I’ve been busy, just not working on this blog! I’ve done a number of artworks, which I’ll put in an upcoming post. I’ve also been busy attending online workshops, most notably with the wonderful Russian (now living in Spain) artist Arthur Gain. I encourage any artists to take his workshops, they’re wonderful. Here’s a peek at something I did in his course (link goes to Instagram).
Your kid and fan art
I’ve been recently reminded recently of my youth as a fan artist. So I want to talk about my experiences.
If you are a parent and your kid is interested in art, it’s very likely that they’re doing some sort of fan art. You know, from their favorite shows, movies, anime, whatever. And maybe you’re worried that they’re “wasting their time” or fan art isn’t “serious.” Some parents do worry that if their kid has an aptitude for art, that they are “wasting their talent” by using their abilities to make fan art. I’m here to say that it may not be so.
I started drawing seriously as a young teenager and all I wanted to draw was my favorite actors and actresses and scenes from my favorite movies. I was so obsessed that sometimes I’d do sketches of my favorite characters as I watched them on TV. (I didn’t freeze the frame, just kept on watching and drawing.)
Fan art can be excellent practice and training
Looking back, this was all excellent practice. When I sketched people as I saw them on TV, I was learning how to try to capture impressions quickly and work fast. And by doing a lot of drawings of famous people, I became more comfortable trying to capture a faithful likeness of someone. Everyone had an opinion about whether that portrait of Harrison Ford looked like him or not. It was great training, and quite humbling when people would tell me I had missed the mark. I learned to take criticism at an early age because of this.
I’m telling you all of this because I spent a lot of my youth trying to “justify” doing fan art, because I kept on being told it wasn’t “serious.” It was “trivial,” it was silly and childish. But yet, I credit it for helping me develop important skills sooner rather than later.
When I started attending art school, many of my class assignments required that we do portraits of known people. (I went to art school in Los Angeles, where the “Industry,” aka film industry abounded, so capturing likenesses of celebrities was extra important.) This is when I realized that my “silly” and “childish” penchant for drawing my favorite actors and actresses had really paid dividends. I was ahead of the game — I had years of practice already!
While attending art school, I applied some of the things I was learning by illustrating fan-published magazines. (“Fanzines,” which have fan-written stories and art based on favorite movies and shows.) Looking back, I’m shocked at how prolific I was. And yes, some of my art was a bit cringe. But drawing is drawing, and practice is practice, so it all helped me in the end.
As you probably already know, some well-known authors started out as writing fan fiction. Fan art and fan fiction can help a young artist or writer develop confidence and skills, working within a community of fellow enthusiasts and receiving critiques and encouragement. (It’s important, however, to vet the individual community to make sure they are supportive and healthy and not toxic.)
While fan works are not exactly adhering to copyright law, the movie studios and IP holders often allow the fans to continue because it encourages enthusiasm for the fandom or franchise, and why would they be against that? So we happily did our thing and as long as we didn’t get too zealous and try to make big bucks off of anything, the IP holders didn’t protest. (Which, I might add, is their right, as they are the copyright owners of the shows and films we are inspired by.)
A caution about anime and cartoon styles
I’m not trying to discourage any kid from drawing in any style they want. They need to enjoy what they’re doing, or else they will lose interest. So, if your kid loves anime or other cartoon styles, by all means, please do not discourage them.
The only caution I have about anime is that IF (and I emphasize “IF“) your child has aspirations for art school or going pro, then they need to be able to draw some other style besides cartoon or anime. Most art schools will expect to see portfolios and sketchbooks with realistic sketches drawn from life, realistic figure drawings, and basically, “realism.” The reasoning is, all cartoon styles are stylizations of reality, and if we can’t depict reality well, how can we do our own stylizations of reality? The goal in art school and in the professional art world is to bring something of your own to the table — not just copy and imitate current popular cartoon styles.
So, if your kid is talking about studying art and they refuse to improve their realism skills, you’ve got a problem. However, if it’s a hobby and a passion and they’re having fun, leave them to enjoy it in their way. Don’t try to pressure them to draw more “serious” or “meaningful” subjects — pressure and guilt never work. Don’t take their joy away.
