Have you ever contacted an artist who doesn't work in comics after discovering their on the Internet?
Yes, we’ve reached out to artists whose work we’ve seen on the Internet before.
That’s how I hired kristaferanka, @bradshawdraws, diggys-daily, jakewyattriot, wscottforbes, caleatkinson and some people whose work you haven’t yet seen. And how karatemonkey hired kevinwada and some others.
Fan art gets jobs
This is how I got my job as well! It’s super true!
A reminder from some editors at Marvel that Babs, Kris, Kevin and I ALL got our jobs in comics by posting a bunch of dumb art on tumblr. Not to say that tumblr fanart should be anyone’s whole career plan, but it’s really worked out for a lot of people.
Which is either a hopeful story of opportunity or a sign of coming apocalypse.
Add my name to that list!
Ditto! It wasn’t one-to-one, granted, but I got my job working on Bioshock Infinite because they had seen my historical Disney princess series. :) I think it’s important for young artists to realize that if you’re looking for a studio gig (or you plan on working for someone else in any capacity) you day-to-day job can turn into, essentially, glorified fanart. And that’s not an innately bad thing! It just turns out that knowing how to play around in other people’s sandboxes is an extremely valuable skill in the field. I’ve worked on a bunch of established properties that I’ve previously been a fan of- Neopets, Bioshock, Fable, what have you- and being able to adapt your work to fit seamlessly within a universe, while still bringing something new to the table, is an extremely valuable skill set.
Despite this, of course, it’s good to understand why certain fanart might pique the interest of employers, and certain fanart might not! The thing that really sets the artists above apart from the pack is that their fanart isn’t trying to perfectly mimic and recreate the source material- it’s bringing something new, something innovative, and something uniquely personal to the table. Sometimes that’s style, design, storytelling, characterization, whatever else. It’s just fanart that challenges the status quo, that’s referential but fresh, that really lets an artist’s particular voice shine through.
I did a lot of fanart when I was younger where I was painstakingly trying to recreate a particular franchise’s style- it was a great learning experience but, at the same time, it’s not necessarily compelling portfolio fodder for someone scouring the internet looking for artists. I hardly think you need to purge your online presence of fanart when you’re looking for a job (some of my favourite personal pieces are fanart!), buuuut consider using fanart not just to parrot what you’re seeing, but to prove out how you could be a valuable asset as part of a larger whole. :)
Thought thoughts thoughts.
draw what you love, how you love to. be yourself.
and if you are good enough, someone will notice.
we are the testament to that.
