IN DEFENCE OF FAN ART
Learn how fan art posted online got Brittany hired by her favourite artist
“I draw a lot of fan art, and I know many people think that’s not the best thing to do. You’re not meant to put it in your portfolio. But I was bored one day and I was drawing Ariel. I posted it, and Glen Keane commented. I was like, oh my God! I couldn’t even believe he had found it, because it was on Facebook and we weren’t even Facebook friends. He brought me in on Over the Moon, and it’s one of the most crazy stories because Glen is the reason I wanted to work in animation in the first place.
It’s a really rough sketch, but what interested Glen was that I posted the painted version and the sketch. The sketch reminded him of the feeling he used to get when he animated Ariel. I was pushing the design and using some angular shapes, elongating things. The painting was an interesting way he maybe wouldn’t have thought to do himself. He brought in the sketch that he did when he was animating Ariel. It was so full circle!
Fan art is one of the best ways to practise character design. It sounds like: Why are you practising character design when the thing is already designed? But it’s a good way to push style. If I’m drawing Hermione from Harry Potter, it’s a way of emulating what it’s like to work with a director, because sometimes that’s all you have: a written text. You get a description and you get a little bit of the character’s personality and then you can kind of take it from there. So I love doing fan art.”