I don't know really but I've always been obsessed with cats and Spyro the dragon, and I think when you add Pokemon and Webkinz into the mix which I did, the first time I came across sparklefurs I was sold loll!! Warriors also solidifies this

i suspect i am probably a bit younger than most of the other posters on this board or generally those involved in the revival/continuation of this style, but i joined deviantart in ~2012, and was just sort of Exposed to the art that was both being created at the time and had been created years before. at that point, i was very young, and this style of art was seemingly already on it's way out the door - i had made some attempts to emulate it, but i think i moved on quickly as the 'evolving art conversation' changed. for many years, i did not like the silly+cute animals, because they reminded me of irritating ways i had acted at that age, 'that's for babies' phase essentially. but within the past maybe ~4 years, i grew increasingly nostalgic for and enchanted by this style and surrounding culture i had only really caught a glimpse of when i was too young to appreciate it. i thought my chance to participate in and appreciate this world had passed, but was happily surprised to discover art made in this day and age that still takes inspiration from and pays tribute to this era of art. i have been happily doodling sillies ever since! i hope to make works that convey the feelings i hold for this style and the culture that surrounds it in the future

I had to think about what REALLY started it after reading this post, and that was fun!!

For me it goes even before i knew the internet was even a concept. Although there is no actual causal relationship (perhaps a high positive correlation, though?), I directly associate my furry hobby with my autism.

I've gotten much better now as I've trained myself (and i also want to be transparent about the privilege I have over mute, less able bodied, or higher-support needs neurodivergent people) but I definitely have some social stunting. I could not for the life of me figure out what human friends were. So what did I turn to..? animals. I even saw myself as more of an animal than a human, a concept which I now identify through the therian community with. (meow meow!)

And I've always loved to draw.Ever since I could pick up the tools I drew and drew and I had no friends so I just spent time drawing animals, to the point where I was advanced for my age.

I think it was specifically chibi looking/furry animals because I LOVED cartoons and books featuring animals maybe even a little more than the real things. It was my first encounter with my special interest which would drive my art for the next 16 or so years (I am now 19)- anthropomorphism. It was like a human and an animal...together!! I could be with people AND animal at once! And it was so so cute!! I drew and drew these cartoon book characters, Skippy Jon Jones was a favorite.

And then the internet. I think the internet took that love and both distorted and fine tuned it.
I found...no, I was SHOWN some things I truly shouldn't have seen at my age. I won't get into it, of course.
However, the internet blessed me with the queer autistic and furry communities....ok, well, formalities aside, I still have mad social issues and don't feel connected to communities by conversation most of the time. But artistically? and the way I met some of my few best friends (talked for years now)? Furry and pokemon etc community. I really skyrocketed in art ability and productivity.

2011 was me first finding YouTube. I found warrior cat spoofs and loved them, checked out the books a little but it was mostly those animations that captured me. I found bani and splash, Kiya and kitten, spottedfire, mama tad, pokemon parodies, eevee love stories, lps videos, pony stuff, anime amvs, genuinely super cute and inspiring stuff even if it got a little gory or raunchy at times admittedly ^^;

I drew copies of these art styles on my dad's iPad (sadly lost) and made my first "oc"- magic the cat. toyhou.se/17320787.magic-star
I made more ocs too, but i can't find them or remember names besides "blue the cat"

over the years, starting 2017 and going to 2020 as the height I ended up getting mildly popular as "sparklefur", with around 4000 followers over twitter and instagram. but...you guessed it. I ended up deleting my big accounts out of stress. Because it messed with my ART.

Now I am more secluded as the furry community has many little pockets and i am drawing a lot and keeping close to my friends.

I guess I can say that i feel like I was destined to draw cute furries from the very beginning..

hmmmmm….. 

for me, it didn’t start with cute or silly. it was SERIOUS! i was drawing COOL and BADASS animals…. until a few years later, around the age of ten or eleven, when I became immersed in scenedog culture. 

Oh! Good point cuz I forgot to mention pokemon in my post also... I really loved pokemon and would draw the more animal-esque ones a lot... for a while I was super into making pokemon OCs! ^w^

I started drawing furries as I knew them around 2022-ish, spring time! It started out of pure spite because I had a falling out with a friend who happened to be a furry and vowed to get better at their own game then them. [we r cool now lol, we talk on the regular and r currently doing an art trade :3] but anyways I started out drawing griffins, because that was kinda their thing, tried cats n dogs, but my fav has been dragons and lizards! tbh, I've probably been a furry for a lot longer than I've labeled myself furry, as I've always loved pokemon , dragons, talking wolves and anthro non human aliens! That was just the time that I found an actual community for the stuff I was into! I was always recommended wings of fire by friends and family but only read it around 2021 or 2022- my real childhood furry book series was guardians of gahoole :]

Eevee party definitely had a big influence on me. I know the original came out in 2004, I think I might have seen it in 2006 or even earlier!!