The artist definitely nailed it. No doubt about it.
As for paying tribute...I can only speak for myself. I love fan art, and fan fiction! For me it is a huge compliment and a wonderful way to share in the love we have for this fetish and community. That said...I would always check with an author/creator before using their characters. As I am sure you would. Everyone has a different take on how their work is used...which totally makes sense. I've actually been remiss in fully understanding and respecting all those feelings in the past and probably took liberties with other people's characters. Which I now regret. But at least I learned something. ;o)
As for the characters and worlds I have authored - I encourage any and all fan creations. There are a pure delight to me.
Yay,
The Deetz
Fanart/fan fiction are a double-edged sword. It can be an awesome way to pay tribute to one's favorite artists, be (s)he a writer, a cartoonist or whatever. It is also fun to expand a universe, bringing one's own brand of creativity to someone else's creations. It requires a certain discipline as well, making sure not to stray from the original material nor betray it, while bringing something fresh to it.
That said, there are also the people who are kind of "piggybacking" on an author's talent. Or those who do betray a work's spirit. And as with all things, the line can be blurry sometimes. Also, there is such a thing as writing
too much fanfiction. George R.R. Martin was right to advise against this as a potentially terrible thing to do as a young author. The risk being that, by remaining in the comfort zone of playing with someone else's characters, one would become incapable of challenging oneself and imagining something new.
As an author myself, I this have mixed feelings towards fan art and fiction. I would consider very carefully before appropriating someone else's universe, and I would naturally always ask for permission before doing anything to their characters or world. But the temptation of paying tribute to my favorite authors sometimes is too hard to resist, especially when encouraged to do so by the man himself, like CAB for his Spring Break Me contest. Or Bandito just now. And there is always the possibility to play with a universe which I like; I wrote some Warhammer fiction when I was younger.
EDIT: Here John Kovalic explains what fan-fics mean to us. It rings especially true, and once again it makes me strongly suspect that he might be "one of us"
😀