#not actually on purpose - i draw fanart because i love it not for an agenda

[bogkeep]

just like according to keikaku

[alena-reblobs]

Writing out some thoughts about my upcoming master project or art in general helps, so I’m babbling a bit under the cut! It’s really more an outlet of some thoughts before the upcoming first feedback session for my final uni project...

Since reading Trigun all I want to do really for my Master thesis project is create somethin with an postapoyalyptic wasteland setting. Or so. I need to come up with 2 ideas until tomorror, or at least have some sketches to show... Though I get it’s important not too fall into stereotypes too easily and try to find a unique style, being constantly told Manga or everything that’s being too cliché comic is not something they are very happy about at my place of study, is still something that’s keeping me down in a way? Kinda? It’s making me actually a bit angry and sad, seeing some pretty neat animated short movies in anime style and knowing if I wanted to try a concept like this the first resonse would probably be pretty sceptical. Though I guess it depends more so on the teacher, I don’t want to throw a bad light on my school in general. Maybe I’m being a bit too pessimistic about that, you know, without really having tried it. The thing is, I just want to create neat designs and art for a project that I like, but I don’t neccessarily want to come up with my own ideas. That’s why I draw so much fanart, I love to indulge in others’ ideas and characters that are interesting, but I don’t have some kind of educatonal purpose or agenda I want to tell myself, because there are enough guys out there who do that pretty well. I just hope I’m strong willed enough to stay to my ideas, and not be talked into a direction that I don’t want to pursue professionally - at least not mainly. I like illustration and book illustration a lot, don’t get me wrong, but I love drawing characters, emotions and scenes just so much more. Even animation which I started a bit more than 2 years ago is to me so much more fascinating, because you know, you can make these characters move! And bring them to life! Phew. I’ll need to prepare a pdf for tomorrow, so I should get back to working out 2 ideas, and put them into some kind of understandable shape. If you really read so far, I’m raising my cup of hot chocolate in respect

[vkelleyart]

Hey V! I saw your post on Twitter about not wanting to draw for Young Royals because they’re portrayed by real people. I just wanted to pop in and say you’re super valid and I totally understand not feeling comfortable drawing characters portrayed by real people! It’s one thing drawing a character that’s only words on a page; they’re strictly fictional and their feelings stay on the page. But when you’re involving real people that play these characters, I can see it almost feeling like you’re shipping real people rather than characters.

I am actually curious though — if Carry On was ever made into a live action movie, would you continue to make art for it or would these same feelings arise?

I hope you have a lovely rest of your week! 💜

TS, thank you for articulating that so well! I do want to be clear that there are "Young Royals" fanartists who are drawing such beautiful fanart for the show, and that's fine! I just think the dynamic changes when you're over a certain age, and I personally don't want to be that 40 year old lady drawing actual real life teenagers in fictional shippy scenarios, you know? The same would apply for drawing kid actors depicting a heterosexual couple. I'd just feel creepy and exploitative.

Generally speaking, though, I do shy away from drawing actors in their fictional roles because the fun in illustrating for me is in translating the words to images, not translating images to images. So to your question--would I stop making Simon Snow Series art if there were ever a movie--the answer is: probably, but not just because I'd avoid drawing the actors.

Once a book goes to screen, it just tends to smother my inspiration to draw from the book. I'm not sure why, although it's possible that the movie imagery is so "loud" that it crowds out my ability to draw from the words alone. For instance, I haven't taken requests to draw from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda either even though I read and enjoyed the book. Once I saw the movie, the characters I had in my head got overwritten by the actors and like... I just didn't feel moved to draw them after that. There are exceptions to the "I don't draw live action fanart” rule, like if I'm being commissioned or if there's a comic related to a tv show/movie that I'm being asked to draw, but for the purposes of my own enjoyment, I'm just not very motivated by the task.

I hope that answers your question! Thanks so much for the ask and I hope your week is lovely, too! ❤️