Fan Featured Friday: The deviantART Nine (X-23 Fan Art)!

Artists and fans alike are always paying tribute to their favorite characters as they hone their skills.  Often they share these works on deviantART among other sites.  Fantastic pieces that can range from full comic stories unto themselves to even just standalone sketches.

So this Trip F, I wanted to take a moment and countdown nine pictures from deviantART of X-23 that stood out to me personally and the artists behind them if you want to see more of their work.

There is much amazing work on deviantART, and while I can't feature all of it as yet, these are just a handful of ones that caught my notice for various reasons.  Some are cute and fun, others it may just be something about how they presented X-23.  There are so many amazing pieces that it made some of these choices quite hard on who to share for this entry.  Every one of them was a tough call.  I will find a way to feature those too though as their talents are quite astounding.  There are pieces that blew my mind so much, I had to think of full on future Fan Featured Friday entries to showcase them.  So I will find a way to showcase more artwork and highlight more artists on Fridays to come!

For now, these are the 9 that I've selected that represent X-23 in a unique light and why.  Each of these pieces metaphorically spoke to me about a nature of X-23, an aspect to her history, an interpretation that made me awestruck, or any or any other reason that made me want to highlight them specifically for today. Each piece contains an element that just emotionally reverberated for me in some way.  Following each will be an explanation as to why they were each chosen.  There are nine to represent every year she's been in the pages of the 616 universe of Marvel Comics.(It'll be officially 10 years since her first comic appearance within the pages of NYX v1 come December!)

9.

Stare by ~kirateufel on deviantART

This piece uses a 3D program called XNALara to pose a 3D model of X-23.  I've decided to highlight it as it also shows a resourcefulness by the artist to create a hypnotic, emotion inducing piece with what she had on hand.  It reflects an artist that can take what's available and excel within it to reflect a captured moment in time for Laura that is both filled with intrigue and contemplation.  The artist herself used light parameters within the program to help capture an essence of X-23 but also shows in her description that she reached out for assistance to help make her piece shine that much more amazing.  This piece to me is a commentary on a fan base and community (the XNAlara and deviantart communities) that work together to help each other grow in their skills to make fantastic work.

8.

X-23 - Visit to the Movies by ~Abbadon82 on deviantART
Philipp Boljahn, also known as Abbadon82 over on deviantART, is an astounding artist that has many amazing pieces of X-23 that display his talents.  I chose this one over the others because it presented just how diverse his skill set can be when needed depending on his intentions for the artwork in question.  Here, he presents a candid series of moments that have Laura going to the movies with Gambit, Jubilee, and Wolverine in a lighthearted comedic commentary about cinema tastes and the stories that can stick with us from how we are exposed to them as children.  It reflects Laura's inner child in how she reacts to Pinocchio, but also reflects a guilty pleasure of Laura's to slasher flicks by using Nightmare on Elm Street.  An element that is reminiscent of the origin miniseries X-23: Target X and shows an artist who took into account his subject material before approaching his work.

7.

X23 and Fantomex by ~Danart-comic on deviantART
This piece by Dana/Danart-comic of deviantART just stood out to me.  So much so, I had to find a place to fit her in here.  Her work is so good it made me scrutinize every choice I made so far to find an opening to fit this piece in.  It has a manga flair to it that just screams talented artist that should long be a professional by now.  This one in particular reminds me of work by Kenichi Sonoda of Gunsmith Cats fame among other childhood favorites of mine.  It makes me wonder what a manga version of X-Force would be like, and it makes me want to turn towards Marvel and say hire her now and let her make an X-23 manga post-haste!  It left me that awestruck that I really want to just let her work speak for itself.  Please, check out her galleries.  Every one of her pieces is just that amazing.

6.

X-23 by ~godmercys on deviantART
This piece from godmercys of deviantART stood out to me because of how the face was drawn.  Something about it stands out while still using her Marvel 616 modern X-Men costume.  The usage of perspective creates a striking a pose of a woman ready to take on anything in the world.  It conveys a Laura that's almost even daring anything to come, as she's more than ready to handle everything thrown her way.  The background used gives off a hardcover almost fairy tale book cover feel that even takes into account the excess white expanse making it all work in unison magnificently.

