It’s clear, their big eyes, fluffy bodies and humanlike antics seem to hold a special place in people’s hearts.
Speaking of hearts, one Malaysian artist has captured a few of those with his adorable depictions of animals.
Operating under the Twitter handle @silverfox5213, 40-year-old artist Wee Yee Cheong has garnered a lot of attention on the local online artistic space.
A quick glance at his Twitter and Instagram pages reveals why – unbelievably cute and adorable anthropomorphic animals greet visitors with glossy eyes and genuine smiles.
Wee’s artworks are distinctive, with his animal subjects often sporting large expressive faces and fur drawn in extreme detail. It’s likely this quality of his artwork that has earned him the attention of folks from around the globe.
“I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil,” he told FMT.
“I was about the age of five when that first happened. My sister and I used to draw on the back of lunar calendars. It was free paper for us!”
So immersed was he in his art, that he pursued Graphic Design after his SPM examinations.
Funnily enough, the reason why Wee draws animals and the odd background is quite simple. “I can’t draw humans to save my life!” he admitted freely.
A freelance artist at present, the Sarawak-based Wee did work with game companies before.
He also takes on private commissions from his social media followers; some of whom are members of the “furry” subculture, who are people interested in anthropomorphic animal characters.
Taking a look at the many artworks he has published online, one might notice two recurring characters; namely a little fox and a wolf cub.
These are Big Nug and Lil Nug, “Nug” being short for “nugget”. The adorable fellows are Wee’s personal creations and “pets” in a way.
“Those two characters were created about five to six years ago, when I got my own place to stay,” explained Wee.
“Since the building management has a no-pet policy, I decided to create one for myself, initially as practice in mixing digital art with photography.”
Taking inspiration from cute pet photos and social media memes, Wee created Big Nug and Lil Nug and shared them online. They became instant hits.
Given that he has nearly 150,000 followers on Twitter and over 170,000 on Instagram, one would think Wee had expected this much success.
“Definitely no. I was very surprised and humbled to have so many fans who adore my artwork,” he said, adding that there are many talented artists out there who specialise in depicting animals.
He does have his own ways of standing out, however. “I would say it’s the way I render and also the signature glossy eyes effect.”
Additionally, most of his artworks have a story to tell, or an Easter Egg, for sharp-eyed viewers.
An example of these Easter Eggs would be in his fanart of characters from Dreamworks’ recent release, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”.
Wee’s artwork depicts the characters of Puss in Boots and the Wolf; with the feline hero being rightfully apprehensive of his lupine opponent.
But if you take a closer look at the artwork, you can actually see the intimidating figure of the Wolf in Puss’ eyes!
It’s the same for the Wolf, with the distinct figure of the cat reflected in the wolf’s bright red eyes. An extremely tiny detail which one could easily miss, but it’s there nonetheless.
“I’m always very happy when people notice the little details I’ve included in my drawings,” Wee admitted.
“I’d call my dedication to the attention to detail both a blessing and a curse as most of the time, most people won’t notice them.”
Getting the littlest details right matters a lot to Wee, even if it means taking even more time than usual to get it right.
So, what advice does he have for fledgling artists?
“Don’t actively look for an art style for your drawing. Instead, focus on strengthening your fundamentals. Your art style will emerge naturally while doing that.”