Fanart

Previously, a fanartist was anyone who drew for a genre because they were a fan of the genre rather than a professional employed to create art for the genre. In the earlier fandom years, artists like Wendy (Fletcher) Pini who produced amateur original fantasy art for fanzines would be deemed a "fanartist" because they produced art for a genre they were fans of. While a fanartist could make fanart for any genre, generally the most common were the science fiction and fantasy genres.
However, in modern usage, the word "fanart" means any amateur art for a specific TV show, movie, book, or other media event not owned or created by the artist. Original genre art is generally no longer considered "fanart."
Technically, the term "fanart" encompasses art in every medium just as the word "art" does, including but not limited to drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, photo manipulation, videos, crafts, textiles, metal smithing, and fashion. Within these broad media types, fanart has also created types of art almost specific to itself, such as icons.
Colloquially, fanart most commonly refers to the art for a canon that is drawn or painted either traditionally or digitally. However, colloquial use can also depends on the fandom. For example, in a fandom where photo manipulation is the dominant form of art, "fanart" for the fandom often implies "photo manipulation," not traditional art. Some fandoms refuse to consider icons or banners as "fanart."
== History of Fanart ==
In the USA and other Western countries, fanart in the modern sense of the word dates to at least the 60s and 70s, if not earlier. It was especially prevalent in the Star Trek and Star Wars fandoms. Other TV shows, such as Starsky & Hutch, The Professionals, Beauty and the Beast, and other 80s and early 90s TV series (and some movies) had a noticeable fanart presence. Fanart was also created for highly popular books like The Lord of the Rings.
Fanart was part of zines, traded on its own, auctioned at conventions, or sold through the mail. In zine fandom, fanart was often used as cover illustrations for fanzines and as story illustrations.
When media fandom moved online, it was mostly fanfiction that developed an online presence. The split between fanart and fanfiction that occurred when western, live-action media fandoms, moved to the net gave some fans, who first encountered these fandoms online, the impression that in the English-speaking world fanart lagged behind fanfiction in general, although it was only true for online media fandom where fanart was not as prevalent as fanfiction.
In contrast, many Asian countries, notably Japan, had a highly visible fanart culture, most notably in the form of small fan comics called doujinshi. Anime series of the 80s and 90s that had a considerable doujinshi following in Japan included Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Fushigi Yuugi, and others. Doujinshi was also produced for western television shows such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and The A-Team. Often the characters were drawn in a more "Traditional" manga style and there was little attempt made toward the more portrait realism seen in western fanart for these series.
In the early and mid 90's Japanese animation increased in popularity in the USA and fanart began to be created for these shows. These fandoms did not have an expectation of a 'realistic' portrayal of characters, which may help explain why fanart began to be not only drawn more often, but drawn by younger fandom members, especially teens and pre-teens. This is not to say the teenagers had not previously drawn fanart, but there was a noticeable increase in fanartist numbers in this age bracket.
The first time anime fandom and western media fandom met was in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which was the fandom that swallowed all of (media slash) fandom before Harry Potter became big, and The Phantom Menace fanart documents this meeting of different styles and traditions. With the rise of Harry Potter fandom and fanartists moving from the anime and Harry Potter fandoms into other fandoms, fanart became increasingly visible again in both older and newer TV, movie, and book fandoms. Giving these "live action" characters a more 'cartoon' look became more accepted among fans.
Currently, fanart is a highly visible and popular part of many fandoms across the genres. It is still most noticeable in anime and Harry Potter fandoms. However, it is also seen in a diverse range of fandoms including Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural, Merlin, Marvel comics, and other popular TV series, books, comics, and movies.
Recently, newer online posting formats such as Big Bangs and Reverse Bangs (akin to Big Bangs but with the artwork created first and inspiring the fic) show a return to the old zine tradition of collaboration between artists and writers.
==Often Not Titled==
Fanart, unlike fan fiction, is often not given titles. This can make it hard for fans to discuss specific works, as they had no common frame of reference. 
Sometimes fans gave informal titles of their own to fanart made by others, and in some cases these fan titles were later used by the fandom or the artists themselves to refer to the named piece. 
