A Genshin Impact fan has reimagined and drawn in-game characters like Keqing, QiQi, and Yanfei as real birds. Genshin Impact is a popular free-to-play RPG featuring a stable of collectable and playable characters. Many artists have embraced the game’s cast, creating their own renditions and sharing them online. The game’s publisher, miHoYo, has actively embraced Genshin Impact fan art by sponsoring contests in which artists can show off their creations to win in-game and real-life prizes.
One popular forum for artists to share their creations is Reddit, where the Genshin Impact subreddit has 1.3 million members and a dedicated tag for original content. The all-time top-voted post in the subreddit is a fan animation by user totouri poking fun at the game’s gacha system, which requires players to pull for characters and weapons. Besides Reddit, artists often also cross post their content on other social media apps like Instagram or Twitter, as well as operating storefronts selling Genshin Impact-related merchandise on sites like Etsy.
One creative artist, Reddit user Taylko, took five characters from the game and drew them using real bird species as inspiration. First posting a month ago, Taylko drew Klee as a Fairywren and Yanfei as a Siberian Crane, with each post capturing a fair amount of attention from other users. Since then, the artist has also shared avian versions of Venti, QiQi, and, most recently, Keqing. Each piece of Genshin Impact fan art takes clear inspiration from each character’s in-game look and personality, with Venti’s Violetear Hummingbird reimagining even clutching the bard’s signature Holy Lyre.
In response to the warm reception to the artwork series, Artist Taylko replied in post comments that the series would continue with other characters like Diluc and Diona. As the artist continues with the series, the dedicated fans of each individual Genshin Impact character will surely appreciate each skilled rendition and debate the choice of bird of each fandom’s favorite character.
While the artist hasn’t made any indications whether these pieces will be made available for purchase as prints or other physical media, miHoYo has publicly embraced fan artists creating derivative or secondary art using Genshin Impact IP. The company even created a process for artists to seek authorization to sell fan-made merchandise and allows artists to sell up to 500 units of a product without any need to declare, a very different stance to fan sales than companies like Nintendo.
Genshin Impact, with miHoYo’s openness to derivative work and sponsoring of official art contests, has fostered a community for both fans, artists, and fan artists to create and appreciate Genshin-inspired content. For fans, they can see their beloved characters come to life in new and unique ways, from original artwork to physical merchandise and cosplay. For artists, the policy helps them gain both exposure and recognition for their hard work and creativity. As for Taylko’s work, the artwork shows that fan art is sometimes only limited by an artist’s imagination, while the fandoms of unfeatured characters are sure to be waiting for their preferred characters to be drawn next.
Genshin Impact is available on PS5, PS4, PC, iOS, and Android.
Source: Taylko/Reddit