5.

X-23 lost childhood by ~Dannith on deviantART

The artwork is by Daniele Torres aka Dannith of deviantART.  It conveys a more reflective X-23.  This piece shows us a slightly saddened Laura Kinney over the childhood she never had.  A moment that's reflected in her sorrowful eyes and gently mournful expression.  It uses scenery to help convey a childhood lost, and yet also shows another side of Laura we often see in the comics.  A side of her that has yet to fully realize though her childhood has long ended, that doesn't mean she has to grow up.  She sits looking at her claws near the swings suggesting she's too old for them and that those days taken from her are long gone, and yet, she could still experience that childlike awe with the wind rushing through her hair if she wanted.  This piece reminds me how easy it is to forget that no matter how old we grow, we should never forget that the simpler things we enjoy are still within arm's reach.  Just because you grow old, doesn't mean you have to grow up and stop being a child at heart.  A lesson we all forget at times.

4.

X-23 by *Protokitty on deviantART
This one was an incredibly difficult choice.  The other piece of artwork also by Lynne Yoshii known as Protokitty on deviantART is just as magnificent.  This was almost a coin flip between these two pieces.  They both convey such an amazing talent and I was just awestruck when I stumbled upon them.  She manages to capture Laura in all the right ways and yet still convey a style that is all her own too.  It honestly leaves me speechless.  I'm not sure how I can describe the talent here other than saying that Marvel should hire her like yesterday.  It leaves me that much in awe that I outright want a full X-23 comic done by this artist.

3.

X-23 Sketch by ~CrashedAgain on deviantART

This piece by CrashedAgain of deviantART made the cut because of the emotion he manages to instill with a simple deck of cards with Laura.  It conveys an X-23 looking fondly back on her time spent with Gambit, and truly makes one think about what these two could someday mean to each other.  He manages to capture a human side of Laura Kinney that's not saddened by her past and yet is also still somewhat torn by her future.  The colors choices sit well to help create a picture that still lingers in your mind long after you've seen it.  A somewhat sad moment and yet oddly still hope filled.  Simple and yet complex on so many levels.

2.

Jubilee and X-23 by ~ryoh15 on deviantART
While it's no secret that I absolutely adore X-23 and Jubilee as best friends(Marjorie Liu, seriously you are a brilliant brilliant woman), this piece just stands out to me more so than others.  The youth portrayed and playfulness it entails of two woman ready to take on the world, or the mall as the case may be, just speaks volumes to their friendship and how well it works.  The style chosen by ryoh15 just screams epic but also subdued.  A simple captured moment like a candid photo and yet it really instills their innocent more human sides perfectly.  Simply beautiful and marvelous.  If ever Marvel chose to tell the missing years tales of X-23, this is the style I hope they would use.  It really evokes her age from Target X well, while also still conveying a modern X-23 that's discovered the simpler joys in life from being around good friends.

1.

X-23 Laura Kinney by ~BanebrookStudios on deviantART

This piece done by Jacob Newall made the number 1 spot for me.  I love the alterations he made to the costume.  It's very reminiscent of Laura's Academy X costume mixed with her more common attire used in the Marvel Vs Capcom 3 game, but it's the face that really captured my attention.  Something in how he drew it just really speaks to me.  It's soft and kind and yet also still speaks about the woman that is X-23.  While I've adored all the fan art done of X-23, for me personally this will always by my favorite.  Something about this piece is just hypnotic and warm.  While I doubt Marvel would ever redesign the look that fans have come to know in the 616 universe, if they ever decide to introduce her to the Marvel Ultimate universe this is how I wish she would appear.  Something about it just feels right for X-23.



I want to go ahead and apologize as well.  This is last weeks Fan Featured Friday that I missed.  It is coming in a bit late because of varied reasons that I don't intend to use as an excuse so I won't use them as such.  My apologies for missing that Trip F as it was a 23rd of the month even.  I normally try to stay more ahead of the curve on these entries, but  many times Murphy's law does play a factor.  I hope to make it up to you guys by offering two Fan Featured Fridays today though.