Why do most artists only draw fan-art of currently trending franchises

>>2744981
>How many artists are really drawing fanart of things they like and are fans of?
probably all of them, but they only publish the ones of trending franchises so they get their name out there and get new fans. it's the smart business move.

It's a promotional tool. You latch onto the current trend like a fuckin' lamprey and hope you get a few (You)s for your trouble. There is actual fanart out there too of course, but it'll always be drowned out by the people that are doing it anticipating a profit of some sort for their trouble.

>>2744983
>for their trouble

I can't believe I used that turn of phrase twice in the same post. How embarrassing smdh tbqph

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>>2744982
>>2744983
But doesn't that mean it's the franchise making the artist relevant and not the other way around? Fan-artists I've talked to try to spin it like they help promote the series when it's really the series promoting their work. Corporate advertising is the main reason why most series catch the public's eye when the series is new.

>>2744988
Yes like I said the artist is latching onto the IP like a lamprey for (You)s. The corporation itself gets way less out of the deal than the artist does. The artist isn't the one spending 10s of millions of dollars on advertising. It's a bittersweet thing, though. Even if you get hundreds of thousands of followers doing fanart there's no guarantee more than a handful of them will continue to follow you after you move on. If I recall there was this excellent MLP animator who struck out to do his own thing, it was like a medieval adventure with (not explicitly fur-shit) anthro animal characters, and I think it bombed despite being very well animated and with very appealing character designs. Any of you'll niggas know what I'm talmbout?

>>2744988
>Fan-artists I've talked to try to spin it like they help promote the series when it's really the series promoting their work.
they're in denial.

I only do fanart of Touhou sometimes, it's hardly a trending subject but the fans seem to be pretty devoted.

>>2744988
A couple of years ago, the big thing with fanart was to redesign old franchizes from the 80s or 90s. (or just render the shit out of it). Artists like Dave Rapoza, Ryan Lang, Marko Djurdjevic etc got lots of exposure from doing that.

>>2744994
That's what I was thinking but I didn't say it to them.

>>2745002
But with really older completed/cancelled franchises, the argument of helping to promote the franchise makes more sense because those franchises aren't really advertised by companies anymore. So they aren't trending in the current public eye. I think that's done for the love of the show more than trying to get noticed.

>>2744981
>They're dedicated to what's fresh in the public's mind, even if it's only mediocre or crap.
You're saying artist aren't part of "the public"? How does being able to draw exempt you from the same hype everyone else experiences?

>>2744988
>But doesn't that mean it's the franchise making the artist relevant and not the other way around?
That's exactly what they're doing; if you don't have an audience then you're preaching to nobody. If you capitalise on hype, you might get people looking at your more obscure stuff they would normally not go looking for.

>>2744981
>How many artists are really drawing fanart of things they like and are fans of?
I'd like to say all of them but sometimes I run into a piece where the characters of a certain anime have never had a relationship/have nothing to do with each other and yet are drawn as if they know each other. That really pisses me off.

i only do fan-art very rarely and its only of things i like. i try to stick to original stuff.

>>2745490
post your work

>>2745586
to post merc_wip.jpg or not to post merc_wip.jpg.... that is the question.

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I almost only draw fanart of things I enjoy, but the stuff I like is mostly never trending and doesn't give me exposure at all, most of my stuff has 20 - 50 notes, when I feel like drawing stuff of semi-popular series I usually get 800 - 2k notes. The fanartist life is just as unnoticed as dudes who draw original unless you're drawing the latest animes or games

>>2744981
I draw fanart of obscure shit all the time and guess what, no-one gives a shit.

My theory is that most artists are drawing fanart of popular art because that's ewhat they're playing and enjoying, and that the cynical tagalong is the exception.

>>2744981
Holy fucking shit I FUCKING LOVE GIANT ROBO!

On the topic: most of the artists I enjoy do obscure shit, or stylized after non-current mainstream stuff like rvrsavr

>>2745858
This
Devotion and love for series is also commonly what even gets a lot of artists to start drawing in the first place

>>2747002
Also this, I didn't even have any interest in art until 2 years ago, now I want to put more time in studies to improve myself

I'm honestly wondering if all these people who doesn't know why rising artists draw fanart, are actually genuinely retarded.

>>2745854
Is that yours anon? Kaiji needs more love.

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It takes time to find media, it takes time to consume media. Work takes time, school takes time, social life takes time.

The result of this is that most people intrinsically cut out looking for things so they have time to do everything else. Whatever games/movies/etc are currently being advertised is what falls into the frame of reference of people who are made busy by every other aspect of life. It's the unfortunate trap of the times we live in.

>>2744981
Maybe you don't have enough culture to see other artists.

>>2744999

Touhou fanbase is fucking amazing sometimes.

>games are virtually done by one guy
>somehow has the most fan content of anything ever, including professional grade fan animations

>>2744992
>The artist isn't the one spending 10s of millions of dollars on advertising. It's a bittersweet thing, though. Even if you get hundreds of thousands of followers doing fanart there's no guarantee more than a handful of them will continue to follow you after you move on.

It's stuff like this that is why I can't bring myself to pander to popular and trending fandoms. I'd rather work a regular 9 to 5 than be an artist with an install base of "fans" that only follow my work because I'm drawing the icons of more established and better known artists. You're basically living in and dependent on the shadows of other people. The moment you move on to create original content, your install base is guaranteed to shrink. Fuck that.

>>2744981
Because nobody gives a shit anymore.
People are goldfish-brained egotists and will only spend any ammount of time on shit they relate to themselves, ie the games they play, the movies they've just watched, the flavor of the month.

I draw Bloodrayne, Vampire Hunter D and Ninja Gaiden sketches all the time, but people don't give a shit and it may as well be my original content for which people don't give a shit either. The only things I drop on social media are popular fanart and iraki/kron style pretty girls because that's the only shit people will even click on to see. The rest I keep for my own enjoyment.

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>>2747145
That's not mine but I do love kaiji, it's a shame it's not popular>>2747002

>>2747859
Didn't meant to mention >>2747002
Sorry, mobile