Thoughts on Fanart

Throughout highschool and college, I drew a lot of fanart. After graduating, I dove deep into my own stories and exploration of my style, and just kind of... stopped. This was sort of on purpose--I didn't want my style and reputation to be entirely built on other peoples IPs, and I needed to figure out what I liked to do on my own. I think it was the right decision. But during that time of exploring my own stories and style, I forgot how much I had loved making fanart.

During the pandemic, I found myself drawing fanart again. This was prompted by a few things--I got an Ipad pro with procreate, which makde playing and sketching digitally much easier. I got around to watching The Mandalorian, which took me from liking Star Wars a normal amount to liking it... more than that. (I'm.... a Star Wars fan now? How did I get here? Why is this happening to me??) The final book of the series I was obsessed with through college, the one I've made the most fanart for, was released--THAT was the clincher. My previous post has the result of that project.

Here are a few of my recent fanart pieces:

So, nobody is surprised that I LOVE making fanart. Its less stressful than doing my own "work" projects because much of the exploration is already done, I just.... draw. Which is one of the easiest and most enjoyable parts of the creative process, to me.

I love exploring stories I love through visuals. I like connecting with other people who like these stories. I also believe that people who connect with me through fanart might hopefully also like the stories I create myself, because I'm creating work that explores similar themes and characters.

I think I'll soon be making less fanart as I dive deeper into finishing other projects and the "novelty" of it wears off, but I hope I don't go so long without doing any again, because... I love it.