Why is Fanart Important?

So let’s talk fanart. As someone who considers themselves a part of numerous fandom spaces in the time I have been on the internet I have seen and illustrated my fair share of fanart. Over that time I have also been a part of much discourse regarding the legitimacy of fanart in the professional art scene. I have a couple of opinions regarding the topic that I've gathered from being a part of these discussions and by being an artist who does fanart. 

Honestly, I don’t understand how people can look at fanart and not classify it as art. I have honestly been more moved by pieces of fanart that I’ve come across for FREE than I have by professional pieces that I’ve had to pay to see. I feel like when an artist is consumed with the need to draw a character from a piece of media that piece often has more emotion and sway with the audience just because of the background of the fandom. It’s so hard to get those kinds of emotions from your audience without that background information. For example, recently I’ve seen characters from my fandoms drawn with top surgery scars and I feel like that small headcanon detail in a piece of fanart can resonate within that fandom and help people within that community feel seen and represented. You just can’t get that kind of reaction on a large scale from an original character drawing without the attachment that comes with fandom. I’ve seen the argument that fanart isn’t technically “original” but I could make this argument of every rendition of Starry Night I’ve seen across the internet. But even then not everyone is going to draw a character the exact same. Every artist is going to put their spin on it and adjust it to their style. The subject is still recognizable but is tailored to that artist, for example in the Percy Jackson fandom there are pieces done by Viria that are widely considered more canon than official art. And you can tell which pieces are done by them because of the style of the art. 

Since becoming a professional artist a part of me insisted that I have to put aside fanart and work on originals in order to be successful. Now that I’m a year into this I don’t think that is necessarily true. My fanart pieces have arguably garnered me more attention than the original pieces I’ve done. I think that's because fanart appeals to nerd niches and that is where I spend most of my time online is in those spaces. I think I was trying to play into this idea of what professional artists do and don’t do because of the attempts to discredit fan artists I have seen in those spaces. But in the last few years in particular I’ve seen popular artists like @elithiens and @charliebotham on instagram truly succeed in taking advantage of fanart as professional artists. I’ve come to see fanart as a vastly underrated tool for me as a professional artist because I don’t have to grab an audience's attention on my own. I can put my own style on already beloved characters and draw my audience in that way. Plus being in so many different fandoms gives me endless opportunities. Plus it’s just so fun. I don’t have to think about it too hard, I can just fall into thinking about the character and the ideas flow. Fanart genuinely feels effortless because I don’t have to fight for it to come to me. I already have the subject I can focus on stylizing that character in my own way. 

I also genuinely believe that fanart has a huge role in representation within fandoms. Artist have taken beloved characters from problematic authors and shown that the don’t necessarily have to fit in the white heteronormative lens that modern media is put under. For example, I’ve seen beautiful fanart from the Harry Potter fandom that depicts Harry and Hermione as people of color. With the limited descriptions of characters we’re given in certain media we have an opportunity to interpret the characters to show that diversity is so empowering to the people within the fandom. It’s similar with how we provide ourselves with fanon queer representation with our ships as well. As a collective fandom holds a lot of power we can really make or break a piece of media. Just look at what is happening to the CW. They mishandled the widely accepted and desired Dean Winchester/Castiel pairing and have greatly suffered for it. 

All in all, I don’t think the internet would be the same without fandom spaces and fanart within those spaces. I feel it’s an integral tool to provide representation to minority communities in fandoms and gives power to the fans of that piece of media to interpret characters and plot lines as they would have liked to see them go. I also believe that fanart is a legitimate form of art and can lead to loads of professional opportunities within fandom spaces and beyond.