The Comprehensive and Incomplete Fan Artist's Guide to Selling Fan Artwork
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| Title: | The Comprehensive and Incomplete Fan Artist's Guide to Selling Fan Artwork |
| Creator: | Terry O'Brien |
| Date(s): | June 1994 |
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| Fandom: | |
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The Comprehensive and Incomplete Fan Artist's Guide to Selling Fan Artwork is a 1994 essay by Terry O'Brien.
The essay, in the form of a letter, was printed in Artistic Endeavors #20.
The topic was fanart tropes and how they can be used in selling more items at cons
Introduction
Here's the list of fan art favorites we assembled at the Artist Jam and Party at MarCon, plus my comments and explanations, since we all agreed that I would have to do it because I was the only writer and non-artist at the party. We really were crazy that night, weren't we? I certainly must have been to volunteer to do this!
The Guide
1) Fur: This one should be obvious to anyone who's been in art shows in the past several years. Smooth skin is definitely tre gauche in fandom, except in cases of #6 below. dditional limbs or human/animal cross-breeding optional.
2) Wings: If whatever you're painting doesn't have anything else from the list, put wings on it and it'll sell. Winged cats, winged unicorns, winged people; you name it, its been done, and it has sold.
3) Wolves: Proud, clannish, independent, stylish, ecologically aware: with traits like these, it is any wonder that we fans see so much of themselves in wolves? It is any wonder, too, why art with wolves sells?
4) Sex/T&A: Or, to put in Madison Avenue terms, "Sex Sells!" A picture of a pretty man or woman will definitely catch someone's eye (and empty their wallet). Also remember to hit the various active sub-fandoms: i.e., 'slash', furries, hard-core; have I left anything out?
5) Cats: For those fans who cannot have cats or who need an additional visual cat fix. This, of course, covers all cats, domesticated and wild: ecological awareness strikes again!
6) Japanimation style: The 'big-eye' look, with its associated tiny, pointy chins and thin slits for mouths, is very 'in' in fandom. Also great galumpin' suits of battle armor, beautiful men and women with long, strange colored hair (see #4 above), tragic heroes, sexy robots, humongous starships, and cute kids.
7) Blue (the color): For some reason, blue is a favorite color for fans. I would venture a guess that it is because it is a peaceful, restful color, unlike more active colors like red or yellow. It also is used for fan favorites such as seascapes or skyscapes, or to represent deep space when black would be too dark.
8) Emphasis (stars, sparkles, etc.): If your artwork can't attract attention any other way, lots of stars or sparkles will do the trick. (After that, though, your artwork is on its own.)
9) Nasty/pretty ratio: This one definitely needs an explanation. We noticed that popular pieces featuring real nasty critters usually had some balancing 'cutesy' or pretty thing associated with it. The fierce dragon holding a teddy bear, for instance, or an Alien Queen knitting. Balance the nastiness and prettiness for maximum effect.
10) Punchline: A good joke, especially for a title, can really sell a piece.
Of course there will be letters and people suggesting things that we left out of this list. That's understandable: I've already thought of several others myself, like dolphins and spaceships, which would appear in a possible future list. Why else do you think I changed the name to the 'Comprehensive and Incomplete' list?