WanderingThought Fan Works Here's something I find myself trying to understand, so perhaps someone can enlighten me... Why do (some? most? many?) people enjoy drawing other people's characters? I'm not talking about Fan Art where people are paying tribute to the artist but when they draw them for the sake of drawing them or for other reasons I might not be thinking of... Then there's stuff like Fan Fiction and Fan Comics... Why? I don't get it. Especially since when I do read one of this things, they normally fail to correctly recreate the characters accurately (in a scripted way, not in a graphical way). This of course isn't always true. I'm just curious as to what inspires people to do this... I'm just never satisfied unless what I do is origonal in all aspects. I use only my own characters (with extremely rare/specific expections and exemptions) and try to create origonal stories. In the past when I've attempted to draw and write other people's characters it just left me feeling... I guess unsatisfied. I just don't get it. Alucard Tepis You are of course welcome to your personal tastes on the matter. And, for the most part I would agree with regards to getting great satisfaction out of producing original works of art, but perhaps I could illuminate why people do fan art, both prose and illustration. There is a long-standing tradition of artists copying from "masters." A lot of people who start doing fan-art do so trying to learn how to draw in a style that appeals to them. When they find an artist they like, and particular a character they are fond of, then they emulate it with the hope of developing the skill to reproduce a piece of art that is as appealing to them as the original. In the fiction arena, creating characters and worlds in which they inhabit is often far harder than writing about the happenings with and around them. Taking someone else's world and characters as a jumping off point can save someone trying to develop their writing skills a great deal of time, so that they can simply concentrate on the prose and style. Beyond the desire to develop and improve one's artistic skills, some fan-artists have a desire to alter characters and circumstances to their liking. One one end, there are those who like to create illustrations in media and with unique poses or backgrounds, because it appeals to their artistic sensibilities. Similarly, there are those who do gaiden, or side-stories, involving characters to flesh out plots that simply could not be explored within the original constraints of the stories. Others simply feel that there is more story left to be told. More extreme alterations are done by those who saw ways in which they felt the original stories or artworks could be "improved" upon, to make them even more appealing. (e.g. The love triangle should have been trimmed this way instead of that. He should have never killed off her! Wouldn't it be cool if Character X were to be in the same universe as Character Y?). While I can understand from the original artist's point of view, that their works should be taken and accepted for what they are, I could, under duress, mention a few stories or plot points that were most definitely not to my own liking, and would have welcomed the opportunity to suggest an alternative, were it my place to do so. Dark Schneider Watch as our resident bat-boy deftly forgets to mention the bajillion-and-one Hentai doujinshi, slash-fic, and nudie-pics out there. That's a rather big market to sweep under "extreme alterations" or maybe you were thinking of it when you described people trying to "flesh out plots"? Whatever. But I figure somebody aught to say something. Dark Schneider As for why people do that...if you need me to explain the lucrative nature of the pornography market, and/or desire for people to create or look at erotic art, you are waaaaaay beyond help. Batman Bat... boy? I wasn't aware there was a new face in Gotham. Batman I guess humor isn't my forte. Dark Schneider Nah...not you, Batman. Just talking about the pasty one further up the page with half of Drac's bloodline running through his veins. Wears lace and frilly stuff. Likes to talk a good game but is a bit of a wuss when it comes to the nitty-gritty details. But then, I suppose that's why this place has a rather...motley crew. Different strokes for different folks and all.