Artists really do love to police artists that draw fanart like "they just do it for followers, that's not art!! I am the one who draws TRUE art because I ENJOY what I do!!" but like

Have you considerd fanart literally comes from... doing art of things you enjoy being a FAN of...

There are infinite approaches to art, to social media, to everything.

Unless you copy or trace, you're still an artist and not of any less or more value than others.

Some prefer going for their own OCs because that's what they enjoy. Some prefer drawing fanart because maybe their joy doesn't come from creating worlds, but to reflect others' worlds

Some might value getting seen more and will market/strategize their approach. Others won't

All of these approaches have their merits, and most importantly, their effort. ALL of these approaches have a lot of effort, so do not desmerit them just because they're not your same approach

"But this dude just draws for clout!" "This artist just draws what's in fashion! That's cheap" means that ARTIST spent time thinking how to get to a goal they want to get to. Might not be your same goal, but they're prioritizing what they consider important, and that's also good

As artist, what do you value most?
What do you want to do? Where do you want to get?

What means do you WANT to use? What'd help do it faster? Do you WANT/NEED to get there faster? Would that change your priorities?

Consider those & don't let jealousy get in the way of it

Considering these questions well & acting true to them helps a lot

This could be summed up as:
spend more time figuring out how to use your energy & how to learn from others, instead of despising their ways. Admire them for what they do right & what they do to reach their goals

Consider:

Instead of "this artist is drawing whatever's hype now so that he gets more followers, ugh! They just get their job from doing this! Ugh!!"

Think "wow this artist really keeps an eye out for what's in fashion, approaches it straight-on, and now he's got a dream job!"

The first one is just jealousy poisoning you from within

The second one is you realizing what someone's doing well, and thus, learning from it

It might be hard to get from a negative mindset like the first one to the second one, but you can do it. It's something you exercise

This thread ended up being long and I feel like I could never be done with it haha. It's a conversation I find extremely important, but tweeting feels a bit weird and one-sided, doesn't it

I hope I got my points across well without anything being misunderstood in weird ways!