Fan art

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Fan art or fanart is artwork that is based on a character, costume, item, or story that was created by someone other than the artist. The term, while it can apply to art done by fans of characters from books, is usually used to refer to art derived from visual media such as comics, movies or video games. Examples of fan art would be artwork depicting Wolverine from the X-Men comics or depicting Orlando Bloom as Legolas from the The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy or Cloud from the video game Final Fantasy VII. Usually, it refers to artworks by amateur artists, or artists who are unpaid for their fan creations--so that, for example, a professional comic adaptation of The Lord of Rings movie would not be considered fanart.

Fan art is usually a violation of the original creator's copyright, but since it is usually intended as a tribute, the copyright holders tend to tolerate (and even encourage) it, though some artists will not tolerate fanart of their creations being sold for a profit.