Along came a Kizmit

Originally, my ‘fursona’ character was called Twiggy – named after Marilyn Mansons Twiggy and there was a bit of drama due to someone elses character being called Twiggy and some hurt feelings involved; I don’t want to go into it all too much because this was way back in 2003 and no one really cares anymore. I’d go so far as to say that the other Twiggy and I are still friends so it’s no big deal!

Twiggy became Kizmit

I was given the name Kizmit by mutual friend of mine and Twiggys (Hi Gwen!) and have always held this little gift very dear – to the point I have always felt a bit confused when it comes to picking a ‘fursona’ – Jenn or Kizmit? Either way, Kizmit has stuck about and has had various versions of her other the years. The above is the first incarnation of her; and one that upon seeing this I feel like redrawing! Her ears are just ridiculous! I last drew her like this in 2007 and it was a hoot!

I wasn’t overly keen on the design though as it’s a bit plain and is very similar to the direction that Jenn ended up taking (I’ll post about Jenn another time.) So I tried something vastly different.

Thanks to spending a lot of time on Furcadia, wings were a big thing! (Furcadia is an MMO Social Chat and you can buy additonal items to make your character look ‘better’, wings being one of them!) And because I couldn’t afford them, they cost $100, I just drew my character with them instead – looking back on it though, I am not so fond of the wings and when I have done redraws of this era of Kizmit, I have removed them.

I don’t know why, but this particular version of Kizmit didn’t last that long (Despite getting some really nice gift artworks of her!)

So, out with that style and along came something completely different – and thus my obsession with black and yellow began to rear it’s ugly head.

Beemur

This version was somehow a Bee/Lemur hybrid! And such a pain in the neck to colour in! I love this style, the stripes on her arms, legs and tail were really something to behold! But I think I burned out on it really quickly because it was such a pain in the neck! Again, I would love to revisit it though, just for the nostalgia value.

Onwards and upwards. I think around 2011 I wanted to try and mentally organise my characters and give them ‘real animal’ vibes rather than the strange mess of ‘What the hell are you meant to be?’ So I once again reimagines Kizmit in another way.

And because I was doing most of my artwork digitally, it didn’t matter so much if the colouring/markings were more complicated because digital colouring is quicker and easier for such things (In my humble opinion) So, Kizmit was turned into a pine martin. To be honest, I hated this image of her. Compared to all the other Kizmit designs, she didn’t feel right – although the design is really cute – it’s just not ‘her.’

So, a few years back, I had another think, looked back over all that had come before and decided to give Kizmit one last ‘do over’

Her final form.

I returned to the black and yellow look – I think there is something very striking about it – but toned it down a lot so that she was easier on the eyes and simple enough to play about with – without killing myself in the process of colouring her!

She has had this form since early 2015 and I don’t have any inclination to change her going forwards; other than revisiting some of her old designs for the sake of nostalgia!