ABlueDeer, etc… What do you prefer? How did you come up with that name?
AblueDeer or ABD is fine. Some call me just “blue”.
It is not a particularly practical nickname, but I don’t want to change it at this point.
It is based on a mexican legend in the huichol region. It is said that the blue deer was a divine being that walked on the desert leaving the agave plant to the local people (a type of cactus from which tequila is obtained).
Since I needed a nickname for my furaffinity account and possibly a character representing me back when I joined, this looked like an interesting name.
It has just stayed that way since then.
That’s quite the tale! I just use a modified real-life name myself.
I just use a modified real-life name myself.
I’ve been a fan of yours for a while and went through your FurAffinity Gallery . What got you into art in the first place?
What got me into art? Well, that’s a complex question.
I have been drawing since I was a kid. My father even saved a couple of pages of really old comic like things that I drew when I was 7 or something.
After that I never really stopped until now, with only occasional lapses of not drawing from time to time.
The longest of those was a lapse of about 5 years of not touching a pencil when I was going from elementary school to high school, back when depression did hit me really hard. So, you could say I was always interested in drawing.
Now, what inspired me to draw and maybe eventually try my hand at making a living out of it? That relates to 80s/90s cartoons, both anime and western animation. Back in the day I just wanted to try to replicate the characters I liked by drawing them.
That’s simply amazing! And such dedication to the arts too.
I also noticed that you do both furry and human centric artwork with it siding more on furries. So I’m curious, what got you into the furry community?
While Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon marked my eventual art style more to the anime side, furry characters like Ms. Brisby from the Secret of Nimh movie or Minerva Mink from the old Animaniacs marked me quite deeply. A little later appeared Krystal from Starfox.
Clearly my inspiration is very cliché!
I have no specific preference for furry art, because I like both furry and human. I even drew human comics around when I was finishing high school for a few years.
Eventually I drew a series of sketches of Krystal and posted them on Yahoo! Groups. A friend of mine, TobiasAmaranth on FA, found me on the groups and presented the site to me as a better way to showcase my art.
I thought my art was “decent enough” at that point so I tried to offer commissions at FA and things went better than expected.
That essentially just leads to today.
WOW! Yahoo! Groups!!! That takes me back.
I also see that you’ve been doing comics as seen on DARK BLUE COMICS in the last couple of years. Could you tell me about each one?
Bethellium is a fantasy story I had in mind ever since I joined FA. I have an obsession with designing only characters with a story behind them. And since I’ve been drawing comics since high school, the second I want to design a character, a story that comes with it comes always at the same time. The same happened with the characters from my other comic Moonlace.
I decided to group all the existing characters in three stories. Bethellium as a high fantasy story with lots of magic, the type of story I always liked. Moonlace as a urban fantasy story that could lean more on the adult side. And finally, third sci-fi story I have reserved for when I finish one of the previous two. The protagonist of that third story is Maia, a fox with red eyes that you can see in my Patreon profile and in some of my other galleries.
That sounds like a webcomic paradise indeed!
And how did you get into the webcomic industry?
Um… I just decided to create comics and started doing them?
I never went through a rite of entrance, because I’ve been drawing comics for years and years.
By the end of the elementary school, I was already plotting and sketching comic ideas in manga style. A group of friends and me started to post comics online at high school and that was possible without the need of a publishing house thanks to the internet starting to become popular.
When I joined FA I created new stories focused on furry characters more on the side of what people would want to see in that site. As new sites like Patreon allowed me to monetize my work, I decided to give it a try in a more professional way. I entered the webcomic ecosystem way later than most of the famous artists on FA, like the guys from KemonoCafe. But I’m glad things are going well in that regard.
Don’t sell yourself short. From the sounds of the internet, you’re popular too.
I saw these three comics, but I also notice you work or have worked on some other comics. Care to share?
Three?
Oh, you probably mean C-chan’s a Catgirl!
That one is probably the only remain I have right now from when I drew manga style comics in high school. Nothing but short funny anecdotes of hyperactive Clarisse.
Aside of that, other comics have created are short commissions. In all those cases I barely had any input in the stories. But I took advantage to practice drawing comics on the visual storytelling side and to learn to measure times and skills required to create more complex projects in the future.
Practice does make perfect. Plus if you can learn and make money at it, that’s killing two birds with one stone.
And that does bring up my next question. I notice while going through your extensive webcomic collection and discovered that your cast is entirely female.
So ignoring my male question, we all are curious as to who your favorite female character is!
Curiously enough I always wrote female protagonists! Wonder why that is…
I always find it really hard to pick a “favorite” of anything in my life because everything I like is something I love in one or other way.
But… I guess three of my more favorite characters are in this picture.
Maia is the blonde one, then Zoana from Bethellium, and at the right Joanne who I have been drawing for years as a separate character from a different story I probably will never write.
Three foxes, how cliché huh?
Maia is a sci-fi bounty hunter, Zoana is an alchemist, and Joanne is a princess.
Difficult to explain what I like of them more, but probably the main reason why I like them better is because they’ve been around longer that most characters I created.
HOLY FOX!
Look at all the foxes you’re giving!
So many very voluptuous vixens flexing fine figures!
I guess one can say that you know how to fox it.
You could say that I have the vixen foxed in my brain.
GASP!
That’s so foxy.
And for those wanting to support your work, what is the best way for them to do that?
Well, right now my PATREON is a great way to support me as my comics and OC art is being created there. But I’ll also be creating an account at Subscribestar soon, along with new merchandise of the comics on the way. So, I suggest to keep an eye open during 2021 to not miss one of the multiple options to support me that will be available soon.
Final question, what are your goals for 2021?
To expand the worlds of Bethellium and Moonlace with side stories and merchandise. And of course, to keep telling those stories that I sure hope my readers are enjoying. Only that will keep me really busy during all 2021. But I’m very grateful for the support I’ve received that’s allowed me to even think on keep doing this for another year!
Here’s to 2021!
Thank you very much ABD for taking the time for this interview.
No problem, my friend. Always happy to speak about my work.
Thankfully not in person because I’m also a bit shy.
Stay safe everyone!
That was ABD everyone.
Thank you all for coming out for this interview.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try this new magic spell that Zoana showed me.
Apparently, anyone can do it with this special device…
And it’s a regular firework…
HURRAH!!!
