In the last year especially, I’ve been doing a LOT of fan art. I suppose one may begin to wonder – why so much of that topic?

 

In 2006, I had a horrible, horrible job. The work itself was great, the topics were mostly fine, but the people I worked with and for were extremely dubious and unprofessional at best. In the interest of supporting myself, I toughed it out, but it took an enormous toll on me emotionally, ideologically, physically… After that job, I did not want to pick up a pencil ever again. I couldn’t do much of anything creatively. The solution for still having an outlet for the ever present, life-long companion creative drive was this: Fan art – I can do whatever I want, I don’t have to answer to anyone, I have no deadlines, and I do not have to be responsible for it. Fan art has a very grey legal distinction. I can’t own the copyright, but neither can the actual intellectual property holders. I can give it away for free, and it has to STAY free, because the IP holders are responsible for it, they can chase down copyright infringement, I don’t have to. Rather than worry my art will end up being taken and used for profit without my consent, fan art freed me from worry. I could make fan art and nerd out with other fans of stuff I liked, responsibility free.

I’ve noticed in the last year or so, I’ve been doing almost exclusively fan art. I think that it has primarily been an escape. I’ve been dealing with constant medical demands, submitting myself to the will of Disability (the organization), and having to suffer through their inefficient, backward, secretive nonsense, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to keep surviving. I also can’t afford the kind of upgrades I’d need for various creative ideas, or tools like easels and seating so I can paint without such immense physical stress. Fan art is fun, I get a lot of positive feedback, and it gives me an outlet that again, has nobody making demands, no deadlines, no responsibility. I can do what I want in my own time as a relief to stress.

I know that there are a lot of things people are waiting for me to do, or things that people want from me, but right now, this is the space that I have to create. I hope this explains things and makes a bit more sense to folks who have been wondering.