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::Final Fantasy VII spoiler. You know, the one where Aerith dies. Oops.::
I strongly recall my first exposure to videogame fan art. It was almost eight years
ago at a small anime convention. The convention staff had set up an area for fan
artists to showcase their creations, and thousands of con-goers passed by to view
these works of art. The following year, this convention allowed artists to auction
off their work. At first, I was puzzled as to who would spend anywhere from five to
two hundred dollars for a "copy" of someone else's characters. Not two hours had
passed after I made those comments when I found myself paying $25 for a piece of
Final Fantasy VII fan art featuring chibi versions of Cloud and Tifa. Since then, I
have purchased, been given, and created enough fan art to fill two walls of my room
and two walls of my office. And it goes without saying that I'm not the only person
who loves fan art. But why do we love it? While I can't speak for everyone, my own
love of fan art stems from three "C"s: creativity, collectibility, and community.
My original and close-minded view of fan art as "copies" of another artist's original
creation quickly disappeared after I saw the chibi Final Fantasy VII work. After
that, I began to see the unique ideas fan artists bring to their pieces. For example,
one of the most rendered scenes in fan art is the scene of Sephiroth plunging his sword into
Aerith. The scene in the game is memorable, but it is relatively brief and only shows
the slaying from a few different angles. From that short but powerful moment in
videogame history, fan artists have created hundreds of works that don't just "copy"
the scene but build on it. One artist's interpretation depicted the entire scene
as seen in the reflection of Sephiroth's sword. Another artist took a more comical
approach and instead showed Aerith running Sephiroth through with his own sword.
Even those depictions which tried to show the scene as it appeared in the game still
added the unique styles and emotions of their artists.
Popular fan artists sometimes find that they develop their own fan base, and their
work, especially hand-made originals and signed pieces, can even become collectors'
items. Just like other forms of art, fan art can also be collected and proudly
showcased. Not a week goes by at work that a person doesn't stop by my office to
comment on my collection of fan art. Sometimes they recognize the characters from
their children's games, and sometimes they have played the games themselves. I
especially appreciate my fan art collection on hard days because it feels like these
works were created just for me.
But there is nothing I love more about fan art than the fan art community itself.
These thousands of talented people, many of whom are also exceptional artists of
other genres, make up one of the world's most passionate groups of artists. Many
will never sell their fan art, and most will never even try. Instead, they work to
better themselves and to show appreciation for the videogame artists and designers
who have provided them with their inspiration.
While I ran out of wall space a long time ago, I will continue to collect fan art.
As the recently hired Fan Art Curator for RPGamer, I look forward to working with
our extremely talented group of fan artists to create what I feel is already the
best RPG fan art showcase ever to exist. I ask all of you lovers of fan art to show
their appreciation for our fan artists by visiting their personal galleries and
sending them words of appreciation for sharing their creations, and I encourage all
artists out there to never give up and to forever strive to put their heart into all
that they do.
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