From a 1991 discussion: 
From a fan in 2000 who struggled in a review of art by GOS in First Time #50: 
From a fan in 2000: 
==Types of Fanart==
===Drawings and Paintings===
Fanart that has been drawn or painted is broken down further into two groups. Traditional art, meaning the art was primarily drawn or painted with material such as paint, markers, color pencil or other physical media, and digital art, meaning the art was primarily created using one of the many computer art programs such as Open Canvas, Photoshop or Painter. 3D rendering programs can also be used to create fanart, in the past most often technical fanart, such as spaceship designsWOLF 359, an archive and resource for SF 3D fanart, last updated 1997, accessed 21 Feb 2010 but modern 3D art has technology has fewer limitations, even on personal computers. (See also machinima.)
This is the oldest form of fanart, pre-dating the modern use of the word, and stretching back to at least the fanzine and fan publications of the 1930's. Initially most fanart of this type was black and white due to the limitations of publishing fan publications, but with the advent of cheaper color printing methods and cheaper distribution methods, notably the internet, color illustrations and paintings are now seen more often than black and white illustrations.
Fanart of this type is most often illustrative. So the most visible influences are illustration traditions and styles rather than from fine art, and fanart only relatively rarely branches into art styles such as abstract art,Gnatkip. The Dragon, a HP fanart inspired by Pablo Picasso's Le Taureau series, created for the HP Fringeart imitation challenge. (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCite. especially if it is non-representational abstraction,Gnatkip. Dementoid, an abstract Harry Potter fanart in the style of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, created for the HP Fringeart imitation challenge. (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCite. surrealism,Example for a surrealist Snape/Harry piece by Froggie NSFW. WebCite, originally accessed 12 Dec 2009. impressionism,Gnatkip. Sunday Afternoon on the Grounds of Hogwarts School, example for a pointillist Harry Potter fanart in the style of Seurat, created for the HP Fringeart imitation challenge. (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCite. or some other modern art styles. However, modern graphic art and design are an influence more often, for example in minimalist fanart poster and cover design.minimalist TV series posters (accessed 21 Feb 2010)minimalist Star Wars posters (accessed 21 Feb 2010)tv/movie book cover designs(accessed 21 Feb 2010). WebCite.
Cartoon drawings or manga-like drawings is another common form of illustration and in recent years, cartoon drawings has become more accepted in previously live-action media fandoms, such as those relating to TV shows like Star Trek. Chibi art and icons are another type of cartoon or manga related fanart, and have become quite common even in Western media fandoms. In most fandoms character portraits and illustrations of scenes with characters are more common than still lifes or landscapes.
Generally, traditional and digital drawings and paintings tend to dominate the various anime and manga fandoms as well as novel-based fandoms, most notably Harry Potter.
===Photography===
Photography is not commonly used as fanart in and of itself. In order to be fanart, the photograph is usually related to either Photomanipulation or fandom-specific costumes and is therefore more a part of those categories than fanart media in its own right. However, many fanartists find photographs and photography to be a valuable art tool.
===Photo Manipulations===
Photo manipulation refers to any image that has been digitally manipulated (through combining images, warping, recoloring, repositioning, resizing, etc.) in order to achieve the artist's desired effect in a new end product. The fandom term for this art is usually photomanips or simply manips. This artistic medium also includes icons (small images digitally manipulated and used for blogs such as Livejournal), banners (often seen as decorations for blogs and other online spaces), and computer wallpapers. Icons and banners tend to be almost exclusive to the arena of fanart, while wallpapers may still be either original- or fanart-based.
As with painting and drawing, photo manipulation fanart tends to be more illustrative than abstract, with emphases put on creating realistic blends of diverse photo elements.
This is a newer form of fanart that has become more prevalent with the availability of computer graphics programs that allow artists to manipulate photos in many ways; such as cutting out characters from the background of one image and adding them to another, changing light and color of certain image elements, resizing entire areas, or creating an entirely new scene with elements extracted from a multitude of other images. Because the beginning manipper tends to start with easy-to-learn cut and paste techniques, their fanart may be easily recognized as manipulations, and can be unintentionally comical or even grotesque. This has led to a backlash against this fanart media from some fanart circles, similar in nature to the backlash against photography that occurred in artistic circles. Detractors often point to the simple techniques used by beginning manippers as evidence that manips are "simply cut-and-paste collages" or "simple recolorings of pre-existing photos" and, therefore, should not be considered art.
