Art Fan art vs. Original art

[Milkycat]

Do you draw mostly fan art or do you tend to draw up original works?
I started out doing mostly fan art, but now my gallery is 95% original work, including some OC's from various anime. But even that is far in between.
And when you do draw original work, is it entierly a work of it's own, or is it loosely based on an anime series?
What inspires you to pick up your pencil and not put it down till the blisters are forming? :)

[Boo]

I used to draw Dragonball Z and Pokémon figures when I was about 10 or something because it was a very big deal back then. I would make drawings in return for pokémon cards and stuff. Pretty cool deal, really.

However, I'm not much of an anime fan, so after that I didn't have anything left to make fan art of. Instead I had to start making up my own stuff, which I still do until this day. Not as often as I'd want, but sometimes an idea pops in and won't let me go and I'll spend a good chunk of a day working it out. This way I've developed a pretty unique-to-me kind of style, I like to think. :> Lately I've started painting my sketches to large canvas as well, though many of my drawings are slightly weird, so I doubt many people want the paintings hanging in their living rooms. Besides that, my painting skills are pretty much not there.

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[size="1"]I began drawing Dragonball Z when I was around ten years old, then other anime's, and I wanted to be a manga artist for years. I've pretty much perfected the DBZ style to a T by this point. I started drawing my own characters with no anime ties, but its hard to get away from a style you've been using for so long. I really wish I had more time to draw now days but its hard, life has gotten in the way.

I don't even watchanime as much anymore, no time for that, but I miss it.[/size] Edited September 11, 2011 by SaiyanPrincessX

[Axel]

I enjoy drawing fanart to 'stay loose', but generally I enjoy creating original work. As for paid commissions I tend to find that it's mostly original. I haven't actually had many requests for fanart. As for contracted work, it's always original concepts.

[Pleiades Rising]

Almost all of my work on theOtaku is fan art based on pre-existing characters. I enjoy drawing other people's creations and, in a sense, "trying on their style". However, even when I'm doing this (being reasonably faithful to the originals) I find that something of my own style is there after all. It's largely influenced by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Yoshitoshi ABe, Mokona Apapa, and others, but some touches are distinctly mine. So yeah, if I do artworks in an anime/manga style, then I'll probably paint a pre-existing character. But I sometimes don't work with a specific reference at all, e.g. basing a painting on a DVD or manga cover. Last of all, I rarely make more than one picture [i]per year[/i]. I don't have the time to sit down and spend a week on a picture anymore, but once in a while I come across something that just makes me want to draw!

Oh yeah, over on DA, none of my works are remotely anime or manga inspired. I keep my non-anime inspired stuff completely separate from my other works, some of which are entirely conceptual. If I do anime, it lands on theO; and if I do something else, I crash it into DA.

[Remii Drop]

[color="#00BFFF"]I draw mostly original work, I've only drawn about 9 fanarts my entire life ^^ [/color] Edited December 1, 2011 by Remii Drop