Navarre by Elicia Donze. Drawn in PS. Please do not remove captions.
[Caption: A realistic digital painting of Navarre from Ladyhawke. Portrait is from waist up. Navarre is sitting with a sword across his lap. He’s wearing a black doublet and black leather gauntlets. The background is warm peachy yellow.]
If you make fanart, you can treat it like real art. Learn to talk about it. Learn how to talk about your work and the choices you make. Respect what you make and what others are making. So much of fanart is tangled up in the internalized misogyny within fandom communities—it’s hard to see yourself or others as the artist you actually are if you can’t respect the art and why it matters. Fandom communities are very strong and very passionate, and we are lucky to have them. Other art communities don’t even come close to that.
And with art, you either have to be what they want or change their minds about what they want.
So. I think we do both. We can treat the act of fan creation with the respect it deserves because of what it is: a powerful, subversive reclaiming of your right to see yourself in stories and to belong to a mythology that has been taken from you.
And we can use that to change minds. Fandom can and has been a great force for change in how stories get told, and social media is the best vehicle there is, and I think raising ourselves up to a level where we treat our art and others’ art with the respect we’d treat more accepted art is the most powerful thing we can do (or continue to do, for the many who are) to push through barriers.
That’s the question, definitely. Where is the line?
When Shepard Fairey made his famous Obama “Hope” poster, he got in big trouble for it because he used someone’s photo for reference. He’s a street artist, though. His stuff isn’t like my stuff.
If I used the same Obama image as reference to make a realistic portrait, would it be allowed as long as I called it fanart?
People think someone like Andy Warhol got away with it, but he was sued at least three different times by the photographers whose images he used (and sometimes outright traced) to make his art.
Derivative art has forever and ever been an issue in art. Art has always been full of artists copying, stealing, taking credit for, and sabotaging each other. It’s full of forgery, theft, vandalism, and appropriation. Sometimes they get away with it. Sometimes they don’t.
At what point do we say, “I don’t need to give credit”?
Sometimes, even as I’m drawing, I try to see that line. If my art weren’t realistic, would copying be an issue? How exact do I have to be before the lines I’m making are no longer mine? Will this line right here that I’m drawing be what loses me a lawsuit? Who knows?
This is accurate, but it isn’t just anons. It’s virtually everyone to some degree.
I don’t mean offense by that. Most of the time, people just want to help. Or they’re excited. I even do it to other girls myself sometimes. We give unsolicited advice, suggestions, “you should”s and so on.
We try to control, even in the most well meaning way, what women do with their talents. We want to have a say in a woman’s behavior.
It’s a cynical way to think, but in my experience, it’s not a big step all to go from “You should try this” to “I was just trying to help” to “Wow you’re a bitch for not letting me control you.” It’s breathtaking to me sometimes how quickly and willingly people turn on you this way because of the expectation that you exist for them rather than for yourself. And it’s a very strong expectation, one you probably don’t think you have.
But it’s there when people tell me to turn off anons or say nasty things because I’m not dealing with hate the way they want me to. It’s there when people tell me who I should draw. It’s there when people say, under their breath, “I wish she wouldn’t copy photos.” “I wish you would behave according to me.”
And we’re not shy about it, especially when we think we’re being helpful. The need to rescue (and the expectation that women need to be rescued, even if from no one else but their own inherent bad judgment or “sin”) is deeply ingrained in our society. It’s in our laws, our religion, our commerce.
Think about all the ways, even the ways you believe to be harmless or helpful or barely there, that you feel you’re allowed, entitled, or even expected to take personal sovereignty from a woman. ❤
The jealous cruelty of this anon aside… there’s such a weird expectation that artists need to be creating some kind of socially-valuable “art” at all times… or that what’s created needs to be for the consumption of others. Artists are allowed to make things for their own pleasure, things that are meaningless to anyone other than themselves, things that are practice, things that are ugly.
Happiness is valuable. It’s like, y’know, how much time do people “waste” making themselves happy? Why is it better to spend your free time watching football or playing video games or reading articles on Reddit? Why is it that as soon as you’re making something, the thing itself needs to be valuable, rather than the joy of making it?
Fanworks are valuable too, particularly for women. They’re empowering to create because you are usually taking male-created, male-marketed media and recreating for female consumption. It’s validating to consume because it gives women a place to enjoy media spaces. Its also a way to network and form communities in empty places. It’s not “wasteful” to spend time on fanworks for this reason as well.
Ugh. I wonder if guys drawing Black Widow getting nailed by aliens get these sorts of “what are you doing with your life”/“why are wasting your talent” messages. Prolly not, because this sort of hyperbolic go-kill-yourself missive is pretty much tailored to female recipients.
This is important. When I dabbled in art classes in college I had one teacher who was deadest that all our projects had to have a ‘meaning’ and be ‘socially relevant’. If you were me, and just wanted to make a faerie house full of miniature food because that sounded like a fun way to fulfill her architecture assignment, this teacher would berate you. She spent a lot of time calling me unoriginal and uncreative. She made me cry in front of the class after a particularly nasty insult suggesting what I wanted to make was meaningless drivel and that she ‘expected better of me’.
It feels shameful to admit now, but I seriously considered leaving the art field all together because of this teachers insistence that the things I enjoyed, and enjoyed making, weren’t worthwhile. And looking back now, I think that teacher did a real disservice to countless young artists. Creation itself is valuable. Every act of creation has social significance and is a product of its time. You don’t have to be political for your art to matter. You just have to love making what you make. That’s it. That what makes it art, that’s what gives it value. Anyone who tells you otherwise has bought into the bizarre status-based BS I see sometimes in the fine art world.
