Lord of the Rings Lord of the Rings Fan Art
How fan fine art can become you lot paid
Creating fan art is a popular style for artists to show their appreciation for a subject they love. You only have to glance at sites like DeviantArt or ArtStation to run across enough of inspiring tributes to pop culture icons. Reimagining famous characters is more than just a proficient way to keep your creative skills sharp, though. It tin can besides requite your portfolio the leg up it needs to catch attention in your chosen manufacture.
I of the main benefits of your fan art being noticed by a studio or another big client, besides the reassuring confirmation that what you lot're creating is worth your time, is the prospect of beingness paid a handsome sum for your piece of work.
This besides flies in the face of the idea that fan art is somehow of less value than other genres – those hours hauled upward in your studio working on Game of Thrones portraits won't exist seen every bit such a waste when the show'south producers commission y'all to create art for the premiere of the next series.
Here we talk to some artists who have forged careers from their fan art, and option up some tips for how to describe art that will pull in commissions.
Principal illustration: Fellipe Martins
Netflix commissions
Bannon Rudis found Netflix knocking on his door to create promotional art for the 2d serial of Stranger Things afterward some fan art he posted on Twitter was shared by David Harbour, who plays police chief Jim Hopper in the evidence.
"It kinda snowballed from that point and popped up on a bunch of unlike sites," says Rudis. "Netflix's advert partners got concord of me via Twitter well-nigh a twelvemonth later." Rudis was one of 8 artists picked to correspond an episode from the original series as function of an Instagram marketing campaign. He was lucky enough to be landed with episode six: The Monster.
"I decided to make 8-scrap animation shorts for them that looked like a potential real Stranger Things game, since all the characters and backgrounds were made like bodily game assets," explains Rudis. "There were three shorts in full and a couple of title cards."
Comic book covers
While Rudis had to wait a while for Netflix to get in touch on, Fellipe Martins had a much quicker turnaround when he posted his tribute to Hazard Time'due south Marceline on Tumblr. "One day later afterward I posted information technology, [the show'south creator] Pendleton Ward shared it on his Cartoon Tumblr."
Martins is no stranger to his fan art doing the rounds. His first piece of digital painting back in higher was a slice of Super Mario fan art that concluded upwards being featured on the likes of Kotaku. "The fan art piled upwards with Links and Megamans, until I got my first job as a concept artist in 2007."
Jumping on the success of his Marceline illustration, Martins rapidly got in contact with the editors from Boom! Studios, who are responsible for all the Cartoon Network licensed comics, including Run a risk Time.
"They saw the fan art, saw my portfolio at the fourth dimension and I was offered to illustrate a few Adventure Fourth dimension comic book covers, then Regular Evidence covers, then Steven Universe covers," says Martins. "Eventually I illustrated my own Astonishing World of Gumball comic book story. I believe I have a Bee & Puppycat script laying around here somewhere, too."
Disney posters
One of the about exciting parts nearly putting fan art out there is watching it grow and attract an audition. This happened to Claire Hummel when she started posting her historical Disney princess series online back in early on 2011.
"I posted Belle in a 1770s version of her gold ball gown to all the usual venues (DeviantArt and Tumblr were probably my biggest communities at the fourth dimension), and it immediately took off in a way I hadn't seen earlier," she explains. "As a result I expanded it into a series, and by the end of 2011 I had churned out about ten princess in their respective historical periods."
And then in May of 2012, Hummel got an electronic mail from Irrational Games studio out of the blue, asking if she'd be interested in doing grapheme designs for BioShock Infinite. "They cited the historical princesses when we initially talked over the phone, proverb that they specifically wanted to bring a more than historical eye to the characters," says Hummel.
"I was a huge fan of the original BioShock, my boss at Xbox at the time gave me the get alee to have on the freelance, and then I said yes!"
In that location might have been a clear path between Hummel's princess series and landing work on BioShock Infinite, but for Dan Mumford it hasn't been quite and so clear cutting. Instead, it was exhibiting his fine art in various group gallery shows that led to new projects and calls from clients who saw the piece of work.
His trajectory has never quite been a straight line, and he's become used to waiting months betwixt projects – simply his technique did win large eventually. "My work with Gallery1988 led to me creating iv posters for Disney and the release of Star Wars Seven: The Force Awakens," he recalls.
"This has been the example with quite a few projects. Getting involved with big grouping shows at the more prominent pop culture galleries is a great style to go your work noticed. A lot of people are paying attention to those lineups and the piece of work that gets created."
Back up fan art with substance
While fan art can be a useful hook to grab people's attending, Hummel is keen to point out that what really makes artists stand out from the crowd is having their ain distinctive creative flair. "I call up it's pretty rare that employers are looking for people to depict what they already take," she reasons.
"Fan art is a claw that tin can get the attention of employers, aye, but yous still have to take a lot of substance to back information technology upwardly," she adds. "Part of that can be the content in the pieces themselves – in my example with the princesses and Irrational, that was appealing costume design and extensive enquiry into historical way – only I nevertheless had a portfolio and resume across that series to support my example."
Martins agrees that while his Marceline fan art gave his freelance career the sparkle that it needed to lift off, without a strong portfolio to back it up, the art would but be a viral image.
"Y'all demand a potent portfolio – and that's it," he says. "Fan art drives the attention of a broader audience, which means that creators might see it likewise. When luck knocks on your door – and information technology will – make sure you are fix. You can only exist sure with a strong portfolio to make that first contact. You lot too demand to practise to keep upwards with the demands. If you are serious nigh it, be ready."
If yous desire to get noticed, honestly, do what is popular
Bannon Rudis
And so, if yous've got a killer portfolio that just needs to get seen, a juicy piece of fan fine art, shared smartly, can attract a lot of eyeballs. But how practice artists fix their fan art apart from the dissonance on social media?
"If y'all want to get noticed, honestly, practice what is popular," says Rudis. "Expect up popular hashtags to see if anything in that superlative ten that's trending is something you dear. If so, hop on that train and go to drawing."
Drawing for the likes and retweets is all well and good, but Hummel warns against artists trying to make their intermission by sharing fan art via social media specifically. "A watched pot never boils and all that – so a watched fan art tweet never gets retweets, I guess.
"I do, however, think that challenging yourself with how you lot arroyo fan art is a swell way to make the process more satisfying, and to make the resulting art more unique and compelling. It's a win/win!"
Draw what excites y'all
Mumford falls somewhere between Rudis and Hummel. "There are many great ways to become your artwork out there, but creating fan artwork for something popular is certainly going to get the attending of people, and if that leads to people seeing more personal work then that'south fantastic," he says.
"At the end of the day, creating good artwork and putting it out there will go you noticed."
It seems that the reputation of fan art has improved over recent years, with studios keeping their eyes peeled for interpretations with a fresh twist. Martins puts this downward to brands such as Blizzard wanting to develop strong communities around their products.
"They encourage fan artists and cosplayers to participate, even hiring them from time to time," he explains. "In any case, a good art piece is always a good art slice, be it original or fan art.
"From a personal point of view, do what your eye desires," he adds. "There should be no barriers to what you lot want to create."
This article was originally published in 2017.
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Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/features/how-fan-art-can-get-you-paid
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