Whether manips, icons, wallpapers, or graphics should be considered "fanart" continues to be debated among fans.Glockgal. The WHAT IS FANART Poll. Posted 28 May 2007. (Accessed 3 October 2008). WebCiteBeet. Fan art and Manipping. Posted 4 June 2007. (Accessed 3 October 2008). WebCite. Another topic of debate is the whether manips cross a line into RPF and RPS. One fan in 2001 writes: "I have... seen some really explicit shots where the very recognisable actors' heads have been superimposed on bodies in very, very explicit poses. This really is beginning to worry me, as it seems an extension of actor slash. Somehow artwork never seems so bad, as it is obviously a work of imagination and creation... The dividing line seemed so much clearer. What do others think, especially given that the photo manipulations could be picked up by outsiders? Is it fair to the actors?" from Discovered in a Letterbox #18
At this time, there is no common consensus and some art archives, notably the Harry Potter Archive Artistic Alley allow fanart of this type to be posted. On the other hand, the art archive deviantArt, for copyright reasons, has taken an official stance against such art, unless it can be proven that there is no copyright conflict.
Previously, photo manipulation was the prevalent art form in online movie and TV Show fandoms,Media fandom has a long history of art shows at conventions that pre-dates the internet. though drawing, painting, and multimedia are starting to be shared online as well.
For more, see Manip.
===3D Art===
"3D" (or Three Dimensional) Art is a rarity in fandom. While dioramas do exist, combining drawn fan art with craft-style methods is even rarer. An exception is Laura Quiles "Star Wars:30 Years" art piece that offers three different views of Star Wars characters depending on where the viewer is positioned. The "Light Side" of the Force, the "Dark Side" of the Force and the combined straight on view. It won multiple awards at the 2007 MediaWest art show, including 'Best In Show,' 'Best SF,' and 'Best 3D."
File:30years3Dsmall laura quiles.jpg|Laura Quiles 3D art piece: "Star Wars: 30 Years." Full on view. Winner of multiple Art Show Awards at MediaWest 2007
File:30years3DLightSidesmall quiles.jpg|3D art piece: "Star Wars: 30 Years." Side view: Light side of the Force.
File:30years3DDarkSidesmall lauraquiles.jpg|3D art piece: "Star Wars: 30 Years." Side view: Dark side of the Force.
===Crafts, Textiles, and Metal Smithing===
Fannish crafts are very diverse: They can be dioramas recreating canon (or fanfic) scenes,Laurelwood. A Quiet Evening at Home, a diorama showing Snape and Wormtail at Spinner's End. (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCites: artist notes and Diorama.Gnatkip. HP Art: Diorama: Classroom Eleven, a diorama of Firenze's Divination classroom (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCite.Tofty. Snape diorama (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCite. model building, sculptureslymanalpha. various NSFW Star Trek sculptures in progress and dolls of characters, especially if there is no official merchandise such as in Calvin and Hobbes fandom,Several Calvin and Hobbes sculptures (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCite. mobiles,Astridv. Stargate Atlantis: The Mobile. (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCite. even silicone sextoys,Naked Bee. Batman's Utility Belt. (accessed 20 Feb 2010). WebCites: Journal post and Gallery and of course all kinds of textile arts, such as cross-stitchDalek Propaganda by Shae (accessed 1 June 2010). WebCite. and fannish knitting.
File:tholianwebbag.jpg|a Tholian Web handbag
File:Stargateneedlecraft.jpg|An 10" x 8" cross stitched representation of a small section of the Atlantis Gate Room main window from a pattern designed by the stitcher
File:Escapade 2011 lferion-and-nakedbee.jpg|Naked Bee's Due South Triptych iconography, Escapade 2011 Art show
File:Team free will cutout by ashleywolf.jpg|Paper cut outs by AshleyWolf featuring Team Free Will from the TV show Supernatural
===Sculpture===
Sculpture is not a very common fannish activity. Still, there are a few examples of this form of art.
See some Ron Perlman busts.
