Reference sheet drawn by the talented Eam arts on FA

Reference Sheet of my fursona, a wolf avian hybrid of my metaphorical visage, this has been a long time coming

I wanted to do something similar to what my old friend Red did, which is essentially explaining the story behind the development over the character and all it's traits over time, which kind of reflect self growth and composition, and are rather kind of deep? Or at least I think it is, haha!

This all started in the early days when I was on DA and wanted to start a fursona, I had a vague notion of what I wanted, so I began with a black and pink wolf thing, called it something really retarded "Wolfxis Nightvale". A little bit sooner that name got ditched, and being a little bit uncreative I tried to make a name for them which was a rendition of my username, but sounding less awful. I found the Norse word for wolf, "Varg", and the Norse word for night, "Nott", so I started with the name "Vannot"...that was my fursona's name for awhile. Van has always been black and pink because it has always been my favorite color combination...it just looks good to me.

So a little later I stapled wings on my wolf fursona, this started for 2-3 reasons...well, it originally started because I was aesthetically fascinated by the winged canid art on the net, and I wanted that, too. Around the same time, I was a big fan of the book series by Jame's Patterson "Maximum Ride", which followed the story of Avian-human hybrids on the run from 'the school', the lab that created them. Thirdly, it was very common for me to have vivid and/or iconic dreams of flight, and this was a concept I've been attached to. So I decided to give my fursona white wings, despite carrying angelic connotations, I never once considered them to have supernatural elements, they are simply a hybrid (much like in the series). I find the symbolism of this is quite curious to my life, never quite so perfect or innocent as I could ever seem, just another human aiming to be good and better.

Over time the design changed a bit as well, I decided to invert the two ear colors, couldnt tell you why, just two pink ears is boring. I added a lighter underbelly to give a bit more variation, the blacker/darker cape is the most recent design, so the newer design aesthetic of varying degrees of monochrome is a far cry from the simple black and pink.

Anyway...personwise...Van has changed as much as I have. Van was the neutral name I gave them, a nickname for their full name. I eventually ditched the awful name "Vannott" and gave a more normal sounding name of "Vanna" to them. Vanna Nyx was originally as I was, a rogue-ish, boyish vagabound with sword and wing, always on the run and seeking new territory. I also had her genderbent variation, Vance Nyx, which I developed steampunk lore for. Over time I began to question why my fursona needed to copy physical traits as is, despite already being a wolf that I was not...so I pushed the bar further, and my main fursona switched to Vance Nyx, since I highly preferred and admired the genderbent version, it was at this time I was learning about myself and others who were transgender, and learning about the concept. I at first didnt think I 'fit', but after time it became clear which direction I needed to go and what felt accurate. So my fursona Van went from Vanna to Vance.
...I always liked their name too, it started with a V like mine: Val. Val is just a nickname like Van is, and my real name is extended to Valentine, just like Vance. I also liked that I didnt just give my fursona my name, as that was rather bland to me, and I am not my fursona. We are two separate entities that derive similar traits, and he represents a more symbolic image of me.

With my fursona's new gender, I briefly thought to change is color scheme to blue and black, seeing as pink was rather feminine. But then...why would I? I'm not changing myself at all, and I am not a very masculine guy anyways, as it stands I tend to be quite a feminine male, and that's fine by me. I'm nothing but myself. So keeping his image served the purpose of showing my gender isn't based on changing all my traits to fit something I'm not, it just means I'm being more comfortable, not aestheticwise or personalitywise, identitywise and bodywise.

Moving on, I decided at some point, knowing my fursona wasn't just a winged wolf but a wolf/avian hybrid, to give them an actual species: Vance is Florida Black Wolf and Gryphon vulture hybrid. Those particular species for a reason. The black wolf would explain his base color, and I was originally from Florida, easy. The gryphon vulture came from when I watched a documentary, in which it showed the Tibetan tribe would perform ritual 'sky burials' in order to give their dead to feed the angelic-like birds, that would take their souls to the sky and heavens (I read that this was done because ground burial on their harsh landscape isnt ideal, as well as cremation). The birds are given the name 'dankinis' literally 'sky dancer', and we're viewed as supernatural angelic images. I thought, knowing the lore behind the species, it was apt to give my angelic-like fursona the species to fit.

I eventually updated the feral version of my fursona to contain other traits, including the iconic feather collar that the Gryphon vulture bears

TL;DR My furson is super special snowflake, yo