Sta.sh
GO in peace, my friends! ^_^ 
A common topic among the anthro community (and heck, DeviantArt at large) is the classification of what is anthro, what is furry, and what isn't. Heck, even well-established artists have a hard time explaining it, and to quote Scott Kurtz of PvP: "Cartoon animals don't have boobs!"
An often-offered definition of the difference between Anthro and Furry is that Furry is a sexualized form of Anthro, whereas Anthro is simply drawing animals acting like humans and sipping tea; ergo, Anthro is the 'true' art and standard of civilization, while Furry is its mentally retarded drooly cousin, mostly consisting of cub porn and recolored Sonic OC's.
This is the most widely accepted definition between Furry and Anthro. It's also dead wrong.
To help demonstrate this, I've made up a simple graph to make it clear what 'Anthro' is and what Furry isn't:
A brief explanation of the relevant bits so I'm not just repeating what's already written on the chart's deviation page:
Anthro covers every possible thing you could turn into a humanoid.
Anthro Machines are Droids.
Anthro Plants are Treants.
Anthro Animals are Furries.
Anthro anything else is . . . whatever you want to call it, it's not really important which.
In case you didn't notice it when you first saw the chart, the style, the context, and the genre are completely and utterly irrelevant. There is no delineation or special terminology given to obscene materials in that chart, or for cartoon characters, or for realistic representations of these concepts. There's a good reason for that.
If you are drawing ANY representation of an animal given human traits, it's Furry. It can be Mickey Mouse, It can be Sonic, it can be Hepcats fanart, it can be that Aflac duck . . . I don't care how sexualized or innocent, how cartoony or realistic, how crude or refined, if you are drawing animals doing things that you don't see animals doing in real life, it's Furry.
Attempting to classify yourself as Anthro when you're drawing Furry is deception at best and arrogance at worst — deception because while all furry is anthro, not all anthro is furry, and arrogance because it furthers this idea that drawing animals is okay only as long as it's within socially acceptable boundaries and you're not doing anything crazy like pretending you were a dragon or giving your catgirl the build of a college coed.
Yes, there are seedy elements of Furry, just like there are artistic nudes on DeviantArt. There is drawn pornography (commonly termed 'Yiff') in Furry, just like there's Hentai in Anime. There are plenty of Furry archives that will push these limits, just like there's other art archives out there that will post all the other stuff DeviantArt doesn't allow. There is no excuse for claiming all Furry is Yiff, just like there is no excuse for claiming all Anime is Hentai. (For those who have short memories, the Anime/Manga/Hentai connection was a common mistake in the 90's, but this too has died down thanks to the mainstreaming of Anime and Manga.)
Unless your animal characters are little plush toys, art sculptures, or some other series of inanimate objects that have somehow come to life, you are dealing in Furry — and if said items have any human traits whatsoever, they're still Furry. The sooner we all accept this fact and stop treating the term 'Furry' like it only applies to the kinky fetish side of Anthro . . .
. . . the sooner we can get the rest of the internet to cut us some slack.
An often-offered definition of the difference between Anthro and Furry is that Furry is a sexualized form of Anthro, whereas Anthro is simply drawing animals acting like humans and sipping tea; ergo, Anthro is the 'true' art and standard of civilization, while Furry is its mentally retarded drooly cousin, mostly consisting of cub porn and recolored Sonic OC's.
This is the most widely accepted definition between Furry and Anthro. It's also dead wrong.
To help demonstrate this, I've made up a simple graph to make it clear what 'Anthro' is and what Furry isn't:
A brief explanation of the relevant bits so I'm not just repeating what's already written on the chart's deviation page:
Anthro covers every possible thing you could turn into a humanoid.
Anthro Machines are Droids.
Anthro Plants are Treants.
Anthro Animals are Furries.
Anthro anything else is . . . whatever you want to call it, it's not really important which.
In case you didn't notice it when you first saw the chart, the style, the context, and the genre are completely and utterly irrelevant. There is no delineation or special terminology given to obscene materials in that chart, or for cartoon characters, or for realistic representations of these concepts. There's a good reason for that.
If you are drawing ANY representation of an animal given human traits, it's Furry. It can be Mickey Mouse, It can be Sonic, it can be Hepcats fanart, it can be that Aflac duck . . . I don't care how sexualized or innocent, how cartoony or realistic, how crude or refined, if you are drawing animals doing things that you don't see animals doing in real life, it's Furry.
Attempting to classify yourself as Anthro when you're drawing Furry is deception at best and arrogance at worst — deception because while all furry is anthro, not all anthro is furry, and arrogance because it furthers this idea that drawing animals is okay only as long as it's within socially acceptable boundaries and you're not doing anything crazy like pretending you were a dragon or giving your catgirl the build of a college coed.
