Aside from literary inspirations like Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, Douglas Adams, etc. my main inspirations tend to be from the world of cinema. I was a film major. Sue me.
My most obvious inspiration would probably Tim Burton, which can be clearly seen in The Death of Death, and I'm currently in the middle of writing a young adult novel that is inspired by the great Hayao Miyazaki. But my absolute main inspiration from childhood, being a great fan of his animated films and theme parks, would have to be Walt Disney.
There is something about his life story that was so appealing to me. Not that I was exactly a young boy from Kansas. Quite the contrary, I'm some dude from Los Angeles. But he came from relatively humble beginnings to build one of, if not the biggest, entertainment conglomerates in the world. But that's not all that I find admirable as I have no personal aspirations to do the same. No, it was his vision that did it for me. His story telling ability. His world building talent. And that's the thing I'm going for. To build a whole world from the ground up––literally in the form of Disneyland and subsequent Disney parks––is something that I hope I'm doing with my stories. It's something that I'm striving for and a goal I hope I'm hitting. Who knows? One day you'll see a version of my Death, or Cran the robot in the form of puffed cartoony theme park characters taking pictures with frightened children. One can dream.
Who are your inspirations?
From a drawing standpoint I would say Bruce Timm, Tim Sale, and Chris Bachalo. I created some of my favorite characters trying to draw in Bachalo's style in high school. If you took any of their art to an art teacher that specialized in anatomy they would get F's which is what I got in art more often than not. I started drawing because of my brother and had no idea he kept it up until he passed away and some drawings he did were found. My Grandmama used to draw when she was younger and my father got a scholarship for drafting but didn't spend a day in college.
ReplyDeleteAs for writing, I started reading books late (first book at 11 The Stand) and didn't really touch another one until I was about 16. Stephen King inspired me and then Dean Koontz. Then I got into Phillip K. Dick, Walter Mosley, and most recently Derek Landy with his Skullduggery Pleasant series. Guy cranked out about nine amazing books where one was better than the next. A. Lee Martinez is another that had me laughing while reading his stuff. If I don't want to compete with someone I can not consider them inspirational.