Fan Art vs Original Art

Just copying over my rant from DA...

First of all, before I get attacked by rabid fans (which will probably happen anyway), I'm not against fan art. I even draw it myself sometimes. I just don't get why many people on DA draw ONLY fan art. They copy someone else's style and make up fan characters which they then try and call OC's. A fan character is NOT an original character. It's simply a ripoff of already existing characters. Whatever happened to originality? Instead of putting all that effort into obsessing and copying someone else's work, why don't you develop your own style and characters? I guarantee you, it's much more rewarding.

Fandoms also tend to kill pretty much everything they come in contact with. They take things like Happy Tree Friends, which is supposed to be about random violence happening to cute animals. Then they come up with horrible fan characters and start fighting over "Omg FlippyxFlaky FOREVAR!!!" "NO U SUCK! FLAKYXMOLE!111!!1" or some other godawful pairing. Between the unnecessary drama and badly drawn porn (then again, this is the internets so there's an abundance of that), it really ends up killing whatever it is the fandom is obsessing over.

I'm sure this won't be changing anyone's mind. I've seen fan artists break away from their fandom and become amazing artists by developing their own style. I know I'm not the best artist, or even that good of an artist. But I do know that whoever you are, you can do much better by being original.