Fanart Discussion - Tumblr Posts
something that kinda upsets me way more than it probably should is how Kit is constantly drawn as the shortest of the the Thieves in fanart even though he’s literally the same height as James, aka pretty tall. it just feels like people assume he’s tiny because of the character trope he falls into? it feels a little infantilising as well? it just bothers me even though obviously i have no hard feelings for the artists who are all absolutely amazing. it just seems to be an assumption a lot of people fall into easily.
^^^ This is a really fair and valid point, but on the other hand, the OP also has a legitimate argument about the physical appearances of the characters as how they first appeared to us. Now I can’t draw stick figures to save my life, but I think artists who are still fine-tuning their craft have the opportunity to tackle things like Angharad’s self-harm scars or Nux’s more complex V8 scarification as practice challenges to improve their drawing skills. But I also understand that some artists might find the challenge of drawing things like scars on character bodies daunting so they opt to leave them out.
In a way, I’d be fine with seeing something like that because I’d come up with a slight headcanon that there was a point in Angharad and Nux’s lives where they didn’t yet have the scars they chose to inflict on their bodies. That being said, it would also be weird for me to imagine a fanart piece of a pregnant Angharad without her scars because I first saw her as pregnant AND scarred. It’s kind of like seeing fanart of Harry Potter without his lightning-shaped scar on his forehead: probably okay as an AU but unacceptable to most who refuse to see him in his original canon appearance. Maybe artists can get away with drawing a non-pregnant Angharad without her scars because it is generally accepted by the fandom that she was without physical flaws when she was first presented to Immortan Joe.
TL;DR, we can’t really please everyone, and as such, I feel that artists — whether their drawing skills are advanced or not — should have the artistic/creative license to render fictional characters to the best of their ability but also be mindful of how certain audiences would react if they choose to present artwork of a character without their distinctive physical characteristics.
I really don’t like it when certain artists draw Angharad without her scars. Please do not disregard any physical feature of a character that is part of his or her backstory and identity. The scars are part of who Angharad is, and while they may not fully define her as a person, they are a symbol and a reminder of the horrors she has been through, and the fact that defiling her physical beauty was the only form of control she had over her body during her imprisonment with Immortan Joe.