History Main / DoingItFortHeart

* Creator/HideakiAnno, entirely. He founded Creator/StudioGainax with some college buddies in order to make off-kilter stuff like ''Anime/RoyalSpaceForceTheWingsOfHonneamise'', ''Anime/{{Gunbuster}}'', and ''Anime/OtakuNoVideo'' simply because they loved {{anime}}--then he suffered a breakdown due to lack of creative control over ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater''. His iconic work, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' was created primarily as an expression of his own struggle with manic depression, as well as a rumination on various philosophical topics of interest to him. He even admitted his astonishment when the series became one of the most popular and iconic anime of all time. He is notoriously dismissive of FanDumb and starting with ''Evangelion'', every other one of his works has been a massive "fuck you" to {{otaku}}. He walked out on [[Manga/HisAndHerCircumstances the next series he worked on]] because of creative disputes with the original author, and simply abandoned anime altogether in favor of bizarre live-action films until leaving his company to form his own production studio. If all that isn't DoingItForTheArt, [[ExaggeratedTrope we don't know what is.]]

%%% The Wheel Of Time is not an example. Just because it was ShownTheirWork, it does not equal DoingItForTheArt.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' creator Creator/JohnKricfalusi. He turned down the offer he got from Creator/DreamWorksAnimation to pitch a movie because he thought the team compromised his creative vision. He was also so insistent on keeping the original content of his cartoons in, he purposefully slowed down production of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' so the censors would have less time to go over them. It worked, but ultimately got him fired. (Needless to say, the Spumco staff is generally DoingItForTheArt — after John K was kicked out, the majority of the crew left alongside him). The unbelievably high quality of Spumco productions (with John K's rule to never draw the same expression twice) is not unheard of either — especially that all of it is done for TV. However, [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/03/beautiful-people-9-yeesh-and-spumcos.html as evidenced by this blog post of John K's]], it's also quite evident the economic thinking is not absent.

* Arturo Domingo in ''Film/TheAuteur'' is a parody of DoingItForTheArt. A washed-up, ''artistic'' porn director whose fame has been eclipsed by his former star, who has become a Cable TV porn icon.

* Even though he was working for several studios in California at the time, Creator/CrispinFreeman decided to play the role of [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Zelgadis]] again for the ''Slayers Premium'' movie (all of the franchises' movies were licensed by Texas-based Creator/ADVFilms, whereas NYC-based Creator/CentralParkMedia had recorded the television series, hence [[TheOtherDarrin a different voice cast]]), going to Texas on his own dime. ''Slayers Premium'' is only half an hour long and Zelgadis only has about twelve lines total.

** Creator/EricStuart ''CAME OUT OF RETIREMENT'' to voice Gourry again for ''[[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Slayers Revolution]]''.

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1642083014050037800 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

* A huge majority of [[WebAnimation/YouTubePoop YouTube Poopers]] work as hard as possible on their videos without expecting any compensation whatsoever. While it is, on one hand, a product of the circumstances [[note]][=YouTube=] Poops would no longer be protected under fair use if the majority of them were profited upon[[/note]]it is generally agreed that making money off of the hobby would completely undermine its purpose.

* ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza2 Yakuza Kiwami 2]]'' has a substory about Sugano, a former fanboy who became the new director for the Yakuza Sunset film franchise and initially showed enthusiasm into making Yakuza Sunset 3, only for it to be lambasted by the fans and he considers quitting over this. Kazuma Kiryu, a semi-retired yakuza himself, watches the movie and praises his music direction and poignant interpersonal character drama, then helps to improve in the areas of action and accuracy about yakuza customs, while encouraging him to stick to his strengths and not live in the shadow of the previous director.

* Bob Ross donated all of the paintings he created for ''Series/TheJoyOfPainting'' to charity fundraisers. When he lost his battle with lymphoma, all of his remaining unsold paintings were treated likewise.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''. It was quite sometime before the creators realized that they could make a penny out of it, and it was done as a labor of love. Now, they make enough money off of merchandising for it to be their entire livelihood. After it started picking up steam, Creator/TheBrothersChaps were offered, multiple times, TV shows and movie deals for ''Homestar Runner''. Each time, they've said no. The closest they've come is the [[Creator/TelltaleGames Telltale]] games, all of which have either Mike or both Chaps working with Telltale extensively on lines and story. (Eventually, they said yes to [[WebAnimation/TwoMoreEggs animating]] [[WesternAnimation/WonderOverYonder careers]] [[Series/YoGabbaGabba that had nothing to]] [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls do with Homestar whatsoever]].)

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''. It was quite sometime before the creators realized that they could make a penny out of it, and it was done as a labor of love. Now, they make enough money off of merchandising for it to be their entire livelihood. After it started picking up steam, The Brothers Chaps were offered, multiple times, TV shows and movie deals for ''Homestar Runner''. Each time, they've said no. The closest they've come is the [[Creator/TelltaleGames Telltale]] games, all of which have either Mike or both Chaps working with Telltale extensively on lines and story. (Eventually, they said yes to animating careers [[Series/YoGabbaGabba that had nothing to]] [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls do with Homestar whatsoever]].)

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' setting is made up of [[NotHyperbole nothing]] but fan-submitted content. It's all available for free and no one makes any money off of it.

