HMMMM lemme think here
Well, I’m not sure how informed my opinion on the matter would be, seeing as though I go to conventions with the mindset of a merchant and not a consumer. I rarely if ever buy fanart for myself, and while I have a two fanart prints that I sell they are only joke pictures from series that are super old (Evangelion) or not well known (Kaiji). I have never sold more than a handful of either of them at any one convention, and their earnings are fractional compared to what I make selling products from my original property (Sakana). But Sakana has yet to gain the kind of widespread popularity that would net a fanartist a substantial amount of money, so it is even difficult for me to imagine the scenario in a “what if it happened to me” kind of way. Therefore, what I am saying in this response should really be taken as my own personal observation, and not an educated truth.
It seems to me that fan-generated merchandise that nets the most profits is almost always based upon a property that has already achieved widespread success; in essence: a licensed or trademarked property owned by a company or widely influential individual. I find it hard to believe that one fanartist making a few hundred dollars, or even a few people making a few hundred dollars with their own spin on an already-established source, would create a significant negative financial impact for the owning party. Let’s look at the video game series “Team Fortress 2” for example. I have seen very successful TF2 fanart prints at conventions, and I’m sure the fanartists themselves collect a fair amount of dough from their sales. However, true fans (those that commit to spending money on their interests) do not only buy fanart. TF2 itself has little in the way of actual merchandise, but they make millions of dollars off online item sales and other marketing strategies. They have made so much money, they can afford to give the game away for free, because for every fanart print a true fan buys, he/she/etc. will hopefully buy two or three official in-game items.
But TF2 is a very extreme case, so let’s dial it back one and look at another example: the anime “One Piece”. One Piece also has its fair share of fanartists at conventions, but then it also has hundreds and hundreds of officially licensed merchandise items ranging from key chains to figurines to wall scrolls to items of clothing. Nobody who is seriously into this series will just buy a few fanart prints and be satisfied, not when there are over five hundred Luffy keychains to collect. Chances are they will spend about ten times more on official merchandise than fan-generated merchandise. Now, that’s not to say that every fan is a super fan, but casual fans that actually ARE content with just one or two fanart prints will be out-spent by super fans more often than not.
Furthermore, when a company tries to put the hammer down on fanart sales (Disney) they are often vilified as fun-hating stogies. Most companies realize that a series with lots of fan support and participation will be very successful, and in fact encourage the fans to express themselves. It’s a symbiotic relationship, but to really see it in action we have to jump on over to Japan, where fan-participation is celebrated like a national sport. These companies realize that their most vocal fans (most likely the ones with the most fanart) will be the ones to introduce their series to other people, and those other people will in turn introduce it to more. This is how series with a short run, or those that have already ended, continue to bask in popularity long after new canon subject matter has dried up. Lets take “Tiger and Bunny” for instance. It ended months ago, but people are still excited about it and continue to draw fanart and write fanfiction. New people are still discovering and watching it, because after it ended, the fans did not let it go.
And then there’s the subject of ‘fan interpretation’ which even further extends the life, popularity, and profitability of a series. When fans are so attached to a series that they will extend an ended story with their own ideas and interpretations, that is where the most profits are to be made. This is where shipping and doujinshi (fan comics) come into play. Some companies so encourage this kind of high-level fan participation (imagined sexual implications or otherwise) that they will go out of their way to jump-start it in the fandom. Looking at “Naruto”: why do you think the artist/producers made the executive decision to have Naruto and Sasuke accidentally kiss in the very beginning of the series? Hint: it wasn’t just a funny visual gag. They know how much porn you draw of Naruto and Sasuke. This kind of tactic was also at play in “Tiger and Bunny”, to use a previous example, which has in no small way perpetuated its popularity. The companies themselves cannot put a big “THEY DO STUFF WHEN NOBODY’S LOOKING” sign over their whole product: that’s what the fans are for. And as long as fans are still generating interest for the original product, whether through canon fanart, speculative fanart, or straight up porn, the company/owner is happy. Losing a minute amount of money to fanartists is a calculated risk that really isn’t a risk at all.
Of course I realize that there have been times when fan-generated items have made much more money than a reinterpretation of an original should have a right to, but those are very isolated cases. There is also plenty of room to abuse this kind of a system (bootlegging), but it seems to do a fairly good job of governing itself. Multiple talented fanartists for the same series ensure that no one person is getting all of the sales, and the fans are free to appreciate their interests in many different ways, both licensed and unlicensed. A healthy, active fanbase is the sign of a healthy property, and the most successful creators realize and encourage this.
I HOPE THAT EXPLAINS MY POSITION ON THIS MATTER.
i reblog this because its the biggest chunk of truth i have read in a while… at least in my humble ” i want to be a comic artist too” opinion
Deer sculpture made entirely out of recycled typewriter parts - by California based artist Jeremy Mayer
I disassemble typewriters and then reassemble them into full-scale, anatomically correct human figures. I do not solder, weld, or glue these assemblages together- the process is entirely cold assembly. I do not introduce any part to the assemblage that did not come from a typewriter - JM
Via Machine Factory
Christian Dior Resort 2009
she is wearing a sombrero… she looks like some kind of adelita
WHY THE FUCK IS SHE BLONDE?
