Inspiration~
Sep. 29th, 2010 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
surrealistdreamerSo there are these Influence Maps floating around right? You may not know this about me, but I love looking at other people's memes. Some memes are really great and I always think "Oh man, I should do one!" but then I get distracted actually working on something or just don't get around to it. >_>
However, as opposed to actually finding images and doing the meme I'm going to do a Top Twelve List of the things that have influenced me the most. I swear that one day I will actually have some art up on this journal to make it worth looking it. XD
12) Animated Movies and Shows from the 1990's
Just to put this into perspective for some of you I was born in 1991 so my memory of media doesn't go back much farther than, say, 1994 or 1996. The only reason I saw any show from the '80s was because they were rerun in the '90s or there were VHS tapes of them laying around. Ah, VHS tapes. <3
And while I admit that a lot of the movies and shows that I loved in my formative years weren't...good always they still inspired me to be the artist/person I am today. Why? Because animation has always fascinated me. It's like magic.
11)Digimon
FUCK YEAH THIS SHOW! back when I was wee tot who didn't know the first thing about Anime, Manga, or Japan I was heavy into Digimon. It's plot was straight forward good vs evil, but it managed to show how the eight kids (though they started out with seven) changed and grew. Matt (yes, I use their English dub names) was particularlly interesting case and my first exposure to a kind of brooding anti-hero. Though he did come around toward the end of it all he was helping other characters over come the darkness in their own hearts. Yeah, the kids were still kids, but they were over all good and deterined to save a world they barely knew.
And I'm just going to go ahead and say that I always liked this show better than Pokemon. Sure Pokemon promoted being a good person, but it seemed so preachy coming from a show whose protagonists were one dimensional and obsessed with collecting an army of monsters. However Pokemon probably have more commerical sucess because while the Digidestined only had one monster partner (unless the monsters were twins) a Pokemon trainer got to collect as many monsters as they wanted.
10) Anime/Manga
When I was about 12/13 I got way into anime. Like, whoa. It consumed me. I was pretty typical in that I got into it through Sailor Moon and DBZ, but I also went to the Anime Club at my college (while I was in highschool). I got exposed to a lot different anime and met one of my closest friends.
However the year before I graduated highschool the club got taken over by creepy, perverted fanboys and all we'd ever watch after that is stuff that seemed more interested in fanservice then actually telling a story. I'm not bothered by cheesecake, I just don't want it all the time. I want my meal first and formost, then if I'm hankering for a bit of desert then I'll gladly have some.
Dispite all that the anime style had a powerful influence on my own style and if I'm perfectly honest it still does. I know that people kinda poo poo the anime style and look down on those who use it, but I don't see the shame in admiting that it had an influence on my own work. Yes, I like sparkly shoujo anime (as well as action adventures and homoerotic anime). Get over it.
9) African Art
I am a pretty big art history nerd. I love learning about art history! What inspired this was learning about African Art. It amazed me that a lot of art in Africa is/was created not for art sake like a lot of European and Western Art movements led to, but each piece served a specific purpose. Yes, all art has a purpose, but a of the tradional art in Africa is made for either a religious or ceremonial purpose and once the purpose has been served the piece is handed down or sold. There's just something really cool about that.
Let it not be said that I'm not also influenced by African American artists such as Kara Walker or Wanda Ewing.
8) Jak and Daxter (particularly Jak 2)
These games were really fun! The first one was imaginative and straight forward action adventures. Good times were had by all! The world was vast and each level unique unto itself. I think what inspired me most was the environments the games took place in.
Then the series went through mood whiplash and took us to a place that was dark, darky mcDark dark. The setting changed from a lush and colorful world to a dank and dreary city. There was a corrupt government, evil beings wanting to take over the world, and time travel involved.
I have to admit that looking back the first game had a much more enjoyable story with characters that didn't have a whole lot of depth to them, but they didn't need it either. Jak 2 had a lot of wooden characterization that was just more noticeable because it was taking itself much more seriously.
Jak 3 had a lot of the same problems that Jak 2 had with it's story with a helping of continuity derailment and weird. I'll go off on a tangent on why I think that another time, but I'd be lying if the games 1-3 didn't influence me especially for a particular story I'm working on. Yeah...
I'll post the other half the later when I have more time.
