Influence Map

Wow, first meme I wasn't too much of a lazy-ass to complete! Cheers!

It was pretty easy to think of these, considering I obsess over must of them now as much as I did when I first discovered them. For the most part, anyway. They're not in any particular order, and I tried at first to make my biggest influences...well, bigger, but I started running out of room.

I'm sure I forgot a couple, but these are the biggies. Onward, then! Prepare for TL;DR!



1.) Hayao Miyazaki films. Hayao Miyazaki is often known as the Walt Disney of the East (or something along those lines), and for good reason. He's a fanatastic storyteller and I really love that even in the digital age he sticks to traditional methods and 2D animation. He rarely does a film I don't love, and it's his storytelling and lush color and world detail that always gets me.

2.) Final Fantasy VIII. I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only people who likes this game...though it seems pretty evenly split down the middle. Definitely my favorite FF game, and the character designs really inspired a lot of my early character design.

3.) Lackadaisy Cats/Tracy Butler. Holy shit, what an amazing artist. I swear to god, Tracy is like...incapable of drawing anything less than awe-inspiring. Her pencil work is just....dayum!

4.) Cowboy Bebop - aside from having a kickass soundtrack, the story style and jazzy influences always inspire me.

5.) I love looking at early 20th century fashion plates and costumes. Early 20th century history and fashion is one of my biggest dork-out things, and the fashion is gorgeous.

6.) Alphonse Mucha. Oh man, Mucha. Mucha is my god. His attention to vivid and pinpoint detail, his "macaroni" hair, his use of color and light and his folds and thick lines and blaahhhh let's just say I obsess unhealthily over the guy's work and have been incorporating more and more Mucha into my work.

7.) One of my many deviantART influences, *lily-fox. Especially her images of Jenny St. James, Her lighting and figures and particularly faces are something I look at a lot when doing character work.

8.) Beauty and the Beast - Okay, I HAD to give this one the biggest spot. Beauty and the Beast is by far my biggest inspiration. I saw it when it came out in theaters and I was just 3, and it really launched my love of everything art, film, music, and animation. This movie is the whole reason I'm an artist, and you bet your ass I'm buying the Diamond Edition in October! /dorking out.
And really, just Disney in general. Disney started seeping into my art a LONGGGG time ago. I am a slave to the Mouse.

9.) Looney Tunes - Looney Tunes is the shit! Chuck Jone's stuff especially. The humor and jaunty angles and shapes and just everything! All the goofiness I ever draw comes from the loopy wacky Looney Tunes.

10.) Miss =Shira-chan ! Sarah's been my good online and IRL friend for almost eight years now, and is pretty much my go-to person for help/chat with anything art-related. I can't even tell you how much she's influenced my stuff - and actually, she's responsible for me having Photoshop and a tablet at all. So really, it's thanks to her that I'm here!

11.) Slayers! Hee I love this show. It was really the first anime I ever loved, not including Sailor Moon lol, and for quite a few years, it was my reference for any drawing I did. I'm glad I got out of that phase, but I still love the show and the impact it had on me.

12.) Batman: The Animated Series. I am a fan of all things Batman, but especially the animated series. Bruce Timm's simplistic but effective cartoon style was really appealingly mature from early on, and still slips into my work sometimes.

13.) The Meek/Der-shing Helmer, a.k.a. `alexds1 Talk about an amazing artist, and self-taught to boot! Always impressive, and she draws excellent expressions and poses, not to mention being a fantastic storyteller. I am pretty much using her as my webcomic model.

14.) *makani's art was always a BIG influence on me. I started borrowing her noses and eyes and hands without realizing it, and now they're pretty much a permanent fixture in my characters. ....sorry makani!

15.) Jim Borgman's great cartoony work. I was lucky enough to shadow him at work one day, and he's a meticulous worker with a great loopy style, not to mention a SUPER nice guy (he gave me three free signed books and drew me and my mom portraits!).

16.) *ktshy Oh man, Queen of Expressions right here. And poses. And comic strips. Shrub Monkeys is a beautiful thing. I try my darndest to make crazy eyes like she does! (drawing, that is)

17.) *Jubilations Yeah I definitely borrow from her when it comes to faces and anatomy. Her art is not only excellent but hilarious!

18.) Marc Davis - one of Disney's Nine Old Men, Marc Davis' work made an impression on me from the time I started watching the specials on how Disney films were created. Her female character work is very inspiring!

19.) `bri-chan Do I even need to explain the inspiration? Fellow Disney nuts gotta stick together, especially when they rock!

20.) Lora Innes' work on The Dreamer. She's a fabulous artist, not to mention a great person - she's mentored me a little bit on my linework and it's really helped me quite a bit. She is a graduate of my college and so she knows what we go through at school

OH I forgot to add this on there, but Clio Chiang. Definitely. Her loopy, shapely art is flawless.

Also also =mree. She was definitely one of my early influences with character design, particularly that of an exotic fantasy sort.

All artwork belongs to its respective owners. I do not own any of the images used here!