Benefits of Fanart, Maybe?

When people hear the term “fanart,” for the most part, I think people associate the image of fanART with fanDOM. Artists who aren’t creative enough to create their own characters and just turn into drooling fanboys/fangirls who write bad fanfic, you know, that type of crowd. But just as not all fans are rabid, not all fanart is useless. In fact, I personally think drawing fanart can help an artist observe things in ways that drawing original characters doesn’t always do as well.

My favorite backup for this point is that drawing fanart can help you discover (and keep in touch with) what aspects of design you favor over others, i.e. how colors interact with certain characters or what style of clothes they wear or something. And other artists have reported that identifying the aspects of design that work well your style will, in turn, help you evolve your style. I think, too, that it’s a pretty big help if you talk about what you like about the character in at least your final rendition of the character if you’re posting your pic online.

I’m speaking from experience. On my Tumblr blog, I occasionally do Dragon Ball fanart, and I learned a lot about my personal sense of aesthetics by drawing my favorite characters. For instance, by drawing Frieza and going into why I like him so much, I realized, “Hey, I like it when characters have stuff framing them.” And now I can incorporate that into my artwork as I so please, and I seriously don’t know if I would have discovered my love of framing any time soon.

Second neat point, though it’s a touchy one: branding. By talking about how much you enjoy Charlie Brown or something, you can also, depending on what your work is, show that what people find in, say, the art of Charlie Brown may also be found in your art. Maybe. It depends on how much DNA you and your favorite stories share, of course. But let’s say for the sake of arguments that they share some. Because there’s a similarity between your work and Charlie Brown, the latter audience is more likely to take a gander at your stuff.

And here’s where it starts to get itchy. It sounds crass and sleazy as if you’re saying, “If I just draw enough Charlie Brown, I’ll get a bazillion followers, and then I’ll be richer than heavy cream.” No, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that your public exploration of something will probably cause at least a few people to give you a double take. And as long as you honestly, really, really do love what fanart you’re doing (it is called FANart, after all), you’d be wise to take advantage of that. If not, be aware of it, at least.

Last but not least, my final topic is also not really a fan favorite. Findability. It’s related to the second topic in that it involves an artist’s audience. By doing fanart of something popular or well-known, you make yourself easier to find. And again, that sounds like a dishonest scheme, but it isn’t if it’s not coming from a dishonest place, at least from where I’m standing. If you’re honestly into a thing that’s really popular, then do it. Draw it. You’ll gain from the experience of exploring what you enjoy, and you may experience more traffic to your site as well. Plus, the traffic might give you critiques, which are invaluable.

To summarize, in my opinion, fanart is useful for discovering the aesthetics you wish to capture or enjoy, and by sharing it, you invite similar thinkers to your site or blog or whatever, which can help you cultivate your brand and your audience.

Frieza Fanart

Thank you. =P