File:Firefly crew by trev solo-d4kype0.jpg|Firefly crew sculptures by TrevorGrove, 2009-2012. The artist wrote that they took 3 years to create, but it was worth the effort: "You can't take the sky from me....gorramit!" Firefly Crew Sculptures on TervorGrove's DeviantArt page. accessed June 3, 2012.
File:Vic.jpg|"Sergeant Saunders" from Combat!, artist is Michael Keropian See other sculpture by Keropian here.
File:Sculpture.jpg|from the 1982 MediaWest program book, some busts for sale
File:Spockhead.jpg|Allistair Gourlay is the artist; this bust of Spock won a prize in 1985 at Sol III
File:Spocksculpturefront.jpg|"Your Answer Lies Elsewhere"; Front of the stoneware Spock sculpture created by Vida Hull for the 1981 August Party art show
File:Spocksculptureback.jpg|"Your Answer Lies Elsewhere"; Reverse of the stoneware Spock sculpture created by Vida Hull for the 1981 August Party art show
===ASCII Fanworks===
:Main article: ASCII Art.
===Typewriter Art===
See more at Typewriter Art.
 File:monthlytrek1art.jpg| An inside graphic art in The Monthly Trek #1 (January 1968) by Craig Highberger, made with a typewriter, manipulating the typewriter roller and relentlessly pecking the keys, no margin for error -- "Would you believe that if you held this at a distance it will look like Spock. I knew I'd find a use for all those typing lessons in High School."
===Fashion===
Costumes:
* Creating costumes based on TV Shows, movies and cartoons is often termed "Cosplay" among fandom members. This form of fashion fanart tends to be especially prevalent among both anime- and sci-fi fandoms. Usually costumes are made to be worn at fandom specific conventions. Of the various fanart types, this is one of the least controversial when bought and sold. Typically, a studio will issue a Cease and Desist if a person is selling an unauthorized replica that is felt to be too exact.
Everyday clothing:
* Some fans create fashion items to wear such as sweatshirts, vests, sweaters, t-shirts and hats.
===Videos===
There are many different kinds of fan videos.
* Vids are short videos composed of scenes taken from a movie or TV show and set to music. Vidding started in 1975, but really took off as an art form in the early 1980s with the rise of the home VCR. Fan videos were often shown as part of themed conventions; the other way to get vids was to send away in the mail for videocassettes. Vids were made with VCRs through the 1990s and into the 2000s, but recently advances in computer technology have resulted in an explosion of vids. Distribution has gotten easier as well; password-protected download sites have given way to more open modes of file distribution, and video sharing like YouTube and imeem are popular. Vids are less common among book-based fandoms; however, occasionally a fan vid will put fanart to music.
* Anime Music Videos, are similar in format to vids, but evolved as a separate tradition. AMV footage is most often taken from anime or game cut-scenes, but may be constructed with stills or fanart.
* Machinima videos are rendered in real-time by game engines.
* Fan films are videos in which the artist is actually creating footage to tell a story; in certain fandoms, notably the Star Trek ToS fandom, actual fan-made TV episodes have been produced and put online.
* Multimedia art is now becoming popular; examples include credit sequences, trailers,Grrrindhouse, by Danegen animated visual art,Distance, Long by Bingeling and Dogeared, and The Tree by Newkidfan and multimedia-enriched fan fiction (fan fiction that integrates words, pictures, music, and video).Missed the Saturday Dance by Zoetrope
Of all the fanart forms, fan videos, especially the ones composed of video clips set to music, have met with the most resistance from copyright holders. Viacom especially has taken exception to this fanart form, and as a result, streaming sites have taken vids down for violating copyright. However, not all media companies have taken this stance; e.g. the makers of Forever Knight included three vids by Kristin Harris as bonus materials on their Season 3 DVD release.
===Fan comics===
Fan comics have typically been more prevalent in Asia (as doujinshi) than in the USA; however, they are increasing in popularity each year. Typically a fan comic run is a limited run, often with only around 50 issues produced. This is to help avoid copyright conflict with the owner of the material the fan comic is based upon.
