Fan Art

1967art formatclassic

Fan Art is artwork created by fans depicting characters or worlds from movies, TV shows, books, games, and other media, made without involvement from the original creators. The modern practice took shape in the 1960s and 70s around Star Trek and Star Wars fandoms and later exploded online after deviantART opened it up to a global audience.

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Overview

Fan Art covers any visual artwork based on an existing media property that was made by someone other than the original creator3. It spans traditional drawings, digital paintings, comics, cosplay reference sheets, and sculpture, and shows up wherever a fandom gathers4. Common formats include portraits of characters in new outfits, crossovers between franchises, scenes that never happened in canon, and "genderbend" or race-swap reinterpretations of entire ensemble casts2.

The style ranges from careful photorealism to loose sketches. Popular subjects tend to generate huge output around release windows, with artists imagining what characters will look like based on early trailers or announcements before official material even drops1.

How It Spread

Through the 2000s and 2010s, deviantART became the default home for fan illustrations, hosting galleries for essentially every major franchise4. Tumblr later picked up much of the traffic, especially for genderswap and racebent art. One popular Avengers series recast the team with all-female actors including Helena Bonham Carter as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Captain America, and Katee Sackhoff as Thor2.

Fandoms often generate art well ahead of official releases. Artists began drawing the Disney film Moana in 2013, years before the movie was set to hit theaters, based only on early production news about its Polynesian protagonist1. When the Pokemon Espurr surfaced for X and Y in May 2013, deviantART artists rapidly posted their guesses at the design after 4chan's /vp/ board spotted the leak67.

Reaction to canon events drives constant output too. Big episode drops, movie trailers, and character deaths tend to fill platforms with new work within hours, as artists respond to plot twists in real time8.

How to Use This Meme

Making Fan Art typically starts with picking a subject, a character, ship, scene, or crossover concept, and choosing a medium: digital painting in Procreate or Clip Studio, ink sketches, or 3D models. Artists commonly credit the original property in the caption and tag the fandom for discoverability4. Common conventions include "AU" (alternate universe) tags, "genderbend" for gender-swapped versions, and specific ship names for romantic pairings2.

Frequently Asked Questions

Fan Art

1967art formatclassic

Fan Art is artwork created by fans depicting characters or worlds from movies, TV shows, books, games, and other media, made without involvement from the original creators. The modern practice took shape in the 1960s and 70s around Star Trek and Star Wars fandoms and later exploded online after deviantART opened it up to a global audience.

fan art memes fandom hype memes deviantart memes character design memes redraw challenge memes

Overview

Fan Art covers any visual artwork based on an existing media property that was made by someone other than the original creator3. It spans traditional drawings, digital paintings, comics, cosplay reference sheets, and sculpture, and shows up wherever a fandom gathers4. Common formats include portraits of characters in new outfits, crossovers between franchises, scenes that never happened in canon, and "genderbend" or race-swap reinterpretations of entire ensemble casts2.

The style ranges from careful photorealism to loose sketches. Popular subjects tend to generate huge output around release windows, with artists imagining what characters will look like based on early trailers or announcements before official material even drops1.

How It Spread

Through the 2000s and 2010s, deviantART became the default home for fan illustrations, hosting galleries for essentially every major franchise4. Tumblr later picked up much of the traffic, especially for genderswap and racebent art. One popular Avengers series recast the team with all-female actors including Helena Bonham Carter as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Captain America, and Katee Sackhoff as Thor2.

Fandoms often generate art well ahead of official releases. Artists began drawing the Disney film Moana in 2013, years before the movie was set to hit theaters, based only on early production news about its Polynesian protagonist1. When the Pokemon Espurr surfaced for X and Y in May 2013, deviantART artists rapidly posted their guesses at the design after 4chan's /vp/ board spotted the leak67.

Reaction to canon events drives constant output too. Big episode drops, movie trailers, and character deaths tend to fill platforms with new work within hours, as artists respond to plot twists in real time8.

How to Use This Meme

Making Fan Art typically starts with picking a subject, a character, ship, scene, or crossover concept, and choosing a medium: digital painting in Procreate or Clip Studio, ink sketches, or 3D models. Artists commonly credit the original property in the caption and tag the fandom for discoverability4. Common conventions include "AU" (alternate universe) tags, "genderbend" for gender-swapped versions, and specific ship names for romantic pairings2.

Frequently Asked Questions