Yes, there are seedy elements of Furry, just like there are artistic nudes on DeviantArt. There is drawn pornography (commonly termed 'Yiff') in Furry, just like there's Hentai in Anime. There are plenty of Furry archives that will push these limits, just like there's other art archives out there that will post all the other stuff DeviantArt doesn't allow. There is no excuse for claiming all Furry is Yiff, just like there is no excuse for claiming all Anime is Hentai. (For those who have short memories, the Anime/Manga/Hentai connection was a common mistake in the 90's, but this too has died down thanks to the mainstreaming of Anime and Manga.)
Unless your animal characters are little plush toys, art sculptures, or some other series of inanimate objects that have somehow come to life, you are dealing in Furry — and if said items have any human traits whatsoever, they're still Furry. The sooner we all accept this fact and stop treating the term 'Furry' like it only applies to the kinky fetish side of Anthro . . .
. . . the sooner we can get the rest of the internet to cut us some slack.
The fact that there NEEDS to be a difference between the two is the same difference between western cartoons and anime. All of it is cartoons by general terms (morphed drawn characters) but the differences are small. Large eyes and stylized hair, pointed chins and thin mouths. While 'cartoons' tend to have a simple line, blocked coloring and very simple styles made of shapes rather then conforming to a human body (chibi need not apply) BUT there is a difference. If you get down to it it is all cartoons yes. But they are called something different.
Now with Furries the general idea is that an overly sexual or 'human' like sexual body is more a furry while a female would standing on two legs with no breast would be anthro. (This is also not always the case) but tends to be an acceptable line. Anthropormorphic simply means ANYTHING that is not human morphed into human form but it keeps the general biological shape rather then taking on full human shapes. So paws are still paws rather then hands, knee joints are still bent and the main example sexual organs are internal with a lack of human like chests. Furry is more or less adding an animal head to a human body. Keeping human bone structure.
When it comes to art there needs to be a difference, most furies will tell you that too. Furry is more then just art while it's a big part of it it's more a community then anything else. Lumping the two together is insensitive. And many anthro arts don't want to be called furry for their own reasons. There is nothing wrong with both groups but they are different it the extremes.
Taking a dog and simply standing it upright is Anthro
Taking a dog, giving it a human body is Furry.
There are HUGE differences between animal shapes and human shapes. And that's what it really comes down to in the end. And if people are attracted to their anthros that's a whole different level. You also stumble into the difference between cat girls and the like...are they furry or human? It's so much more complex then you are making it. And both groups need a bit more respect (on all counts. 'mentally retarded drolly cousin?' really? Just because they do something you dislike doesn't mean you have the right to attack them. That's offense on many levels. Try to be more adult then that)
In the end it's the artist who can decide . No matter what they draw it doesn't need to be put into a group. No art needs to be throw into one. You will NEVER be given some slack no matter what you draw. And less so if you feel the need to attack other peoples art. If anything you are asking for people to give you a harder time.
Just draw what you want, call it what you want and don't force people to see things from your point of view.
You my friend, are very challenged in the brain.
overtime ive been doing my own research about this mostly for rp schools but i come across that yes antro animals is called a furry but if thats the case, if you see a human girl with cat ears and a tail that do you call her a furry? i think not...
in the term i use to describe between furrys and somewhat furrys would actually be called kemonomimis.
and to tell the difference between furrys and kemonomimis would be that.
a furry is more animal like but with some human like abblitys *such as talking,walking on 2 feet, and dressing up sometimes* [also in this case, is the reason why most furryies are naked or nude, cuz in their furry like animal form, their not meant to wear cloths, as real animals are not meant to have any clothing on either] from what you see of a naked furry as "porn" i see as art.. if theyr fucking or something in a sexual manner. i call it yiff...
now aside from that... a kemonomimi however is much different yet still similar., for they are actual humans with animal characteristics. in most cases you see a neko you figure a cute human girl with cat ears and a tail with a possibly of enharating a cats abblity, such as a cats reflexes,senses, or how they act...
but it gose well with inumimis,okasaki [wolf x-x] usagi,nekos,kitsume, and ect, any human with a animal part on them are refered to as a kemonomimi apon which i figure is called a antro. also this time they are required to have cloths on because their still somewhat part of the human society. [like tokyo mew mew for example] however this is base on my 2 year studie. if you wish to argue pleaze do so, itl benefit me strongly on my research subject.
(Side Note: Well, I guess why people use the term "furry" since more people draw anthro mammals more that other animal classes... but it still doesn't look/sound like an appropriate term!)