In live action fandoms fan comics are not always drawn, but are sometimes photo comics made from rearranged and cropped screencaps combined with text and speech balloons. These are usually published on the web, not as print comics. The same is often true for drawn fan comics in these fandoms, although they can have the same format and layout as print comics.Chrome-Magnon. Artwork by Astrid, story by Shannon Fisher. This X-Files example from the 90's is a 30-page online comic book. (Accessed October 13, 2008). Online comics in live action fandoms often tell their story on a single page and parodies rarely need more than one panel.Example: Stargate SG-1 Cartoons by Leah Rosenthal. (Accessed October 13, 2008). WebCite. Some live action fandoms have produced online comic strips that ran for several years.The Xena fan comic Battle On! by Jeanette Atwood ran from 1997 to 2000 and Little Xena and Little Gabrielle by Lucia Nobrega ran from 1999 to 2006. (Accessed 13 October 2008). WebCite and WebCite.
Counter-intuitively, fan comics are not noticeably more common in comics fandom, with the exception of pornographic het and femslash, produced by and for heterosexual male fans.
===Web Graphics===
Web Graphics such as icons, banners, colorbars, forum signatures, aesthetic edits, wallpapers or gifs are a popular type of fanwork on websites such as LiveJournal, Tumblr and various forums. Some graphics communities on LiveJournal also considered Winamp skins, website layouts and mood themes graphics, highlighting its connection to webdesign. With the ability to create any variety of avatars in various video games, another type of fanart known as virtual cosplay has been developed, where artists dress up their avatars as characters from other fandoms.
==Feedback for Fanart==
Feedback and comments about fanart has always been much scarcer than for fanfiction.
===Pre-Internet===
Before the internet, there were many more comments for fanfiction than for fanart, something that many fanartists found frustrating.
Comments and LoCs about fanart in zines were relatively scarce when compared to the number that discuss fanfiction. Sometimes the accompanying fanart was not even mentioned, or was referred to with a comment such as, "the art was okay," or "this zine had several illos [illustrations]." In 1993, a fan commented: "I... tend to ignore the illustrations and rarely mention them unless they're on the cover." Zine Reviews by Sue C on Lysator dated Mar 24, 1993.
Some LoCs did, however, discuss fanart, and a there were a few zines that specialized in art commentary.
Some reasons for lack of art comments by fans: Lack of widespread access to fanzine fan art also hampered art commentary. While fanzines could be reprinted, they often lost significant details in reprints, which meant only a small handful of fans owned copies of the original print runs. And in some reprints, publishers would omit fan art to save costs.See First Time. Or, the art was not reprinted because they felt it had not received sufficient recognition.
A fan in 1994 commented about lack of access to art: "I think the problem is that artists *don't* make their work available. There is nothing more frustrating than having *once* seen a Suzan Lovett print in an auction, (that I now wish I had), and not being able to buy a print of it. I do not consider *one* person being able to pay possibly hundreds of dollars at an auction as being "available." I am Not prone to copying things that are availible. But I believe that almost everyone will agree that copying out-of-print zines is acceptable after a reasonable attempt has been made to find a used copy. (Well, if you don't agree, then too bad:-) Unfortunately, art is not distributed, or sold, as zines are. Availibility is extremely limited; I assume to justify the high prices at auctions. Thus, if artists will not provide prints of their art, then I'm beginning to think that the notion of an 'art circuit' is not unreasonable. Frustration is a terrible thing. I, and others, are willing to pay for art, within reason. However, except for some prints that Bill Hupe has, the opportunity to buy reasonably priced art has not appeared." from a comment on Virgule-L, quoted anonymously (February 24, 1994) 
While the reasons for this lack of fannish comment vary, one common reason is that fans often remarked they did not know enough about art and/or its vocabulary to make educated and interesting comments. Most fans had some exposure to literary analysis through school book reports; art critique and discussions were not part of the typical school curriculum.
For example, as late as 1999 when fanzines began to decline in numbers, one fanzine publisher (who also happened to be the artist) wrote: "I had little to no feedback on the art from that zine so I'm not putting it into future issues. I think it's just a waste of paper to most folks." From the publisher of Exposure and X-Files zine.
===Post-Internet===
[needs information on different platforms, different venues... see talk page]
Even after more and more fans moved online, their ability to discuss fan art was hampered by artist restrictions. For example, in 1999, members of the MUNCLE mailing list Channel-J wanted to upload a 1983 Suzan Lovett Star Trek art piece so they could discuss how her style changed over the years. The idea was that the art would be low resolution, contain a banner or some other watermark and be limited to members only. Suzan originally liked the idea, but later withdrew her support and the list was never able to muster enough enthusiasm to mount further fan art discussions.Morgan Dawn's personal recollections, accessed Oct 18, 2015.
