The werewolf often appears in art as a representation of inner turmoil – animal ferocity channeled into a fight-or-flight response to an attacker metaphorical or physical. Howlitzer‘s werewolves capture this struggle without relying on the extremes of cartoonish horror or cringing animal fear. His werewolves, with their boxy muzzles, spiked pelts and black claws, are clearly deadly creatures, but as with this week’s feature, the practically-titled “2018.5“, that mortal danger is at a simmer. Preoccupied by some unknowable ennui, his werewolves seethe, always on the precipice of lashing out, seemingly struggling to maintain control, or perhaps a coherent shape.
Howlitzer’s werewolves are never happy. At best, they’re contemplative, perhaps self-soothing with a bloody snack, and at worst they’re drowning in (or perhaps coalescing from) grey goo, or externalizing their divided mind with overlapping Cerberus-style heads. Whenever I see a Howlitzer werewolf, I feel like my headphones have gone silent and I’m two seconds from unmuting them with the volume accidentally cranked to ear-splitting maximum. That’s a kind of danger I like.
You can find more of Howlitzer’s work on FurAffinity, Weasyl and DeviantArt. If you’re a werewolf fan on Twitter, his account there is a mandatory follow – he’s almost singlehandedly responsible for the “werewolf shitposting” phenomenon that makes that terrible web site bearable.