About

Original → Fan Art refers to a participatory trend participants of which share original images of various characters and then their own fan art of these characters, usually created by them in the past. The trend gained popularity with artists on Twitter in mid-November 2021.

Origin

On November 7th, 2021, Twitter^[1] user @Massai_ posted two images of character Aku from Samurai Jack, one a still image of the character from the series and the other their fan art based on it, writing, "Original ➡ Fanart." The post gained over 600 retweets and 7,200 likes in five days (shown below).

Spread

Within 15 minutes of the @Massai_'s tweet, user @murillomags quote tweeted^[2] it, adding two images in which they showcased their fan art of Zeta from The Zeta Project_. The tweet received over 180 retweets and 1,900 likes in five days (shown below, left). Six minutes later, user @DeoxyDiamond quote tweeted^[3] @murillomags' post, showcasing their fan art of Pucca and Garu from Pucca (shown below, right).

Starting on November 7th, multiple artists on Twitter made posts utilizing the format, both quote tweeting previous tweets and making independent post. For example, on that day, Twitter^[4] user @kaellzor made the first such post to break 4,000 retweets, an Attack on Titan redraw of Brazilian singer and actor Fiuk (shown below, left). On November 11th, Twitter^[5] user @Taijuey posted the most popular version of the meme as of mid-November 2021, which gained over 14,200 retweets and 81,200 likes in one day (shown below, center).

The format maintained notable presence on Twitter in mid-November 2021.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References