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August 30, 2012
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Replies: 29

What's wrong with original characters?

Forums > Art Related > General
:iconpeytonjune:
~PeytonJune Aug 30, 2012
*Note* I know fanart IS art. It requires skill, not much creativity, but if it looks difficult to draw, shows time, effort, and skill it's art to me.

My question is, why do majority of young artists here primarily draw fanart? Nothing completely original. If it's not a character from some manga I've never heard of it's from a video game, book or television show. When people actually DO create an "original character" it's their own version of a character. Ex, someone from the Avatar Last Airbender world.

I get that people make fanart because they are inspired by it and like the style or whatever. That's cool. I just think it's a waste of talent. And that it will get you no where.

Feel free to disagree, I'm cool with that, art is all about interpretation, but I just want to know if you agree, or don't.
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:iconxenim666:
~XeNiM666 Sep 2, 2012  Hobbyist Traditional Artist
My gallery is full of fan art, so I'm a bit affected.. :XD:

But in my opinion, the reason why new people draw mainly fan art (including me) are:
:bulletred: They feel good about drawing/creating something from a show/book/game that they like
:bulletred: They attract people here who have the same interest
:bulletred: When they draw more fan-art, they somehow improve. When they can see that they're improving, they feel better about themselves and they're motivated to create more.
:bulletred: If they can see that their talent is improving, they can start to draw more things they love and even create something new. Eventually letting them create their own style.

TL;DR: In my opinion, fan-art is a good way to start. :)
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:iconlaughinguy:
~laughinguy Sep 2, 2012  Student Traditional Artist
1. People like the stories they read or watch so much they want to start drawing fanart.
2. You have a more invigorating feeling to draw something impressive on what you like.
3. People notice you more.
4. It's tough coming up with original works or character designs, so fanart's a hobby kind of thing to relax on.
5. Talent is not wasted in drawing fanart since it still demonstrates your level of skill and creativity for people to see. Just because people draw fanart doesn't mean it has absolutely nothing to do with a showcase of drawing experience.
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:iconladyviridis:
*LadyViridis Sep 1, 2012  Professional General Artist
Fanart IS more popular, and that can certainly be motivating for some people. But even established artists may want to do fanart as a tribute to something that they really love and which inspires them.

However, I have to strongly argue against the idea that fanart is a waste of talent or time. First off, NO drawing is ever a waste of your time. Even if it's terrible, you do learn something by doing it. Also, it can actually be more challenging to do fanart, especially if you're attempting to closely copy the style of the original work, even more so if that original style is something very different from your own. I had someone commission me to do a Samurai Jack image once, and imitating that blocky, minimalist style was really difficult!

Finally, doing fanart doesn't mean that you'll never get a job. One of the popular Avatar: the Last Airbender fan artists on deviantart actually ended up working for Nickelodeon doing AtLA comics because she was able to draw the characters very close to the original style. Also, if you ever plan to work for Marvel or DC Comics, pretty much all you will draw is fan art of those characters to build your portfolio. In that case the big companies really DO want to see you take on the established characters, because that's how they know whether you can handle the job if they decide to hire you.

all in all, fan art is popular, it's fun, it's challenging, and sometimes it can even land you a job. Waste of time? I think not.
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:iconalalampone:
*alalampone Sep 1, 2012  Student General Artist
it's natural to want to draw things that you like or inspire you!
I bet as a little kid you drew things from your favorite tv shows or books, but of course then you didn't know you were drawing 'fanart'
I used to have the same views on fanart and it hindered me as an artist
ever since I got out of that 'I'm never drawing fanart ever because it won't get me anywhere' stage I've improved greatly because I'm drawing more and I'm drawing things that make me happy
plus it's gotten me a bigger following and I've started getting paid for some of my work
and I've been inspired enough to start working on an original story on the side
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:iconkimikiwi48:
~kimikiwi48 Sep 1, 2012  Hobbyist General Artist
Haha if only I could draw fan art ;v;
I guess I count as the minority here because pretty much all I draw are my OCs.
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:iconladykuki:
*LadyKuki Sep 1, 2012  Student General Artist
There's absolutely nothing wrong with original characters. You just have to realize that people on this website are mostly young teenagers, which means most of them wouldn't take art too seriously anyway. Not everyone on this website is going to major in art, so if someone wants to do fanart instead of original art, then let them do it!

I do see your point though. I was never really a fan of fan characters, but fan art if done well I would like.

Besides, everyone did fan art in some way back when they didn't take art seriously. Lol. That's where we get our styles and ideas from. :D
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:iconslickback5:
~SlickBack5 Aug 31, 2012  Hobbyist Artist
I have original characters however I manly only draw the Main Character(s)
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:iconmaiaqq:
~MaiaQQ Aug 31, 2012  Hobbyist General Artist
Maybe because they have more references? It would be easier to draw something that you've already seen. Original drawings require that you know what you're doing, and maybe even finding stock images to draw from. :shrug:
I've personally always drawn original art... Except for this one time when I drew fanart. One time only, though.
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:icon2lazy2talk:
~2lazy2talk Aug 31, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Usualy younger artist start out like that.
While growing, they'll start creating on their own....sometimes.
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:icontiffa:
*tiffa Aug 31, 2012  Professional Digital Artist
Hmmm I wonder why my original art gets much more attention than my fan art >__o. Well I don't do a lot of fan art I guess...
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