In 2008, a fanartist referred to the "pride and gratitude" she felt "when someone takes a few minutes to tell me they enjoyed one of my photo manipulations. Yes, I prefer a detailed explanation of why the picture appeals to them, that they appreciate the clarity, the color, the way the guys are posed. But not everyone can express their appreciation in such a way -- it is very difficult for me to review art because I don't know why I like it, it, I just know that it makes me feel good inside. So, let me tell you that if all you can say is "Wow!" or that made me feel good," that will be just fine with me." from The K/S Press #139
In 2014, a fan wrote of her pleasure at being able to see the artwork printed in a zine that also contained another fan's comments: 
== Controversy ==
===Selling Fanart===
:See also Purchasing Fanworks.
===Selling for Profit===
Often fanart is seen for sale online and at conventions. Usually this does not cause any problems; however, sometimes fans question as to why fanartists can sell fanart but fanfiction authors cannot sell fanfiction. One fan writes: 
Another fan notes that some ST artists were getting high prices from the sale of their art for fanfic when sold at conventions: 
Another fan writes of what she felt to be a double-standard and how that propelled her to write a zine: 
One fan writes a letter about what she has heard about another zine, Energize!: 
Some fans argue that the reason fanart has more perceived 'value' than fan writing (and therefore is a skill that can be sold) is that many fans do not see themselves as capable of doing fanart: 
Others disagree. In this excerpt from a discussion in early 1993, one fan says we should not confuse respect with the ability to charge money for fanworks:
Whether a fanart sale is accepted within a fandom usually depends on the question if the artist is acting within the bounds of acceptable fan behavior, or violating them. What is deemed "acceptable" can vary from fandom to fandom.An example for a post with a poll about the different opinions and some discussion of these positions in the comments is here: Miriam Heddy. Show Me The Money (a poll). Posted 23 July 2008. (Accessed 3 October 2008), now offline. However, even pro-sale fans were shocked when Suzan Lovett sold her Starsky & Hutch art from the zine Timeless for $3,000 at the Zebracon art auction in 2003.
From a fan's comment in 1999: 
From a fan's comment in 2000: 
The same discussions about different standards for art and fic continue. This fandom secret from 2009 reads 
From a May 2011 discussion in Homestuck fandom when the webcomic's creator, Andrew Hussie, asked fans not to sell fanart without his explicit permission.28.5.2011, ANNOUNCEMENT: REGARDING THE SELLING OF MSPA STUFF by Lexxy, post explaining the new rules with quotes from Andrew, accessed 3.11.2011 and 28.5.2011, No Selling MSPA Stuff Without Andrew’s Permission clarification and opinion on Lexxy's tumblr, accessed 3.11.2011
Some speculations about fanart, profit, and visibility from 2015: 
In 2016, when a writer added a "tipping jar" next to a story she posted to AO3, one anonymous commentator wrote:
This prompted another anonymous fan to explain: 
In 2022 one fan noted: 
Others have argued that while fanfiction is still seen as "weird" or "juvenile", fan art has accrued a certain legitimacy as fandom becomes more mainstream:
Others point out that fanart has the potential to appeal to a wider audience, and thereby becomes more 'marketable" in some eyes:
Scarcity may also play a role: many know how to write vs those who know how to draw:
===The Sale Venue===
In 2002, a fandom artist, Suzan Lovett, voiced her concerns about her art being available on eBay:
===Artistic Controversy===
In the artistic community, fanart is often not seen as a legitimate form of artistic expression. This has led some fanartists to feel resentful of the art world.
The argument against fanart made by some artists, as well as from some other fans, is that the artwork is derivative and not original. Therefore, it does not show as much individuality and artist sensibilities as original artwork would.
The counter claim by fanartists is that fanart often contains an original expression and original idea by the artist even if the specific subject matter is not original and is no more derivative than, for example, artwork based on the Bible, on mythology, or historical events and people. They claim the negative bias is based more on the subject of their art than any artistic principles.
