My theory on why fanart is more popular

I remember seeing this post on tumblr that sadly I can't find, that the reason why fan art seems to get more views than drawings of original characters, is because fan art is about something we know. We know about Homestuck, we know about My Little Pony, and we know about Disney, etc. We don't know these characters that this person just drawn. Are they from a comic, or a TV show, or a movie, or a video game? We don't know, and yet they draw so much of these characters like we are supposed to know them. But they don't seem to build up to any series of any medium. That's why I don't upload any drawings of my OC's that much, unless I plan to put them in a web comic, or an animated web series. Although I don't upload any drawings of generic poses, unless I put them into scraps.

So what I want to say is if you want to create some characters, you should also create a story with those characters.

this more or less goes without saying.

if these characters just exist devoid of proper context, and ostensibly haven't proven WHY we should care about them, of course stuff like fanart is going to stand out more.

it's also easier to bank on something everyone already knows instead of making your own.

edited 11th Jan '16 11:14:31 AM by wehrmacht

It just occurred to me that a lot of the "great works" are fanworks - of myths, stories, and history. Known subject, new interpretation.

Nothing new under the sun.

Literally, when you think about it: Everything's made from the same matter that's been around since the Earth was formed, we just keep doing more complex things with it. Same with stories.

edited 20th May '16 5:25:41 PM by Wheezy

And when you're drawing something that people have already formed an emotional connection with, it's easier to reach them because a lot of the work has already been done for you (for the record, I don't think this is a negative thing at all).

Hmmm, maybe that's part of the reason most people hate modern art unless they've had to study it?