Sketcher

Backstory

Warning: discussion of religion, s/h, dysphoria.

Sketcher always had "signs" that pointed toward him being trans, but he only started being really dysphoric after hitting puberty. During this time, he started cutting, namely on his arms, chest, and hips. He realized he was trans at 15, and came out between 16 and 17. His blood relatives did not take it well, as they were highly religious. They cracked down on all sorts of prayers, rituals, and traditions in an attempt to make him "come back to the light." Ironically, this is what drove him away from the church. He started attending university at 18, living on-campus, and cut his contact with them by a significant amount. He has almost no contact with them now. He managed to start taking testosterone and get top surgery, though he stopped taking testosterone for monetary reasons. He is actually pretty happy with where he is transition-wise, though he still wants a lower voice and the ability to grow more thn three facial hairs.

Sketcher got into emo music at 14. It is largely what pushed him towards exploring his gender and orientation. He had always loved music, but finding this genre renewed his passion, and he started seriously trying to get good at playing. This served him well in university, when he joined a band. When he first started attending, he didn't really know anyone. Luckily, he ended up roommates with an outgoing tiger named Stripes, who saw his band shirt and trans pride pin, and struck up a conversation with him. Both being alternative trans folk, they were fast friends. When Sketcher mentioned wishing he could play in a band, Stripes revealed that his own band was looking for another guitarist or a bass player. Sketcher joined on as bass player. He made friends with the other band members fairly easily. Outside the band, he met a dog named Alex who was his assigned "homework buddy" in one of his classes. In another class, another alt boy caught his eye. Through Stripes' popularity, he ended up hanging out with him a few times, and running into him at parties. He started developing a crush. Stripes caught on to this, and knowing that the other boy was on the market for a boyfriend, started bringing them together more. Eventually, Stripes offered Sketcher a ticket to see a band he loved play a show, claiming that he couldn't attend do to scheduling conflicts. He mentioned that he had been going to attend with Sketcher's crush and his friends. On the actual night of the show, it ended up being just Sketcher and his crush, and it became increasingly clear that it was a date. Sketcher's crush admitted that he was originally going to go with one of his other friends, but when he couldn't come he offered the ticket to Stripes. Stripes had told him that this was one of Sketcher's favorite bands, suggesting that he be invited. Stripes helped make it subtle that it was a date, because Sketcher's crush didn't want to make it one if Sketcher wasn't interested. They're not "official" yet, but they are in the beginning stages of a relationship.

Present Day

Sketcher spends most of his free time reading graphic novels, practicing music, browsing the web, and hanging out with his friends. He also spends some time with his boyfriend(?). He and Stripes spend the most time together, since they are roommates, but he also hangs out with the other band members: Drummer the coydog drummer, and Jacky the wolf guitarist. Stripes does vocals and plays guitar. The whole band is queer in some way; Stripes is a trans man, Jacky is non-binary and pansexual, Drummer is bi, and of course Sketcher is a gay trans man. His aquaintance outside the band is Alex. They are not super close, but know each other well enough that they drift together at parties where they don't know anyone else.

Drawing Notes

Sketcher is small in general: short and very thin. He has wide hips and narrow shoulders.

His snout and ears are longer than average.

He has mostly short fur, though it can be longer on his neck and tail.

He has downturned eyes and eyebrows.

His left forearm has a black marking, and his right does not.

The yellow on his hands comes to different places; on his left (black) arm it is only on his fingers, but on his right (green) arm the yellow comes up to his knuckes and covers his palm.

On his cheek markings, the black does make a full circle but the pink does not.

The darker red areas of his skin match the placement of his black fur markings, plus his nose. The dark reds are optional.

Harm scars are optional, but not surgery scars.

He can be drawn with or without clothes.

Ideas

Outfits: His clothing style is emo or punk street clothes. Common items include: dark tight-fitting t-shirts, hoodies, his battlejacket, vests, dark ripped skinny jeans (often low-rise), and accesories such as fingerless gloves, bandannas, chains, and spiked collars.

Expressions that work well for him are shy, sad, surprised, or embarassed. He might be seen reading, drawing, or playing bass (he might look more confident when playing music).