Five Fantastic Fanartists of 2009
1. nikkiwawa79 at disco_peacez
I've recced Nikki here before because she makes some of the best icons I've ever seen like the ones in this post (who doesn't love Cordy with money with the text of "HELL YES"?), this post (the cropping on 8 under BTVS is just so delicious, creative, and speaks volumes of the subjects) and this post (The Man Eater Charisma Carpenter #2 is a perfect example. Fantastic crop, great coloring, perfect text). Her coloring is great, her cropping is unique, and her use of text and textures is out of this world. If you want clever and beautiful text, her icons are for you.
2. easy_to_corrupt at rapid_obsession
A lot of you might know her by her former name buffy_the_vamp6. Bursting onto the scene this year, she is one of the most talented wallpaper and header makers I've seen. She is always eager to take requests and lovebar collection (just a sampling. She has more under her lovebar tag has just about every pairing combination you can think of. She does a fantastic rare series (again, just a small sampling, more of which can be found under her rare series tag) which is incredible since I know how hard it is to find good fanart for really rare pairings. Like my personal favorite, her Buffy/Clem wallpaper. (Most her posts are locked so I picked unlocked posts so everyone could enjoy)
3. dontgetanyolder at Deviant Art
Seeing people doing traditional art for the 'verse is hard to come by these days but that doesn't stop dontgetanyolder. She has been producing amazing works for the Buffyverse this year like Spike and Dru Eternal, Lorne, and Willow. She is new to painting fanart but it's easy to see with the progession of her work, that she continues to get better and better. I'm excited to see what she can accomplish in 2010 in a medium that doesn't get a lot of new submissions in fandom.
4. sentine for still_grrr
Sentine has been recced here already but anyone that looks at her works can see why she needs to be recced again. Even when she doesn't use the characters (like in the School Hard poster recced before), she has an incredible ability to capture the characters in her episode posters. Not only that, but she has done great wallpapers before too as well. I love this Cordelia wallpaper in celebration of The Haircut. And the gritty feel of her Bargaining Poster totally reminds me of the old horror films of the 60s and 70s. The coloring, placement, and cap choice for her Lover's Walk Poster is almost like one of those rom-com posters but with the coloring, the placement of the B&W Buffy cap in the center, it's clear something sinister is going on. (And for a bonus, Firefly fans, she does Firefly episode posters just as well.)
5. sevendeadlyfun for still_grrr
In the three years since Still Grrr has opened, we haven't had someone has dedicated to making fanart as sevendeadlyfun. The sheer volume of wallpapers and art pieces makes it very difficult for me to rec just one. The combination of caps and then creative text from old works really elevates the art to a different level. Like this piece with Darla and Drusilla with text from Genevieve Taggard's poem The Quiet Woman or this piece with Buffy and The First with the most perfect use of text from Oscar Wilde. Even humorous art like this Spike piece is still incredibly visually stunning. It takes a real talent to combine text and great art so creative and fantastically.