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[marta_bee]

A friend over at Tumblr was having financial troubles and I donated to their Kofi. As an unexpected gift she drew me a kid Sherlock with a bee plushie. So cute! If you like that kind of thing I hope you'll check it out.


my happy place

Kid Sherlock with Bee, for dear @marta-bee​ who was kind enough to buy me some coffees ❤️ I’m very grateful

Comments

[aearwen2]

Fan art as a commission? Uhn-uh. For the most part, I can't get behind this. Receiving a fan art gift because giving it means something to the artist is perfectly okay, inasmuch as it neither was requested nor involved any exchange of money. Now a few of my LOTR fandom friends are involved in costuming - specifically Elven or Hobbit costumes/armor. That's different, because it isn't dealing directly with a canon character, but rather a person's inner visualization of what kind of garb any character MIGHT be wearing - and I have no trouble at all with THAT being specifically requested and/or monetized. And while the ability to craft clothing/armor is definitely as much art as craft, I feel it doesn't necessarily fall into "fan art" to very much of an extent

[marta_bee]

Nice to "see" you! And thanks for checking in. I do hope you're doing well! I know we don't talk that often, but whenever I see your name pop up I think of you.

This is a slightly unusual situation for me. It's someone I know and have gotten a lot of joy out of their art and photography. "Friend" may be overstating it, but it's also not just some name, I feel like I know her at some level and wanted to help. It wasn't a commission, either, just a gift to a site where she accepts donations without it being explicitly in exchange for for art or fic. She then offered to draw me something and after I said "You really don't have to" a few times, it felt rude to keep refusing. I'm glad to get the drawing back (it's really cute!) but it's definitely on that slippery slope. Probably more toward the end I'm comfortable with than a lot of things, but not entirely level ground either.

I've noticed a real difference in attitudes with different fandoms. Different sites too and the ages of the fans. Movies and shows where artists outside fandom

[shirebound]

That's an adorable Sherlock. :)

helping out someone I know online? Having the financial ability to just drop a chunk of change and have that make a real difference in their life, and the technical tools to do it from the comfort of my couch? I will say there are some good things of making it to a ripe middle age.

ABSOLUTELY.

[engarian]

I have given to on-line friends in the past, although I usually will contact them in advance to find out if that's OK with them. I don't want to make things worse, which could happen in some cases. I also never wanted to strain a friendship because I had the ability to give and they were in need.

I have sold some of my art for charitable donation funds. I don't have a problem with that. I wouldn't sell it if I had hesitations. I am very conscious of passing the funds on to the charitable cause as quickly as possible.

- Erulisse (one L)

[cairistiona7]

I think, as a "fandom old," I'm in the not-entirely-comfortable area when it comes to monetizing fandom, too. But as time has gone by, I lean a bit more toward "what does the original creator allow/prefer," as in: does the author mind when fans create fanworks and make money from selling them? If they don't mind, then more power to the fans. Marvel/Disney seem remarkably lenient toward fan enterprises; other entities are not. I also don't draw any lines between what types of fanworks are okay to sell and what aren't--to me, smithing a replica of Narsil is no different than creating a drawing of Narsil, at least insofar as monetizing goes (obviously, one takes far longer and is more expensive to produce), so if someone wants to risk a cease-and-desist letter to sell whatever version they've created, that's up to them. I personally don't plan on ever selling any fanfic or fan art, but that decision, I realize, comes from a place of privilege. I don't *need* to sell it or have a Patreon or Kofi etc. I can afford to give fics as gifts;