The oldest fan art I have is of Speedy Gonzales from Looney Tunes. With a black pen I drew him in the back of my grandmother’s textbook (She doesn’t know he’s there. It’s fine). I don’t remember being a big Speedy fan (Bugs Bunny was my favorite), but I must’ve liked him enough to draw him twice. Speedy would be one of many fan arts I’d draw as an artist.
Growing up in the 90s I wanted to draw my favorite characters, but I didn’t have the internet to look up their designs. So instead I’d watch television reruns to study how the characters look. I’d quickly jot down as many details as I could in my notebook before the show ended. Every episode gave me a chance to collect more data. When I finally got internet, I had the luxury to print official artwork and stills from Google and anime fan sites.
I’d redraw any official art I got my hands on, from DBZ stickers to those foil wrappers they sold Yugioh cards in. My manga became reference books. I even kept my PS2 on the concept art section of King of Fighters ’99 so I could draw Bao. By recreating these images in the artist’s style I tested my drawing skills. The closer to the original I got, the better I thought I was.
In my Deviantart days I stopped redrawing official artwork and made original fan art instead. I’d draw anime characters semi-realistically, inspired by other artists who had more technical skill than me. Sometimes I’d draw crossovers between anime and American cartoons for fun. I even entered a contest where I got to draw myself as an Avatar character. (When the fan becomes the art?)
Eventually, I developed my own art style. My style is heavily influenced by cartoons, anime, comics and manga. I occasionally draw realism to remind myself that I can draw from real life. My urge to remake other people’s creations has dwindled over time. However, I still draw fan art when the inspiration hits.
As a kid, making fan art started as an exercise to improve my art skills. Later it became a fun past time. Now I see it as a way to memorialize my favorite characters, and in a sense their creators too. With fan art I pay tribute to all the series that entertained and inspired me throughout the years.