We all have our own favorite TV shows, movies, novels, short stories, comics, music artists, celebrities, and all other entertainment sources we see in our media. We sometimes become so infatuated with certain characters in our favorite TV shows, or with music artists who make up a popular boy band, that some of us would go as far as to publicize our own fantasies about these particular characters.

Visual fanart (paintings, drawings, animations of characters/celebrity figures) can be found in Deviantart, Fanpop, Tumblr pages, and Newgrounds. Of course, fandoms can exist in other sites/sources that even I am not aware of. A fandom refers to an entire community of fans that are devoted to a particular source of entertainment (i.e. popular TV shows like Steven Universe, Teen Wolf, and The Walking Dead) or celebrity figures we see/hear about in everyday media (i.e. vocal groups/boy bands like Backstreet Boys and One Direction). A fan artist can create a visual piece of their favorite character/celebrity figure using their own original art style or mimic the canon design of that character. The term canon is used to describe information that was given from or announced by the creator of the original source (i.e. creator of one's favorite TV show/movie, author of one's favorite novel, etc.). Things that are canon in a novel, for example, are pieces of information that we know for sure are true. Visual fanart, in terms of its content, can illustrate an artist's personal sentiment towards the material being favored. They may apply their own theories/predictions about their favorite TV shows. The possibility of someone's theory about their favorite character becoming canon can be very exciting for them and striking to other fans.

http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/zetrystan/steve...

Fanfiction is another type of work that “fanartists” use to display their affection/theories/innovations about their favorite sources of entertainment. It involves short stories or novellas written by fans that cover concepts (whether they are canon or fanon) about their favorite characters/celebrity figures. Fanon ideas, by definition, are ideas/theories/information given by and accepted by a majority of fans within a fandom. Things that are fanon in a novel are not necessarily true, or officially canon to say the least, since the information has not clearly been stated in the original source. Fanfiction is very popular in the general fandom community, as well as very controversial. Some may argue that writing fanfiction stories is like using someone else’s creation without their permission. Because of this, it is highly recommended for the writer to make a short disclaimer (in a preface page), informing their readers that they are basing their work on another entertainment source and that they do not own the source material.