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Traditional materials are the best place to start. Don't worry about anything fancier than pencil/charcoal and paper until you've got the basics down.

What you need to do first is study the Principles of Design and the Elements of Design. These are the first things students are taught before they can move on. Usually, they are taught alongside Drawing 101, where students become familiar with these elements in practice, drawing mostly contour drawings of still lives. You should also be learning about linear perspective. You should be focusing on how to break objects down into simple forms, like cylinders and cubes and cones and spheres. Learn to draw with your arm and not your wrist; you can do this more easily by drawing on large paper (18"x24" or bigger).

Once you've got those basics learned, you can move on to learning about drawing with value. Charcoal and a kneaded eraser work best here, I think. Start doing still lives of single objects, like eggs or fruit, small geometric forms like cubes and the like, and focus on how light moves around these objects. One thing our professor had us do is to wipe our drawings down with a chamois frequently. It keeps you from getting focused on your drawing, but gives you a vague guideline to continue from. It makes drawing more about process than product, which is ultimately your goal if you're learning; to understand the process of seeing and drawing.

Once you've got the concept of the process and how value works, start increasing the complexity of your still lives. See how large you can make them. Get some big boxes and chairs and stuff and set them up in the middle of your room and draw that. Then start drawing the room you're in. Now, go outside and draw the buildings outside. You might notice that they're like a larger version of the boxes you were just drawing!

If you can, take some classes at your local community college. They'll really help you along learning these basics. If that's not available, most schools base their teaching methods on Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Pick it, and the accompanying workbook up, and you'll be well on your way.

You should also look at Andrew Loomis' books to help study most of these principles. George Bridgman is another godsend for learning to draw, as well as Burne Hogarth and Louise Gordon.

You should always be studying things from life to keep your skills sharp. Always remember that reference photos aren't cheating. You'll find that more often than not, they're a necessity.

I also heavily recommend you check out CtrlPaint's videos. They're focused on becoming a digital artist, but have a section devoted to traditional work and its importance in digital work. He also goes over the basics quite well and provides links to outside resources, as well as homework assignments for every video. Check it out, watch a video a day, and do an assignment with it, and you'll be putting yourself on the fast track.

One thing about drawing is that it's going to take a lot of patience. It takes a long time to develop your skills. Don't get discouraged! Learn to handle criticism, both good and bad. Critiques are your friend and whether you agree with them or not, they'll help you grow. Never ever rely on the excuse "It's my style!" because more often than not, if you have to use that line, it's a mistake you don't want to fix, not a stylistic decision. I've seen many people with great potential fail out of the art program I was in simply because they couldn't handle criticism.

Nice post, and is quite refreshing to see. I think my thoughts align a lot with yours. I don't necessarily consider myself a furry, but drawing animal characters is damn fun, and a nostalgic trip into my childhood. I love stretching the imagination. I'm personally gravitated to the likes of Glen Keane's designs in my art, but I kind of grab inspiration from all the major western studios.

Some books I've been recommended and would recommend to anyone are:

• Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair: http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Animation-Collectors-Series-Preston/dp/1560100842
  
• Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling: http://www.amazon.com/Perspective-Made-Easy-Ernest-Norling/dp/9563100166
  
  I've also been getting my art slammed at conceptart.org for awhile in the critique section, and must say it's a gut wrenching, addicting, yet amazing experience. The books I listed above were actually recommended to me from that site. No matter how good you think you are....something will be wrong with your piece...sometimes catastrophically. You can ALWAYS improve. You gotta take punches in order to toughen up.
  
  I enjoy Proko's youtube channel, but here are some other possibly useful ones:
  
  
• Sycra: https://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra
  
• Will Terrell: https://www.youtube.com/user/willterrell2001
  
• Draw With Jazza: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrawWithJazza

I too like books with anthro characters, but there is a lack of quality in what is available. Here is a short list of posted in an earlier thread:

I would recommend looking at the reviews on flayrah. Personally, I have not found much in the way of quality furry literature, but I have read a few.

The Sacred Book of The Werewolf by Victor Pelevin. There are two kinds of furry books: those writen by furries and those that are writen by non-furries. This is one of the latter. I do not have the time to give a full review, but if you like werewolves, kitsune, eastern philosophies, Russian culture (or at least curious about it) eastern and russian folklore, and supernatural romances, you might just like (I did). Furriness - 6, Quality - 10 [I want to add that this book has very mature scenes]

Ringworld by Larry Niven. This usually shows up somewhere on the top 100 sci fi novels. However, this is another book not written by a furry, and it shows since only one character could be classified as "furry". Furriness - 4, Quality - 10

Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling. I have not read much of this so far, but from what I have seen it is high fantasy. So far, I have not been impressed with the writing, which is why I haven't finished it. Furriness >5, Quality <6

In Wilder Lands by Jim Galford. Another high fantasy novel, but this one was much better written. I will be buying the sequel when comes out, for whatever it is worth. It does have a few problems, namely that many characters and the world need to be fleshed out more. Furriness - 9, Quality - 7.