[[folder:Film]]

* Fanfiction, FanArt, and other [[FanWork Fan Works]]. People have spent over a ''decade'' on some longer series, or occasionally on one very long standalone story. They can spend quite a bit of time researching various elements like any other author. Since it's fanfiction, that also includes the need to carefully pore over the canon they're writing about in order to depict it accurately, and learning fandom-specific terminology[[note]]such as [[IdiosyncraticShipNaming terms for the relationships they're writing about]] if there's romance, as well as the occasional FandomSpecificPlot or common variety of AlternateUniverseFic[[/note]] in order to write a good summary for the fanfic and make it easier to search for. Then, good parodies of fanfics are harder than they seem, and for little gain: they can be painstakingly researched on what cliches to include, what the fandom usually groans at, etc.

* ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza2 Yakuza Kiwami 2]]'' has a substory about Sugano, a former fanboy who became the new director for the Yakuza Sunset film franchise and initially showed enthusiasm into making Yakuza Sunset 3, only for it to be lambasted by the fans and he considers quitting over this. Kazuma Kiryu, a semi-retired yakuza himself, watches the movie and praises his music direction and poignant interpersonal character drama, then helps to improve in the areas of action and CriticalResearchFailure about yakuza customs, while encouraging him to stick to his strengths and not live in the shadow of the previous director.

'''Important Note:''' This only applies when creators '''''openly state''''' they prioritize art over profit. No matter how impressive something might be production-wise, a behind-the-scenes factoid or a visual effect is not proof on its own that the creator or production team is Doing It for the Art. This page is not intended for SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike. If you are looking for pages to gush about impressive facets of production regardless of motive, please post it on SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven, SugarWiki/AwesomeArt or SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome instead. If you were sent here by an example that better fits any of those pages, please correct the link to one of these and move it to the work’s YMMV page if it was on the trivia page.

* WebVideo/BillWurtz shares his truckloads of music, videos, and content -- most famously on [=YouTube=], but even more of it is through [[https://billwurtz.com/ his personal website]] -- all for free and without ads. He has a personal distaste for advertising and sponsorship culture, and that despite facing immense pressure from companies offering him exorbitant amounts of easy cash, he rejects it every time. He does upload his music on streaming services, sparingly sells merch, and has [[https://www.patreon.com/billwurtz a Patreon for donations]], but he doesn't promote or even incentivize them with rewards. [[ReclusiveArtist He also doesn't think much about maintaining a mainstream online presence, either]] -- he allowed himself to disappear without announcement in 2019, then return in 2021 revealing [[AnimationBump he spent the interim learning 3D animation]].

* WebVideo/BillWurtz shares his truckloads of music, videos, and content -- most famously on [=YouTube=], but even more of it is through [[https://billwurtz.com/ his personal website]] -- all for free. He has a personal distaste for advertising and sponsorship culture, and that despite facing immense pressure from companies offering him exorbitant amounts of easy cash, he rejects it every time. He does upload his music on streaming services, sparingly sells merch, and has [[https://www.patreon.com/billwurtz a Patreon for donations]], but he doesn't promote or even incentivize them with rewards.

* Edd Gould refused to have ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'' be monetized despite its massive popularity, insisting that he didn't intend the show to go anywhere beyond being a silly series of animations featuring himself and his friends. Though a [[https://store.eddsworld.co.uk/ store]] for the series was opened around 2018 followed by the launch of a [[https://www.patreon.com/Eddsworld Patreon]] in August 2020, both of which were long after Gould's death, Gould's friends made it clear that the money is ''not'' for pure monetary gain and intend keep the series exclusive to the internet.

* Edd Gould refused to have ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'' be monetized despite its massive popularity, insisting that he didn't intend the show to go anywhere beyond being a silly series of animations featuring himself and his friends. A Patreon for the series was [[https://www.patreon.com/Eddsworld launched]] in August 2020 by Edd's friend Matt Hargreaves, but more so to afford a new animation team rather than pure monetary gain.

This motivation spreads across all genres of known media — its main hallmarks are when the creator of a work is clearly putting far more effort into the project than necessary. Indeed, sometimes the amount of work being put in is a little creepy. Sure, it's a great vision and all, but does anybody need ''that'' much detail? While plenty of artists will do this even if a paycheck is the motivator, these artists will be the first to admit they stretch their personal limits because that's their ''only'' motivation. Remember, the definition of this is that a work is done for its own sweet sake, even if it is never expected or intended to make money.

* Edd Gould refused to have ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'' be monetized, insisting that he didn't intend the show to go anywhere beyond being a silly series of animations featuring himself and his friends. A Patreon for the series was [[https://www.patreon.com/Eddsworld launched]] in August 2020 by Edd's friend Matt Hargreaves, but more so to afford a new animation team rather than pure monetary gain.

* Edd Gould refused to have ''WebAnimation/Eddsworld'' be monetized, insisting that he didn't intend it to go anywhere beyond being a silly series of animations featuring himself and his friends. That said, a Patreon for the series was [[https://www.patreon.com/Eddsworld launched]] in August 2020 by Edd's friend Matt Hargreaves.

* A forger that Fisk tracks down in ''[[Literature/KnightAndRogueSeries Rogue's Home]]'' fancies himself to be a talented artist. He even considered the documents he forged to be works of art, which is why he [[WhatAnIdiot hid his signature in them]].