Demi Lovato to Fan Artist: I Can Be a Beautiful Mermaid Without DDs

Imaginative fans often put pen to paper to depict their favorite celebrities and characters through new lenses. Some, like Instagram artist Jovan Rosario, aka @ponyy­_boyy, keep it light. Rosario has amassed a 304k+ following thanks to his hyper-stylized, cartoonish renderings of Disney characters as fashion icons, the Kardashians as themselves, and angels like Selena, Amy Winehouse and Aaliyah rocking today’s trends. Others, like Tumblr artist dellbelle39, opt for more politicized subject matter, depicting Harry Potter characters as races other than whiteVladimir Serbanescu, a 17-year-old artist from Romania, illustrates popular images of celebrities, sometimes with an imaginative twist, with the intention of entertaining, not making a hard-hitting statement.

However, Serbanescu’s recent drawing of Demi Lovato got a mixed review from its subject, thanks to his unrealistic portrayal of the singer’s body.

Lovato, who often uses her much-followed social media accounts to discuss her mental health and body image issues — and thus help break down the stigma surrounding these very common struggles, found the picture “gorgeous” but took issue with Serbanescu filling out her chest. She commented on the image, which, of course, got the Internet trolls going. (See below.)

Some fans saw Demi as ungrateful, given that fan artists typically spend hours on their homages and distort reality to conform to their style, whether that means adding a mermaid tail or upping someone’s cup size. However, given that Demi has been vocal about her ongoing recovery from an eating disorder, others backed up the “Body Say” singer and decried the potentially triggering image.

The truth of the matter is that Demi has every right to call out fan artists for perpetuating unhealthy, unrealistic standards of beauty. Repeatedly Barbie-fying celebrities who don’t want to conform to a certain ideal isn’t truly celebrating them. Obviously, people are free to exercise their artistic freedom. But why not mix creativity with social consciousness?

[ via Cosmopolitan ]

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