Fantasy art is strongly linked to fantasy fiction. Indeed fantasy art pieces are often intended to represent specific characters or scenes from works of fantasy literature. Such works created by amateur artists may be called fanart.

There is a large subculture based around the creation of amateur fantasy art. This is largely centred around websites such as Elfwood and deviantART. Such sites are noticeably less male-dominated than some other pursuits related to the fantasy genre.

Fantasy art should not be confused with the fantastic art genre, which can contain fantastical elements that are not always considered "fantasy" per se.

Despite the technical skill of many of its practitioners, and despite (or arguably because of) its popularity, Fantasy art is not considered part of the 'canon', or 'fine art', in the sense that it is not hung in galleries, subsidised by governments, studied in art schools etc.

A few works which are 'canonical', particularly surrealist or pre-Raphaelite works, have many characteristics in common with fantasy art. For example The Castle in the Pyrenees by Rene Magritte, and The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, would almost certainly be accepted as fantasy art if they had been created recently by an artist who presented them as such. As with much fantasy art, the latter illustrates a scene from another work. Other modern fantasy artists use the Art Nouveau Movement and other high culture art movements with the contention that fantasy or faerie art should be critically evaluated and noticed by academic institutions. Finucane defines his art stylistics as "Neo-Medieval", rather than using the escapist terminology of "fantasy art" to define his work. Historical standards of what is high art or what is not high art was a common problem for now famous artists like the Glasgow School, who were also unfairly defined as inferior artists in their time.

Nonetheless these works are accorded the status of fine art, and not considered to be connected to fantasy art. The situation could arguably be compared to the way in which certain critically-esteemed works may be treated as if they had no connection to non-'literary' genres, for example Nineteen Eighty-Four and science fiction.

Popuar fantasy artists include:

Alan Lee Chris Achilleos Yoshitaka Amano Lindsay Archer John Bauer Julie Bell Gerald Brom Amy Brown Thomas Canty Caniglia

Oscar Chichoni James Christensen Kinuko Y. Craft Rich DiSilvio Bob Eggleton Larry Elmore Frank Frazetta Brian Froud Stephen Hickman John Howe

Naohisa Inoue Jody Lee Angus McBride Keith Parkinson Myrea Pettit Luis Royo Bill Toma Boris Vallejo Charles Vess Michael Whelan

The fantasy genre has spawned many new subgenres with no clear counterparts in the myths or folklore upon which the tradition of fantasy storytelling is based, although inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme. Since the rise of popular fantasy fiction in the twentieth century, the fantasy genre has subdivided into a number of branches.

Whereas works of early modern fantasy were often lumped together, later works are typically divided into subgenres. These subgenres are usually extended to include works of early modern fantasy.

The subgeneres are:

1. Alternate history
2. Bangsian fantasy
3. Comic fantasy
4. Contemporary fantasy
4.1 Urban fantasy
5. Dark fantasy
6. Erotic fantasy
7. Fairytale fantasy
8. Heroic fantasy
9. High fantasy
10. Historical fantasy
10.1 Celtic Fantasy
10.2 Steampunk
10.3 Wuxia
10.4 Historical high fantasy
10.5 Medieval fantasy
11. Juvenile fantasy
12. Low fantasy
13. Fantasy of manners
14. Mythic fiction
15. Romantic fantasy
16. Science fantasy
16.1 Dying Earth fiction
17. Series fantasy
18. Superhero fantasy
19. Sword and sorcery