Spice and Wolf by Isuna Hasekura. Yes, I know it is not exactly furry, but OP may still like it. One of the main character is a wolf "god" who takes the form a young woman, and the other is a traveling merchant. The setting is largely inspired by post dark ages Europe and is not overwhelmed with fantasy brickabrack. Furriness - 2, Quality - 8

I am going to pick up Red Sails in the Fallout tomorrow for my kindle, since the sample is holding my interest. I might also pick up Argo and Ten Thousand Miles Up. These last two books are short stories not novels.

Edit: misspelled book

Editing by me, story and art by my friend: https://twitter.com/touji_17

We've had some good print runs for local cons, but we're still sorting out the best way to get physical copies online to order. In the meantime, for Black Friday (Nov28 + 29 PST) we decided to make our Kindle version free! You can grab a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YDSBTRG

I'm sure my friend would love it if you bugged him on Twitter or left feedback on Amazon to let him know what you think, but we're just happy if more people read it. Thanks guys. :3

If you are looking for something you can find at a place like Barns and Noble, Urban Fantasy is likely what you will find most fuzzy. Lots of werewolf in the city type books.

[Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville Series) By Carrie Vaughn] (https://www.amazon.com/Kitty-Midnight-Hour-Norville/dp/0446616419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468453249&sr=8-1) - Urban Fantasy. Liked a lot of the series. It is fun and doesn't take it self too seriously. Spunky Midnight DJ (thats a werewolf) starts taking calls about things that go bump in the night and it leads to fame and adventure.

Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1): A Jane Yellowrock Novel - Another Urban Fantasy. Skin walker that prefers the form of a cat takes up the job of head of security for a vampire. Bit gritter then above, and can bit a bit hit or miss.


Both of the above should be available locally for almost everyone. I have a huge pile of books I could sort to find others. But on to actual furry things:

Turning Point (Sholan Alliance) Bit old, and slightly dated mass produced book from the 80s that was vary furry and it is an impressively long series. Young lady from a colony world meets a telepathic cat and bonds with him.

Off Leash (Freelance Familiars Book 1) One of the better feral books I have ever read. Main turns into a 4 pawed feline familiar and bucks the trends.

[WindFall] (https://www.amazon.com/Windfall-Tempe-OKun-ebook/dp/B01DKRP67Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468454404&sr=1-1&keywords=windfall+tempe) Young Husky meets up with old friend in a town a show was made about and discover a little bit of truth exists.

[Exiles Return] (https://www.amazon.com/Exiles-Return-Rebecca-Mickley-ebook/dp/B00K3XSF4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468454490&sr=8-1) Bunny who retired to a uncolonized rim world is called back to represent Earth.

In Wilder Lands: The Fall of Eldvar Kind of an game/RPG style series. A homeless ringtale (of all things) ends up assisting a fox and eventually falling in love. Did I mention undead are slowly covering the world?

Mindtouch - This book is fairly intresting and one of the few books that I have ever read that features a almost romantic platonic relationship.

Bait and Switch - While I don't think this book is everyones cup of tea, it tackles identity issues in a interesting way.

Portals of Infinity (Series) - While I wouldn't call the series great books. Its fun furry action. Human stumbles in to a portal ends up becoming a champion of a fuzzy god, gets the girl and saves the day.



Some stuff that you can find for free:

[Ted R. Blasingame] (http://trblasingame.com/library.html) Writes a number of books worth checking out. Namely: Sunset of Furmankind and its available for free.

[Fel (James Galloway)] (http://www.weavespinner.net/worlds_of_fel.htm) Has tried vary had not write furry fiction but almost everything he writes has something fuzzy or a lot of fuzzy. Check out: Spirit Walker, Earth Bond and Kit. All 3 are free.

Reference! When drawing a character always rely on reference! No need to reinvent the character unless that's what you are going for.

Draw what you see not what you think you see. This tip is a bit more ephemeral though and ties into references. When drawing from reference really look at how each body part curves and connects. There are usually a lot of subtle curves.

Anatomy is your friend. Once you understand how anatomy works you can kinda bend it to your will. You can mold it and still have it look "right."

