GabuMatt

#WPAFW is the ultimate con to sit down and draw at. Everyone's at a lodge at a park, bussed up from the hotels. Admission gets you 2 meals each day. Sponsors get access to an open bar.

Many furs are willing to say "sure, I'll go over to that tent and play a drawing game for an hour!"

PURRfect! 😼

Photos from the Comic Panel Pass event I facilitated at #WPAFW. I am really grateful the programming staff let me lead 4 drawing events. 💙 I think those of us hungry to draw (not just us "artists") got our fill!

Ink over pencil comic panel. Title in block letters: "Okay but who is GabuCat?" GabuCat's big head underneath says, "I'm GabuCat!" Then the text says.. By GabuMatt

GabuCat sez...
"Well that was easy! You can end the comic now!!"

My neck and wrist (connected) are often my main limits. I get close to damaging them. 😖 Video games and texting lower those stamina bars Big Time.

I plan restful activities in between working on big projects for that reason. Yesterday watching a movie in the middle of the day was the perfect break.

Inking should be done without caffeine shakes, and also with zero alcohol. And again, before being exhausted!

Digital coloring can be done at any time of day and even when I am exhausted! I can even have a few drinks. (Still learning about watercolors and colored pencils.)

After about 8 years of making comics Very Often, for big projects, I am almost always scheduling around what my body can handle. Some thoughts:

For me, writing and pencling should be done early in the day when I am caffeinated and not exhausted (there is such a thing as caffeinated and exhausted.)

I'm doing this 2-page comic with similar tools and in a similar format to Lynda Barry's AWESOME Making Comics & The Unthinkable Mind courses at UW Madison.

(I am preparing myself for teaching an online furry cartooning class with this format for the final homework assignment!!!) 😻🤫

Painting a comic while listening to the full Furry Studies 2024 conference.

I am making this for the Comics in the Circle 2025 anthology. The theme is "constraints". One of mine is only using red, yellow, and blue. I thought it would be fast - one page took an hour! #furryart

youtu.be/lFaLMG-HQl0

The protagonist from Digimon Story: Time Strangers be like:

!!!!!! 🎃🔜❄⁉️

Photo of my mini composition notebook. GabuMatt is imagining a delightfully full minicomp page, music.

Photo of my mini composition notebook. Q stand for question. Double means double plate spread. OC means original character. These are a mix of Lynda Barry activities and Lama Rod Owens teachings, what resonated with me just that day.

Going through this year's minicomps. I'd like to revisit this, making cartooning (for myself) as inviting and addicting as the apps on my phone!

Something that randomly gives me structure... That's what holds me back these days: choosing a format.
#furryart

A scanned image of a sketchpage. The early life cycle of a wolf is depicted in drawings and text: "Take a wolf." [a quadrupedal wolf.] "Make him bipedal." [He is standing on two plantigrade legs.] "Dress him in clothes from the department store." [He wears pants and a rugby shirt, one leg propped up on a small box.] "Give him a 20 year long interdisciplinary education." [He is seen as a high school math student, looking at a wall clock while using a graphing calculator. As a college student, timing the movement of a film development can. As a graduate student, looking at mortarboards being tossed in the air.] "He is now ready to go outside!" [He is once again on all fours, albeit still in bidepal form, wearing kneepads and a harness which reads "MASTER'S DEGREE- OK TO PET."

outside wolf

GABUCAT SWINGS ON THE SQUEEKY SWING SET AT WUHPAWFUHWUH!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! #FursuitFriday

📸: @top-secret-proto.bsky.social
🧵: @sarossuitworks.bsky.social

Performing, whether out of necessity or for pleasure, is a lot of work! And furry spaces often encourage performing, to various effects on us.

Would you describe your experience as a form of burn-out? I've seen you put a lot of labor into the local community lately (thinking of your panel and the outing your organized at Furrest City).

But yeah I feel that! I think we underestimate how much effort it takes to navigate furry social things!

You should be able to read this on a desktop computer without having to log into Tumblr. 🙏

Furrest City Mini-Con Recap! Cleveland just had its first furry convention since ConFurence East in 1996! On Saturday September 13th, 2025 the non profit Furrest City pulled off its first ever (mini) convention! It was...

I wrote a recap of Furrest City Mini-Con! 💙 Quite long, very personal. Cleveland's first furry convention since 1996!

gabumattfur.tumblr.com/post/7958691...

#FCY #FurrestCity #furry

A photograph of a drawing propped up atop a drink coaster. It is a drawing of foxes playing on the computer. An inset drawing of the computer screen shows text reading “Oregon Tail- Start- You have: A- a partial. B- a fullsuit C- a taursuit.” Three quadrupedal foxes above them walk along with two biting the tails of the first and second in line. The first looks back incredulously.

Ok, I think the shrimp might have caused a growth spurt.

#WallmartShrimp #RadioactiveShrimp #Kaiju

GabuMatt with a red cup and a Long Straw for Fursuiting; GabuMatt holding a sticker! This was done with brush pen (Pentel?) and colored pencils on mixed media paper.

Some Artist Trading Cards of Me as a Blue Dog I drew at our ATC draw and swap at #WPAFW! 💙

(The little pink thing I'm holding is a sticker lol!)

Orange tabby cat fursona GabuCat on ripped sketchbook paper!

I drew GabuCat in someone's sketchbook at the swap at #WPAFW! I drew him a lot this weekend!

I love your use of speech bubbles on an Artist Trading Card! Inspiring me for future cards...

two hand drawn artist trading cards. the first is an orange anthro cat looking distressed, the second is a wanted poster for a duck outlaw.

I actually participated in some panels at WPAFW for once! 😂 I did a couple of ATCs at @gabumatt.bsky.social's meetup on Saturday. I had a good time!

#furryart

I will be there, live! In human form! I am honored to be part of the artist’s panel at 5:45pm. See you there!

Yay! Looking forward to meeting you! Yeah that last one is scheduled so late. I am driving hope to Cleveland right after that!

A pile of colorful Kandi bracelets

Making a bit of last minute Kandi for WPAFW :) If you see me, please ask for one!! I don’t want to bring any of these home.

Drawing activities at #WPAFW! 🎃

Thank you to everyone who attended Furrest City 2025 and made this convention possible! Our final attendance was *192*- we are absolutely blown away by your support! Be sure to donate to help us make the next con bigger and even better! secure.givelively.org/donate/furre...

Thank you again to everyone who came to Furrest City 2025! We hope to see you again at our next meets or another con soon!
📸 @devkitsu.net

Y'know, today was good day~ 💖
We've reinvented the game, and now it's catty-cake :3
🐱: @kitteemortis.bsky.social
📹: @bluejackalope.bsky.social
#FurrestCity