A 2003 comment by a fan: 
Some fan artists, at least in the past, felt that their art was treated in an inferior manner compared to fiction by zine eds, and as a result, also by fans. There is an essay titled "The Starving Artist Syndrome" by an uncredited author in Spectrum #33 (1977):
Another fan sees an opposite problem, that of artists being treated "better" than writers due to the fact that their work is rarely "edited":
This comment is by an editor and fan artist: 
===Legal Controversy===
Fanart is not often the subject of legal controversy; however, it can be considered a form of copyright infringement, especially when sold. A copyright owner will often overlook small, one-time shows such as conventions. However, in 2006, Otakon attempted to ban fanart from the Artist Alley,. See also Copyright Law for Dummies (and anime con attendees) dated Sept 15, 2005; (reference link). which was the first major convention move against the selling of fanart.
Another highly visible incident of a company moving against a fanartist involved a Japanese doujinshi artist whose adult Pokémon doujinshi prompted Nintendo to take legal action against her.Regulating the Fringe: Waisetsu (Obscenity) Rules Doujinshi? (now offline) 
Warner Brothers also DMCA'd a lot of Tolkien-inspired fanart in 2019,Kittrose on Twitter including fanart that wasn't being sold and/or wasn't depicting the characters as they appear in WB's movies. Some people suspected it may be in preparation for the new TV show set in Middle Earth.Discussion on FFA
Such legal cases are still the exception rather than the rule; however, they serve as a reminder that the fanart is not necessarily the legal property of the fanartist and that copyright law and fair use and transformative defenses vary from country to country.
Still, more policing of fanart tends to be done by the fandom itself than by the property owners themselves.
===Sharing Fan Art===
:See Sharing Fanart.
In the days before digital fan art, sharing of fan art was limited to photocopies and the occasional print run. The steep costs of reproduction and low production quality available meant that the redistribution of fan art, both authorized and unauthorized, was highly restricted. To see fan art you either had to buy the zine, borrow a copy of the zine, or spend money to attend a convention where the art was displayed.
By the mid 2000s, more and more fan art, both scanned and born-digital, was appearing on fan websites. Without the fanzine publisher or convention art show as an intermediary, fan artists could, for the first time, communicate directly with their fan audience and get feedback about their fan art. However, easier access to fan art meant that there were no longer technological restrictions against sharing fanart. Instead, fannish norms in media fandom dictated that reposting or sharing fan art without permission was Not Done. In practice, fans did it anyway. This issue has been hotly debated.
===Art-Friendly Platforms vs Those That Are Not===
In 2016, a fan commented:
==Fanart as Its Own Story==
Sometimes it's the art that tells the story, rather than the other way around:
Another fan writes that art for a story can make all the difference:
==Fanart as Inspiration for Other Fanworks==
===For Fiction===
The editor of Oasis wrote: 
From Flamingo, a Starsky & Hutch fan: 
===For Vids===
===Other===
==Fiction as Inspiration for Fanart, and Vice Versa==
See Big Bang and Reverse Bang.
== Art-Only Challenges ==
Most challenges and gift exchanges provide for both fanfic and fanart, however there are some focussed solely on providing fanart in response to prompts:
* Multifandom Doodle
== Notable Fanart Shows and Auctions==
Most fan conventions will have art shows and auctions. Notable ones include:
* Escapade
* A-kon
* Anime Expo
* DragonCon
* The HPEF Harry Potter conventions
==Meta/Further Reading==
* Art for Yerself, Or: What to Do With It After It's Printed by Jean C (October 1982)
* (January 2005)
* by painless j (July 2005)
* , by sidewinder (August 2005)
* by almostnever/Cesare (August 2005)
* Fanart: A guide to terminology by littlewolfstar (2010)* Communities: Color Outside the Lines, is an essay on fanart by Renay (2014)
* The Rudest Thing that I Have Ever Experienced as an Artist by sockii (June 19, 2015)
* What is Fan Art? by sockii (July 20, 2015)
* - archive link (July 9, 2017)
* (2020)
== Related Links ==
* Yuletart (external link)
* Deviantart (external link)
* Sheezyart (external link)
* Artisticalley (external link)
== References ==
Category:Video
Category:Glossary
Category:Visual Art