Fan art to Fairies

When I was doing conventions oh so long ago, I would do original work that could be sold as prints at my table at the shows.  While most of the conventions I attended were anime themed shows, I didn't sell prints of fan art.

Original fan art of Misa from Deathnote

Fan art was the big thing at anime cons like Otakon or Katsucon, but after talking to other artists and hearing from creators from all areas of art and fandom, I was uncomfortable making prints or multiple copies to sell of characters that I had not created and did not belong to me.  Any fan art I did, the original was sold in the art shows and no copies to be made or prints of it to be sold again.  While I was using my art skill to create the piece, the rights of the character were not mine and as such, I felt I had no right to make reproductions to sell.  I was often asked why I did this and explained to whoever brought it up that the creators of the characters and anime stories or manga stories that we loved, worked very hard.  Those creators then became lucky enough to be at a popularity level that allowed them to be approached by vendors and such to use those characters on posters, cups, pens, charms... whatever.  The creator sold rights to those manufacturers and the money they got was part of their income.  When this didn't work in explaining it, I would then say, "Imagine you created a manga series and got sort of popular...  You worked hard at it and finally you made it.  You made it enough that a company comes up to you and asks for the right to put your characters on a poster.  They pay you good money for it.  This is your living, this is how you pay your rent... right?  Now imagine you go to some convention and see someone sitting at a table selling prints for less than your poster costs, of your characters.  You won't see any of that money.  They are making money off of your hard work."  That seemed to get the feeling I felt, across to them.

Original fan art of Ein from Cowboy Bebop

Now, I'm NOT knocking artists that do that.  The above is explaining MY reason for not doing fan art prints...  Nothing more.

So, having said that, instead of selling fan art at my table, I did original works of characters I came up with.  I had a few popular ones and some that barely made an impact.  Some of the ones that did seem to be eye catching, were my fairies.  I hadn't intended to do a lot of fairies when it all started out, because I wasn't into twinkly little fluffy fairies.  I was more into the Brian Froud fairies, the Celtic lore kind where they weren't always kind and sweet.  The fairies of my mind weren't simply a human with butterfly wings.

The first one I did was Valna.  She was done in watercolor with little or no real intention in any direction.  The style of her and her wings came about without a real thought process or specific desire.  In fact, she had no name till she was just about done. 

Valna (Please do not copy or distribute)

Valna (which can be purchased here) was so popular that I decided to do more art of fairies.... keeping the idea of a strange being in mind.  The others came along in a similar way... sort of popping in and not revealing any names till near the end of the the completed piece.

Cymboleena (please do not copy or redistribute)

 Cymboleena's name came to me after staring at her for a while (she can be purchased here).  Most likely it was because of the Lord of the Rings movies where there was a flower of a similar name that graced the graves of the dead.  I don't know if she has anything to with death, but the name was ringing in my mind. 

Thornburrie (please do not copy or redistribute)

Thornburrie was one that sort of... forced her way onto the paper (she can be purchased here).  She clearly wanted to be there and was not going to let me be until she was.  Of all the fairies I've done, she is the one with the least amount of good intentions.  Her name definitely clawed its way out like a cough.  I'd be very careful bargaining with her. 

Aliuna (please do not copy or redistrbute)

One of the last intended fairies I did was Aliuna (she can be purchased here).  The previous fairies, as I mentioned regarding Valna, (those above and those not shown here, but all available in my Etsy shop 'print' section) were all done in watercolor, a medium I had felt very comfortable with.  Aliuna was different in that she was done in Copic markers with a watercolor background.  I had, near the end of my convention touring, discovered Copics and began using them instead of Prismacolor markers.  Usually when I did fan art or color commissions I used markers to get a sort of 'animation cell' feel to the art, but seeing others pick up the Copics, I chose to give them a try.  After some trial and error and after stumbling across a great little tutorial, I found I really liked them.  So Aliuna was the first fairy to be done in that medium.  She was also the last 'official' fairy in my series of fairies.

The fairies over all, were popular at anime cons, fantasy cons and literary cons.  The truth is, I was always glad people liked them.  If they made people happy, then I was happy!  There might be more fairies waiting to come out and be found on paper, with interesting names waiting to shout in my ear.  We'll see.