Help:Fanart
This help page provides guidelines for how to organize and develop articles and files about individual works of fan art. For Fanlore's official image policy, see Fanlore:Image Policy.
Fanart Articles
Individual works of fan art can, like any other fanwork, be documented on Fanlore with their own articles. See Help:Fanworks for the overview on fanwork pages. See Help:Starting a new page for basic information about creating a wiki page.
How do I name the page?
In general, the name of a fanworks page should be the title of the fanwork. Follow the capitalization of the fanwork's title.
If the artwork does not have an official title, you may need to get creative. [ideas?]
The artist's name should not appear in the article's title unless needed for disambiguation (e.g. if artwork is untitled). See Help:Disambiguation Naming Conventions for more details.
See also Help:Naming Conventions.
What next?
- Copy and paste the fanart infobox template into the page and fill it in. If it's a fancomic, use Template:Fancomic instead. The template automatically adds the fanworks and visual art categories to the page.
- Add the appropriate fandom category or subcategory. If the fandom category doesn't exist yet, add it anyway. Someone will come along and create it.
- Add a date category for the year(s) the art was created. Example: [[Category:2012]]
What content should I add?
A brief description of the work would not go amiss. The templates already prompts you for the basics, but you can repeat them in the main text.
You may want to upload an image of the fanart or a thumbnail of the work. See Help:Images and #Uploading Fanart to Fanlore.
Possible topics include:
- the medium and techniques used to create the art
- whether the artwork won awards
- how it was received by the fan community
- what people say about it (commentary, reactions and reviews)
- whether it influenced other fanworks and how (e.g. do people make icons or other graphics from it?)
- whether it was influenced by a particular fanwork and how
- ???
Example Pages
Uploading Fanart to Fanlore
All images uploaded to Fanlore must adhere to Fanlore's Image Policy.
For help using images in articles, see Help:Images. When adding fanart to an article, always credit the artist in the image's caption unless the artist is already obvious (e.g. the image is being used as an example of an artist's work in their own article, or is being used in an article for the artwork itself). If the artwork has been posted online by the artist, you may also want to include a link to their post.
How do I name the file?
Common practice is to include both the name of the artwork (or other identifying description, such as the zine the art is from) as well as the name of the artist who created the work.
What do I add to the file page?
When uploading fanart or any other image to Fanlore, use the ImageSummary template by copying and pasting the following code into the image page (that is, the page with the "File:" prefix) or in the "Summary" field of the upload form:
{{ImageSummary
|title=
|description=
|source=
|date=
|copyright=
|location=
|artist=
|fandom=
}}
The creator of the artwork must be credited whenever possible. Be sure also to note where you got the image from and whether the image has been cropped, resized, or otherwise altered from its original form.
Images of fanart should get a fandom category or appropriate subcategory, as well as a date category.
You may also need to add content warning templates to certain artworks. See Help:Image templates.
Permission
Images can be uploaded to Fanlore without the permission of the creator, as long as doing so would be fair use. However, Fanlore editors are encouraged to take into consideration the culture and etiquette of the fan community for which the art was made when deciding whether and how to use artwork, and to seek permission to use the art being uploaded when possible.
Some artists have made blanket statements about reuse/reproduction of their fanart or have released their art under a Creative Commons license. Others have given Fanlore exclusively permission (blanket or otherwise) to use their art. This information should be given in the |copyright= field of the ImageSummary template. See Help:Fanlore Blanket Fan Art Permissions.
Note that different fan communities have different conventions and practices regarding who can give permission for the reproduction of fanart, which can include the creator of the art, the publisher of the zine in which the art appeared, or the person who commissioned, bought, or was gifted the artwork. An image's permission status should be document as reported to Fanlore and should specify who gave the permission.
Privacy Concerns
Fanart and other images that were never publicly posted or distributed (e.g. posted only behind friendslock or to a member-restricted community) should not be uploaded to Fanlore without permission. See Fanlore:Citation.
Images should always be credited according to the artists' wishes. Some artists may choose to have all or some of their artwork (especially explicit artwork) credited under a different pseud or "orphaned" altogether. In these cases, the signature on the artwork may need to be edited or removed. See Fanlore:Identity Protection.
See Also
For any other questions, you can use the Talk page or contact the Fanlore Committee.