Other than that, to get rid of the hairy/scratchy looking lines, commit to the lines you draw. Don't constantly redraw the same line over and over trying to get it just right! (unless this is a rough sketch, then scratch away!) Usually for inking a drawing you should have a rough idea of where you want your lines to go in pencil. Practice the line you are going to draw in your head. Ghost your line a few times. And then commit and put your line on the page. Dont go so fast you cant controll the line but dont go so slow you get all the tremoprs in your hand to show up in the line.

Hmm, for other tips I wish I knew when starting, dont be afraid to reproduce someones art. Copy (do not trace) it onto the page as close in detail as you can to the original image.

Im a huge advocate of this book as well, its hugely eye opening for a beginner if you have no sort of training. It does contain lessons and requires you to have supplies on hand but its well worth the effort of going through it.

Lastly here is the first time I drew Fidget and the most recent redraw attempt! The first was when I first started drawing about two years ago. The second was about seven months ago.


P.S. Keep ALL your drawings. Whenever you feel like you are not making much progress go back and look at them. You will definately notice your progress.

(copy/paste from another one of my posts, it's all useful stuff though :3)

Here are a few sites that I have found useful in developing as a furry artist:

1. Some of the very basics of setting up your tablet to be most effective
   
   
2. Great for beginning digital artists
   
   
3. A pose generator, great for practicing anatomy. Practice these and your drawings will look less stiff and more dynamic
   
   
4. More figure drawing practice
   
   
5. Animal Drawing Practice
   
   
6. A youtube channel with a ton of useful tips and techniques for drawing figures
   
   
7. Hands/Clawed hands, More Hands, Even More Hands!
   
   
8. A Book focused solely on drawing furry art, and another. and another, and yet another
   
   
   Becoming thoroughly familiar human and animal anatomy and being able to draw them well will bring you 90% of the way to where you need to be to draw good furry art and the rest is putting them together through lots and lots of practice. Good luck!
   
   edit: Almost forgot! I would love to see some of your art :D

Yay, I'm a religious figure now. Take that pope. >V

But seriously though, I'm just a starting point. when your'e drawing you should try to have references open unless you're really familiar with your subject. I've seen a lot of foxes, but I've got 6 or 7 tabs of fox pictures open right now for a modeling project I'm... pursuing... very slowly... >.>;

The best tip I can give is ignore what the "how to draw manga/anime" books teach you. Instead look for the Andrew Loomis books for great reference material for humans (since, you know, most anthro art is human bodies with a few animal features tacked on). I also liked Anatomy for Fantasy Artists for a few pages of info. Anthro wise, there wasn't a lot that I've seen (though it's been at least 5 years since I looked) that isn't just the artist showing off their work without teaching much. I did like Freaks! however overall, it has a variety of artists giving tips and covering a good array of styles. I'm particularly drawn to the art of Brett Booth, but he's a comic book artist, so his artwork is detailed to the ridiculous much of the time.

I'd recommend studying this book: https://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175 . I bought it when i was a kid, and as my skills grew over time, i was able to follow the tutorials and now i have a style of my own that looks nice. Your work looks great for your first attempt. So im certain once you practice diligently over the next year or so, you'll improve tons!

For anyone who also wanted it I found it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites. Also found the other ones too
Amazon : This book | Draw More Furries | Furries Furever
Barnes & Noble : This book | Draw More Furries | Furries Furever

As a non artist, I cannot vouch for the quality, but I have seen these mentioned before

https://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175

https://www.amazon.com/Draw-More-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Creatures/dp/144031473X

But there's tons and tons of free tutorials online as well.

Check out a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201. You'll immediately improve as you learn things like not drawing from symbols and learning to draw what you see. Most people get stuck in the symbol drawing stage when they're in elementary school, which is why it's embarrassing to pick it back up as an adult. It'll look like a child's drawing until you learn WHY it looks that way, and learn the proper way to perceive things you're drawing. It's also extremely friendly and approachable for beginners.

I saw this book at a local bookstore back in 2006 and was enchanted by anthropomorphic animals within. Wanting to find more like them, I researched and researched on the internet and eventually discovered the furry fandom. I was one of them before summer the following year.

My local Michael's has them too.

Here's the book on Amazon if anyone's curious

Draw More Furries: How to Create Anthropomorphic Fantasy Creatures https://www.amazon.com/dp/144031473X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Mix0DbT5TJTJK

I know it isn't a site or subreddit, but if you really get into the drawing this could help later on too

Source:
https://www.amazon.com/Off-Leash-Freelance-Familiars-Book-ebook/dp/B011J9L5JA

http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175

It could use some work, if you have the time read Draw More Furries

http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175

Here is the mobile version of your link