How to Create Fan Art

Prepare your materials. Ensure you have the necessary tools for drawing, including paper and pencils. It's advisable to have an eraser if your pencil lacks one. Additionally, you'll require pens, markers, paints, or colored pencils if you intend to add color to your artwork.

• Alternatively, you might opt for digital art using a computer.

Discover an anime, show, or character that captivates you. This will serve as the muse for your fan art. If you're unable to find a specific show or character, seek inspiration from someone who profoundly influences you. Alternatively, utilize any image of a person or character to refine your drawing skills.

Sketch your inspiration lightly. Whether it's an anime or a character, there's no need to adhere strictly to the original creator's vision. Feel free to depict it in any pose or attire you desire.

• For instance, if the series you're drawing inspiration from typically maintains a serious tone, consider injecting some levity by placing the character in a more whimsical scenario.
• Every successful sketch begins with outlining the figure using basic shapes to establish proportions and body part placement. For example, you might start with a single line to outline the spine and then sketch two ovals to represent the torso.

Draw inspiration from the original style but infuse it with your own flair. While it's beneficial to draw inspiration from the original artist's approach, incorporate your unique style as well. This can involve rendering the character with a more lifelike or cartoonish visage, altering proportions, designing a fashion line inspired by the character, or embellishing their attire with additional details.

• A popular method to give your fan art a distinct identity is to experiment with different art styles. For instance, if you're drawing inspiration from an anime, try portraying the character in a Western cartoon style. Conversely, if you're inspired by a live-action series, attempt to illustrate the character in a manga-esque style.

Refine your initial sketch. Step back and assess areas where your sketch could benefit from refinement. Make necessary erasures and continue sketching until you're satisfied. Incorporate all the finer details, such as facial features, hair, and pockets, that were omitted from the preliminary sketch.

• The level of detail you incorporate will hinge on the chosen art style. A realistic portrayal demands meticulous attention to detail, encompassing intricately rendered facial features, clothing folds, and anatomically precise muscle definition. Conversely, a highly stylized depiction necessitates little more than simplified body anatomy and bold, basic shapes for clothing and hair.
• Pay heed to the distinctive features that define the character you're drawing inspiration from, ranging from obvious traits like hair color to subtle nuances such as eyebrow shape. Translating these characteristics into your fan artInsert bold text here is what distinguishes it as fan art rather than an original creation.

Ink your sketch using a pen. Once you've finalized your sketch, carefully trace it with a pen, proceeding slowly and meticulously to avoid errors. This enables you to remove any unnecessary lines from the sketch.

Apply color or shading to the traced character. Common coloring mediums include markers and colored pencils. If you prefer to leave it uncolored, shading with a pencil is recommended.

• To begin shading, envision a light source positioned at one corner or side of your drawing. Areas of objects and body parts opposite the light source should be shaded darkest and treated accordingly.
• Coloring options encompass colored pencils, markers like copic markers, and digital coloring via software such as Photoshop. For Photoshop, scan your inked sketch first and then import the scanned image into Photoshop.

Create fan art in a realistic manner. Achieving realism in your fan art requires a grasp of human anatomy, particularly understanding the various muscle structures and body part proportions. A valuable resource for this endeavor is a figure drawing anatomy book like Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers.

• Numerous online resources are available to aid in learning how to draw realistic figures. Typically, the process involves outlining the body frame, adding basic body shapes, detailing muscle structure, and finally incorporating clothing. Maintain light sketch lines to facilitate easy erasure when inking your sketch.

Illustrate fan art in manga style. Manga-style drawings feature exaggerated proportions, simplified and stylized hair, and distinct facial features. The primary divergence from realism lies in facial depiction, hence transitioning from realistic figure drawing to manga necessitates focus on manga facial anatomy.

• Manga characters typically boast large, intricately rendered eyes with simpler mouth and nose structures. Often, manga noses and mouths are depicted using just two lines.

Create fan art in a cartoonish style. Drawing in a cartoonish style offers freedom from realistic constraints regarding proportions and body shapes. In fact, exaggeration is encouraged. Cartoon expressions are more dynamic than those in reality, and poses are more dramatic. Typically, cartoon characters feature oversized heads in proportion to their bodies, enhancing their expressiveness.

• When sketching cartoons, it's often unnecessary to outline the entire body before adding clothing. Begin with a simple body frame, marking the shoulders, hips, spine, and limbs, sketch basic body shapes, then proceed to add details such as clothing and hands.

• Strive to introduce alterations to either the character or drawing style, rendering your fan art a distinctive masterpiece in its own right.
• Recreating a character in the same pose and setting is entirely acceptable. This practice is commonly known as a screenshot redraw.
• Have a clear idea of the desired pose for your 'inspiration,' or else you'll find yourself erasing more than you intend.

• Avoid sexualizing characters who are minors. Fictional child pornography is illegal in certain jurisdictions, and engaging in such activities can have severe legal repercussions.
• Exercise caution when creating fan art. Some copyright holders, particularly Disney, rigorously enforce copyright laws and vigorously defend their intellectual property. If your art is deemed infringing upon discovery by the original creator, legal action may ensue.

• Paper
• Pencil
• Eraser