What are your thoughts on including fanart in your portfolio while applying to studios? I'm currently working on my portfolio and have a lot of fanart pieces I'm proud of but I'm worried about the etiquette of including it.
So I wrote a whole thread about this on twitter, actually! I’ll recount it here:
“so to clarify: #fanartgotmepaid doesn’t mean “fanart guarantees you a job,” nor does it mean “you can’t get a job without fanart.” #fanartgotmepaid just means that fanart isn’t always a Scarlet Letter that immediately colors a potential employer’s opinion of you.
I like to think that the personal art you do can be roughly broken down into three motivations: Conception, Self-Improvement, and Enjoyment (take this with a grain of salt! there are other motivations – commercial, vindictive, goofabouts – I’m just focusing on the heavy hitters):
Conception, meaning “I have a specific creative vision I need to commit to paper.” Concept, idea, composition, style, what have you.
Self-Improvement, meaning “I want to better myself by practicing or taking on a challenge.” Trying that new brush, studying folds, etc.
And finally Enjoyment, meaning “I physically/emotionally enjoy the process of making art, and choose to do it because it’s fun/therapeutic.”
Art fulfills each of these to varying degrees; sometimes a piece can be all three at once, but it doesn’t have to. That’s up to the artist. Fanart will almost always include some degree of Enjoyment. We make fanart because we love a thing, because it provides a familiar framework. For example, here are some pieces of fanart I’ve done that are PURELY for Enjoyment:
…These aren’t going to win me any awards, they aren’t going to get me any jobs! But they’re good, they’re fun, and I’m glad I did them (and not to mention, any art is better than no art! Like playing a cover of a song, drawing fanart is still building artistic muscle memory).
NOW, let’s talk about fanart that gets you hired. Compared to the above, what is it about some fanart that gets the attention of employers? Generally, employers are hiring you for what YOU bring to the table. If fanart is the hook, your particular vision is what reels them in. No one ever got a job just because they drew a Sailor Moon that one time. You get jobs because you treat fanart as a tool in your toolbox. Are you redesigning characters? Interpreting them through a compelling stylistic lens? Rendering them in a fresh way? That’s your vision.
So here are some examples of my fanart that HAS gotten the attention of employers, with some rough notes on why I think they stand out:
The reason I was hired for Bioshock wasn’t because of Disney princesses: I was hired because of my eye for historical costume design. You aren’t hired for fanart, you aren’t hired for the hook: You’re hired for your vision. You’re hired for what keeps them interested.
If you want to draw fanart purely for Enjoyment, that is completely rad and fine! Appreciating an IP by way of creation is pretty amazing. And if you want to use fanart to pursue a professional career, find a way to balance that Enjoyment with Conception and Self-Improvement!
Long story short: do fanart or don’t, live your bliss, and maybe analyze your motivations for making art once every blue moon. And for the love of god, maybe don’t make blanket statements condemning entire swaths of professional and amateur artists? Just spitballin’.
