lostonearth35 wrote:
I've created some fan art and fiction of cartoons and video games , but I don't think I'm very good at it because I mainly stay true to the way the characters and the "world" they're in originally, keep the content to a PG rating and don't creepily fetishize anything.

Same here. I've written fanfiction and drawn fanart, though I've been more focused on my original stuff lately, and I also try to stick close to canon. For the most part I end up writing fanfiction because while I'm watching or reading something my brain runs away with theories and questions about the plot or setting, so I end up writing what I think the answers might be. I try to maintain a T rating, though it's more to be on the safe side due to any "canon typical violence" or swearing. I don't write romance and if relationships are included at all they're very much a background element and never the main focus. You'll never find sex in anything I write. I try to keep the characters in character. I also try to avoid weird AUs, crossovers or anything that diverges too much from canon. Despite all that, I've had quite a few stories that were really popular.
When I'm looking for fanfiction to read I also tend to look for the same sort of stuff. AO3's search is really helpful since I can exclude anything E rated, crossovers and any tags I specifically don't want.