However, as opposed to actually finding images and doing the meme I'm going to do a Top Twelve List of the things that have influenced me the most. I swear that one day I will actually have some art up on this journal to make it worth looking it. XD
12) Animated Movies and Shows from the 1990's
Just to put this into perspective for some of you I was born in 1991 so my memory of media doesn't go back much farther than, say, 1994 or 1996. The only reason I saw any show from the '80s was because they were rerun in the '90s or there were VHS tapes of them laying around. Ah, VHS tapes. <3
And while I admit that a lot of the movies and shows that I loved in my formative years weren't...good always they still inspired me to be the artist/person I am today. Why? Because animation has always fascinated me. It's like magic.
11)Digimon
FUCK YEAH THIS SHOW! back when I was wee tot who didn't know the first thing about Anime, Manga, or Japan I was heavy into Digimon. It's plot was straight forward good vs evil, but it managed to show how the eight kids (though they started out with seven) changed and grew. Matt (yes, I use their English dub names) was particularlly interesting case and my first exposure to a kind of brooding anti-hero. Though he did come around toward the end of it all he was helping other characters over come the darkness in their own hearts. Yeah, the kids were still kids, but they were over all good and deterined to save a world they barely knew.
And I'm just going to go ahead and say that I always liked this show better than Pokemon. Sure Pokemon promoted being a good person, but it seemed so preachy coming from a show whose protagonists were one dimensional and obsessed with collecting an army of monsters. However Pokemon probably have more commerical sucess because while the Digidestined only had one monster partner (unless the monsters were twins) a Pokemon trainer got to collect as many monsters as they wanted.
10) Anime/Manga
When I was about 12/13 I got way into anime. Like, whoa. It consumed me. I was pretty typical in that I got into it through Sailor Moon and DBZ, but I also went to the Anime Club at my college (while I was in highschool). I got exposed to a lot different anime and met one of my closest friends.
However the year before I graduated highschool the club got taken over by creepy, perverted fanboys and all we'd ever watch after that is stuff that seemed more interested in fanservice then actually telling a story. I'm not bothered by cheesecake, I just don't want it all the time. I want my meal first and formost, then if I'm hankering for a bit of desert then I'll gladly have some.
Dispite all that the anime style had a powerful influence on my own style and if I'm perfectly honest it still does. I know that people kinda poo poo the anime style and look down on those who use it, but I don't see the shame in admiting that it had an influence on my own work. Yes, I like sparkly shoujo anime (as well as action adventures and homoerotic anime). Get over it.
9) African Art
I am a pretty big art history nerd. I love learning about art history! What inspired this was learning about African Art. It amazed me that a lot of art in Africa is/was created not for art sake like a lot of European and Western Art movements led to, but each piece served a specific purpose. Yes, all art has a purpose, but a of the tradional art in Africa is made for either a religious or ceremonial purpose and once the purpose has been served the piece is handed down or sold. There's just something really cool about that.
Let it not be said that I'm not also influenced by African American artists such as Kara Walker or Wanda Ewing.
8) Jak and Daxter (particularly Jak 2)
These games were really fun! The first one was imaginative and straight forward action adventures. Good times were had by all! The world was vast and each level unique unto itself. I think what inspired me most was the environments the games took place in.
Then the series went through mood whiplash and took us to a place that was dark, darky mcDark dark. The setting changed from a lush and colorful world to a dank and dreary city. There was a corrupt government, evil beings wanting to take over the world, and time travel involved.
I have to admit that looking back the first game had a much more enjoyable story with characters that didn't have a whole lot of depth to them, but they didn't need it either. Jak 2 had a lot of wooden characterization that was just more noticeable because it was taking itself much more seriously.
Jak 3 had a lot of the same problems that Jak 2 had with it's story with a helping of continuity derailment and weird. I'll go off on a tangent on why I think that another time, but I'd be lying if the games 1-3 didn't influence me especially for a particular story I'm working on. Yeah...
I'll post the other half the later when I have more time.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 08:56 pm (UTC)This is a really interesting post. It's caused me to look back on how much 80s cartoons influenced me. Then American-based superhero comics and fantasy novels filled a place in my adolescence similar to the one anime filled for you.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 09:05 pm (UTC)You should do your list of influence. I tried to make the list kind of be in order from earliest I can remember to more recent.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 02:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 02:45 am (UTC)I'm excited for it. 8D