Fan Art

Fan Art, it's everywhere!  Everyone is creating it and everyone is loving it!

Well that's how it looks from my artists point of view. 

I wanted to talk about fan art as it has quite a few different guises especially where the internet is concerned. 

Hanging around social media I see brilliant artists who can draw amazing celebrity portraits, they are so perfect!  Thousands of likes and comments about how realistic the drawings are, there are a few little techniques artists can use to grab that perfect placement and it is questionable if that is art or just rendering (by that I mean filling in the shaded areas and colour) as you look through art profiles try to spot these people, you get an eye for them after a while. 

I will admit I adore seeing artists depict the idols, David Bowie, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, gorgeous bursts of colour in amazing pop art these are classic subjects painted, drawn, printed, sculpted by thousands of artists over the years each one with it's own personal meaning to each artist.  You couldn't convince me that all amazing portraits of Batman are not created by a Batman fanatics!

And then there is art created by 'the fans' the people who watch films, watch television, buy albums, follow sport and support, follow and love their chosen subject.........

Earlier this year, my sister tagged me in a twitter post, the tweet read 'I wanna see your art, tag sutterart to be featured #FanArtFriday' now this is I think the first time I have every been baited, the tweet was written by Kurt Sutter, Creator, Writer, Director and Star of Sons Of Anarchy, (of course Kurt Sutter has many other strings to his bow such as South Paw the soon to be Mayans MC and much, much more), I am a huge fan of SOA and I took the bait with excitement, I think my teenage daughter would describe me as "fan girling" whilst I paced around my house, ideas bursting out of my mouth, not yet on to the paper. 

I sat to draw Gemma Teller-Morrow over the next week or more, Graphite Pencil on A4 Bristol Board, loved every minute of it!  Not wanting to stage a simple portrait I depicted Gemma with her beloved garden roses as a little nod to the show. 

So I tagged away and shared my portrait on social media, a fair few weeks and more art went by with nothing, I had a little like on twitter from Katy Sagal, I was more than happy with that.  Having completely subsided to the fact my fan girling won out and I took the social media bait, ugh! What a geek!  

Fast forward to last Friday and there I was sat on my couch, the light dim in the room and the TV on, my sister messaged me about our school reunion so I replied and placed my phone on the chair arm and seconds later a screen flash, I thought 'she's a bit keen, speedy texting or what?!', I look at my phone and there on my snake skin lock screen is a small Instagram notification with the words 'Sutterink mentioned you in a comment' I sat bolt up right and tried to focus, at that point either a light shone on me, angles sang or I passed out a little, it absolutely blew me away.

So now I get it, can I explain it? No!  

It wasn't the repost that gave me that rush, it wasn't the likes and it wasn't the exposure as an artists (fan art dose not need to be drawn or painted by a professional artist), it was however the fact that somebody I admire as a writer and a creator had took the time to see my work.  

I'm sure that Kurt Sutter knows that the reason we, fans, create our art is because we appreciate his, just like we sing a song writers songs back at them or visit a signing at comicon it's all about saying, thanks! 

Claire Jewkes Sons of Anarchy Fan.