Fan Art Community News: Volume 4

Hey Fandom Community! Welcome to the 4th edition of the Fan Art Community Newsletter! Its a little overdue, but thats because of so much content! Read on for what has been going on, what is new, and random things from around deviantART posted by your fellow deviants!

From the Fan Art Gallery Director:

First, a few apologies for seeming disconnected lately! I have so much stuff wrapping up, and so much new stuff starting that I'm really just hiding behind the scenes lately! I do appreciate every Daily Deviation suggestion, every suggestion you have to tell me about the Fan Art Community or just comments on how you think I'm doing representing the Fan Art Department! Before I get into the bulk of everything, check out this journal about a new project of articles I'm going to be doing! Notable Fan Artists! And moving along...

The Book Club

A few months ago, I started testing the waters to see how likely deviants would want to participate in a book club hosted through the Fan Art Department with fan art and fan fiction related activities. The response was pretty promising, and I'm excited to say that we'll be starting soon! There were three books to choose from, and deviants could choose one or all books to participate in! You can still sign up now for a book, just comment in this news article! Please understand that by signing up you are committing to participate as much as YOU want to. If you can participate in everything, amazing! If you can only participate a little, that's great too! If you have to drop out, I hope you join in again in a future book reading.

The Books
( To sign up for a book club, just comment on this news article with A, B, or C. If you want to participate in more than one, put down all the letters!)

Book Club A: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Book Club B: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Book Club C: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

The Teams
( names reflect people who have signed up prior to this news article )

A: ^oilsoaked, *Llewenayah, =Mercuralis, ~PinkPetunia, =feetpeet, =AglioPh0bia, ~lunaiy, =IRIA-L-unpardonable, =Deep-Emerald, ~melremo

B: ^oilsoaked, *GypsyDancer17, =Vanaliel, ~squoose, ~GdorChaser13, *GaioumonBatou, =AglioPh0bia, =starflower135, =katzypotter, ~needpictures

C: =lilyhbp, =Mercuralis, ~PinkPetunia, `wdwparksgal, =bewarethepossums, =alicat123, ~melremo, ~needpictures, =kapolei


The Orientation Meeting for the Book Club will be in #FanArtdA on May 11th (sunday) @ 4pm EST! The meeting is open to both people signed up and people who are still considering joining in! Final sign-up will be at orientation meeting!
What will be discussed:
- Activities
- Group Meeting times
- Chapter pace
- Personal Points Scale, aka, how to earn points for your participation, aka, prizes and rewards!

* All of these finalized items will be sent in a note to all members, so attendence is optional if you've signed up already!

Thank you to everyone who is participating, I am SO excited to get started!

Fancraftic Contest: Storybook Character Winners!

The first collaborative contest between ^Myana's Artisan Crafts Community and the Fan Art Community turned out some deliciously beautiful artwork! Here are the winners, and stay tuned to find out in a few weeks what we have up our sleeves next! Congratulations winners!


Click here to see what they've won, and favorite the article to support them!

Ultimate Fandom Contest 3

With the successful closing of the Ultimate Fandom 2 contest, Book Characters, and an unusual UFC sub-contest, Avatar: The Last Airbender, we have come to a position of great decision making! What should we do next? Games? 80's cartoons? Cartoons in general? Superhero's? TV show hotties? Post your ideas in the poll, and lets make Ultimate Fandom 3 the next best Fan Art contest!

Click to put your suggestion in!

( Tired of all of the contests catering to artists and not writers-- stay tuned for a Fan Fiction contest that will blow your socks off!)

You can always check my journal for the latest news, and in case you've missed something, you can catch up here:

Fan Art Updates Archive:

AR11. Notable Fan Artists.
AR10. Book Club
AR9. Many Updates
AR8. Book Club Input
AR7. Fan Art Love
AR6. Valentine's Day
_{AR5. Supporting GD's
AR4. Contest Results
AR3. DDs
AR2. Holidays!
AR1. Who are you?}
Supplement: Tips when suggesting FAN ART Daily D's

Contests & Projects in the Community:

If you are running a Fan Art contest or project and would like to see it appear in this space, please send a note to ^ArtisticAunJuli with a link and the deadline for entries!

Obscuri-Jam! - Celebrate your favorite characters who are NOT so well known! Deadline: Saturday May, 17th

Clubs and Chatrooms in the Community:

Have a Fan Art related club or chatroom? Send me a note with a description to see it featured here! I will also be searching around myself for some of the more exemplary Fan Art related clubs!

~HogwartsArt
Fandom: Harry Potter
Genre: TV/Movies, Books
Member Count: 1000+
Special Features: You can join a house and earn points towards the house cup! Contests as well! Consistently uploads user submissions!

*Avatarverse
-Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
-Genre: TV
-Member Count: 60+
Special features: Constant Avatar news, chatroom, features artwork!

~Club-Bleach
-Fandom: Bleach
-Genre: Anime/Manga
-Member Count: 850+
Special Features: Contests, uploading user submissions

Fan Art News Articles in the Community:

Have you posted a news article related to Fan Art and want it to have more exposure? Send a link to ^ArtisticAunJuli and I'll read it over and post it in the next edition of the Fan Art Community News Article!

Fan Art of the FAB and often Forgotten!
Hidden Gems of Fan Art: Invader Zim
Hidden Gems of Fan Art: Gundam
Gaming Features: Super Mario Bros
Legend of Zelda Art Features: Midna
A Deviant's Perspective on Fan Art

Show me Fan Art, Win A T-Shirt FOUR Turn Out!

Every month I will be posting a Journal free-for-all where you can comment, leave a link to your favorite fan art, and I will pick random numbers. The comments that match up with those numbers will win a deviantART T-shirt and other random prizes! This is a way to smother me with all of the backlogged Fan art you just couldn't wait to show me, and in turn, I pick plenty of amazing pieces and post them in this newsletter!

Here are some of the fantastic ones from the last !






Here are the winners!


devShirts: *anansee (#18), =aXforamnesty (#318)
Prints: ~renaisancexx (#118), ~Coqui-chan (#380)
1-month subscriptions: ~naiubl (#180), ~melremo (#218)

Final Thoughts:

This had to be one of the longest newsletters I've written so far-- thank you for reading it all, I really appreciate it!

Remember! This article is all about you, the Fan Art Community, and the people who love Fan Art regardless of whether they create it or not. Keep sending me your notes, and if there is a section you want to see in this newsletter, by all means-- let me know!

In closing, I just wanted to say that I'm really feeling like I'm understanding the Fan Art Community better more and more everyday. There will always be controversy in Fan Art, whether it is something small like quarreling over your favorite character pairings, or something bigger like battling whether or not Fan Art is valuable in the artistic community. At the end of the day, we're all artists-- we love artwork. I am consistently amazed by the ALL of the artists in the community and their work, both the Fanwork AND their original pieces.

I hope that through your artwork each of you continue to inspire and provoke other artists to do amazing things with the thought and idea that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it.

Now get out there and make some amazing artwork!