And if my old professor from community college happens to see this: making life-size animal sculptures out of recycled plastic in order to send a message about the environment isn’t any more unique than the faeries I wanted to make in your class. I’m glad it makes you happy, I’m glad that message resonates with you and your collectors. But try to look outside yourself and recognize putting others down when you can tell they are passionate about creating is not the right way to teach. Ever. Encourage and nurture more young artists in the world. This isn’t a race to find out who can ‘make it’ by putting people through tests. There is enough room for all of us to shine.
So I’m going to assume you mean the kind of stuff me and friends draw that will most likely never be held in the same regard as Millais because it’s niche outsider art made by amateur women and teens? Even though the art we make is more relevant as a commentary on our culture than anything a dead white guy painted?
I think we’re intelligent enough that we can decide what’s worth looking at if we want to. If dead white guys want to keep up, they should learn how to text.
For everyone literally getting sick with anxiety here are some things you CAN do to feel better in the light of so much overwhelming can’t. These are not cures for actual clinical anxiety, which should be managed with help from a mental health profesional—these are just some small, everyday things I personally do as someone who deals with OCD and stomach issues every day:
Sip water or tea. Chamomile and lemon balm are good.
Eat simple foods that are easy on your stomach. My favorite is sugar free Jello. Comfort yourself the way you would when you are actually sick—your body doesn’t know the difference.
Eat foods that are rich in folate, which helps your body produce neurotransmitters like serotonin. Blueberries, kale, and dark chocolate are good for this. So is plan old-fashioned sunshine.
Snuggle your pets. They love you. They don’t care about politics.
Watch a Disney movie. Watch Mr. Rogers.
Go shopping. You don’t have to buy stuff. But browsing nice, aesthetically pleasing places like a Bath and Body Works is very comforting. Plus it gets out of the house. Take a friend with you!
Peoplewatch! Try a park, playground, a mall, or a campus building.
Belly breathe: Spend some time slowly but pointedly breathing with your stomach rather than your upper chest.
Reading can be hard to focus on when you’re anxious, but listening to audio books works wonders. Try LibriVox or AudioBookRadio.
Seek companions and empathy. Talk about what upsets you. But don’t do it alone—online venting, for example, is highly stressful and can be counterproductive because of its one sidedness. Find someone you trust and talk to them. Talk to your mom. Find a human voice.
Take a gentle, safe sleep aid. Nyquil makes a safe sleep aid. Benadryl and dramamine are also good sleep aids. Avoid alcohol—it’s hard on your already agitated stomach.
Interact with your immediate environment and the people in it. Visit your neighbor. Go for a walk. Sign up to volunteer at a soup kitchen. Getting involved in your local community is a good way to shrink what feel like overwhelming problems into manageable bites.
Watch QVC. I know this sounds weird, but QVC is a rock for times when you’re stuck alone with your problems, especially at night—it’s broadcast live, which is a nice reminder that the world is still turning, Plus, they talk to you in a positive, encouraging tone, as opposed to the news, which is mostly designed to terrify you.
Watch The Weather Channel. Like QVC, The Weather Channel is comforting in its predictability and live broadcasting. The content is not as positive, but it is a good distraction and a reminder that there is a real, living world out there.
There are lots of live online stations you can watch, too. Live kittens, live underwater kelp forests. Here are Cornell Labs’ Live Bird Cams: http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/
Try Yoga. Even a simple beginner’s video where you’re gently guided to focus on your body will help calm you: Here’s a good one for beginners.
Focus on the present. Focus on an environment you can physically improve. Anxiety is mostly the fear of an uncertain future—so focus on what you can do right now in the room you’re in. Are there dishes to wash? A bed to make? Work to do? Do these things. Chores are amazing at relieving anxiety. I recommend @unfuckyourhabitat if you need inspiration.
Do homework. I’m not even joking. There’s a difference between good knowledge and bad knowledge, and no matter your age, actively putting good knowledge into your brain helps relieve stress. Find a topic that you don’t know much about. Research it. Take notes. Learn something new. Write a friend and email telling them all about this new thing you’ve learned.
Take a bath.
Masturbate. YOU BET. Touching yourself in a soothing way and allowing yourself to feel pleasure is a great reminder to your body that you care about it.
Pamper yourself. Paint your nails. Put on makeup.
Try ASMR, a proven relaxation technique. I recommend Maria aka Gentlewhispering:
Also, I mentioned this on Twitter, but if you’re up to it, and you have the strength, chat with people online. Let friends know that your DMs and messages are open. Reach out to strangers who are scared. Wish people well.
You have a right to feel angry, frustrated, and frightened today. But comforting others will help you feel less powerless.
“I’m a troll, but I come equipped with good grammar and flattery.”
“I think art is a holy and sacred institution governed by peens.”
“I have probably never opened an art history textbook.”
“When male artists draw hot naked babes, they don’t call the naked babes unhealthy crushes. They call them inspiration. And a lifetime of naked babe indulging is called an oeuvre.”
“Once you stop with this whole being a girl nonsense, you can become a real artist.”
"This is 17th century Massachusetts, and the village elders decree that masturbation is a sin, and Eliza should be set in the pillory with her ears nailed until the next Sabbath.”
I-want-my-IWTV 