Fan Art I

I enjoy reading fantasy fiction novels and medieval high fantasy is a genre that I enjoy very much. I enjoyed making fan art for a very long time and there was definitely a phase when this was very rewarding. The pressure of finding meaning in your work is lifted with fan art, allowing me to simply draw what I already enjoyed. Showing fan art to other people is also more rewarding. In addition to the comments on the art, it starts a discussion about the scene that it represents. Not to mention much larger engagement when shared online. This was vastly motivating, especially in the early days of my painting journey.

Most conventional art familiar to people is showcased in museums and art galleries. But I find that “concept art” has a rather limited outreach compared to conventional art. I find concept art to be very inspiring and I usually am well immersed in the content too . You can find most concept art utilized in movies, video games, comic books, trading cards, etc. I can imagine that perhaps this is dismissed and not taken seriously enough. However, I see no reason why that should undermine the quality of the work. I like collecting “art of” books of the games that I enjoy. It helps me understand the process that went into creating the world and the characters that I love so much!

Fantasy Fiction

Lord of the Rings was my first introduction to high fantasy as a child. The movies by Peter Jackson do an excellent job of bringing this to life. I highly recommend watching the making of the movies. The attention to detail in the armor, architecture and sets is inspiring. The computer graphics though heavily employed is barely noticeable (as it should be)! The scene on the left below shows the battle between Thorin and The Pale Orc at the end of The Hobbit. Gollum of course requires no introduction at all.

Game of Thrones has defined the cultural zeitgeist of the world over. It is remarkable that I can talk to someone about this regardless of where I am. Thinking about the episodes reminds me of where and who I watched the different seasons with. Following the season is a progression of my life over the last half decade. Needless to say, eight seasons have plenty of scenes that I still remember vividly.

The Witcher is in line with A Song of Ice and Fire (GOT) in terms of its grey take on morality. I find it realistic when characters have to make morally ambiguous choices. In most situations as in real life, there are no right choices. The Witcher ponders with these decisions in interesting ways. Politics is another key theme in GOT and in The Witcher. Following the story from the perspective of different characters breaks the common good vs evil trope. This gives more depth to the world and the characters in them.

Music and video games are a big influence on my work. I like listening to metal music. This is quite a vast genre and I particularly like the darker and atmospheric subgenres of metal. I can say that for me, this goes very well with medieval high fantasy novels. The song Ulvinde by Myrkur, perfectly depicts what I am talking about.

I like the games made by From Software (Dark Souls, Bloodborne & Sekiro). I find them unique in two ways. First, they employ a passive form of story telling, where the story is inferred through the environment. Great halls, forests, broken statues and sparse dialogue tell a story about the events that transpired. Second, I like the fair but hard difficulty of these games. It takes countless attempts to make progress. Working towards that makes these games all the more rewarding.

Movies

Movie posters are very interesting to look at. Its about capturing an idea in a frame. I like the more creative ones as opposed to just hero poses on the poster. For example, the iconic yellow color of Taxi Driver speaks volumes about the movie. Fan made movie posters provide a personal take of the artist on the movie, providing room for expression. Its even fun to make movie posters about movies you don’t like!

No fan art collection is complete without some Star Wars in it. Though I have outgrown this series, I still find it dear and iconic.

Moving Forward

Now, I’m at an impasse and I do not make much fan art. I feel more confident with my work and I feel that I don’t require the validation. Most of the work here is drawn from scenes in a movie or a music video. There are also some here that are simply a recreation of an existing artwork that I liked. This is a great way to learn but very limiting in terms of my personal expression.

Second, I find it more interesting to develop a concept or a world using a series of images as opposed to one cool looking frame. I’ve been slow on the uptake with digital media. Creative 3D models can alleviate a lot of work in achieving these concepts. Plus, the initial stages of learning a new tool is always exciting! And if I do get back to drawing fan art, I would also choose a subject that is not popularly illustrated already. There is scope to borrow from the novels I like, allowing me to visualize scenes as I see them in my mind.

Fantasy Fiction

Movies

Moving Forward

Practice makes perfect

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