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@itisastarrynight @chalice @writerforever @the-fledgling-artist @ethryndal

Alright you guys, I’m going to jump in here now. Also props to you all for taking me on a ride and into a conversation that I wasn’t expecting to happen. I was expecting a dialogue more along the lines of can we include fan art in our portfolios, etc.

I’m going to be brutally honest right now and say that I actually disagree with pretty much all of what you said.

Allow me to explain myself.

Art is an expression of ourselves, but we do not worship what we draw. In some rare instances, there may be some artists who do. But if I paint a fox, am I worshiping foxes? Absolutely not. This is the same with fan art. Just because you draw it, doesn’t mean you worship it. I was having a conversation with Mariposa about this (her technology is causing problems lately, so she hasn’t been able to get on the forum) and she made a really good point.

She said, “In many ways, fan art is much like illustrating a book—we are drawing scenes, characters, and worlds that another creative mind has created. We are giving life and color to a story while at the same time adding a little bit of ourselves to it. I’m not sure about other artists, but most fan art I make is because I identified with the movie/character, so in a sense, fan art is a type of self-expression. I feel the same as this character, or I believe in what the story stands for, so I draw it.”

I relate to this as well, and I appreciate her putting it into words.

A lot of this talk goes back to similar discussions we have had around our main forum in general when we talk about “is it okay to show darkness in our writing?” The situations are different in art, but the concept is still the same. We can’t have light without darkness. And this also poses another question. So are we not allowed to draw villains at all? (Personally, I’d have to get rid of several drawings of mine.) Even our own villains?

Yes, we need to be careful and aware of what we are drawing as representatives of Christ, but we have to remember that we can’t put on a legalistic mindset of what is good and what is bad and expect everyone to follow that, because those rules are man-made and aren’t found in the Bible at all.

I think fan art is wonderful; it gets someone drawing, (if I can’t think of something to draw I draw a character because it gets me in the creative mindset) It can be used in a lot of great ways. I follow artists who are almost totally drawing fan art, and that in their portfolio has gotten them jobs in the animation business or some doing work on graphic novels for Marvel and DC.

As my education professor says, anyone have any TQE? Thoughts, Questions, Epiphanies?