Biggest inspirations for your work?

[SlugBomb]

It's a well known saying that virtually all our works are built on those before it. What has been the biggest influence on your comic or novel? Being an avid consumer of video games, film and comics, I have quite a few for my sci-fi/fantasy comic.

Usagi Yojimbo: A comic centered on the trials and tribulations of a rabbit ronin in Edo Japan. I've always loved how the relatively simple art style manages to paint such a rich setting and create fast-paced fight scenes.

Avatar: the Last Airbender: Basically, the powers are cool and it's interesting how the art of bending shapes the societies and culture of its world.

Sacrifice: A bizarre, third-person RTS/RPG game made by Shiny Entertainment (Earthworm Jim, MDK). In it, you play as a wizard that fights others by summoning minions with various abilities. Victory is determined by the composition of your army, how you use that army and the support spells your own wizard casts during battle. This concept is something I'm brainstorming for my comic, and I hope to someday expand my comic into a game that pays homage to Sacrifice.

A Boy and His Blob: I never played the game, but the idea of someone using his companion to do just about anything is a cool concept.

Here's my comic by the way.

WyrmGuard :: 001 | Tapas

[A-weird-girler]

An old fanfic. Please do not ask

[A-weird-girler]

Also A certain someone from the mlp fandom. Used to be in it but not anymore

[SlugBomb]

lol, now I want to know more...

[A-weird-girler]

Let's just say it was a hell of a bad ride but one I'm willing to take again

[SlugBomb]

Right, always good to dig out the skeletons in the closet and improve on them. Are you planning on making a comic out of your previous work?

[A-weird-girler]

I am right now

[SlugBomb]

If you don't mind me asking, what was the fanfic based on?

[Vanesalisa]

yeah you got us curious so it's your fault

[Swamp]

My first inspirations for my comic were the Sherlock Holmes novels and Alicia Nash. I wanted to write something about the Watsons, people who are amazing, but end up taking a backseat to somebody else's genius.
More recent inspirations would be The Stormlight Archives (my favourite novels), Bokura no Kiseki (my favourite manga), NieR (the older one, not automata), Hawaii, my fiance's RP characters, and various other things I tore little pieces from or made me want to do better. Bokura no Kiseki made me think more about structures of hierarchy, the stormlight archives made me up my worldbuilding, ect.
My current novel project is less inspired by my favourites, and more irritation with a lot of Urban Fantasy books and horror TV (Not naming names, but thinking them, hard and bitterly) and wanting to write what I'd like to see.

[YaoiParadise]

I was inspired by all the trashy omegaverse comics/wattpad stories I had the misfortune to come across. I've always loved werewolves, but the glorified rape and abuse seemed like a slap in the face to everybody who's ever suffered the real thing- it's not romantic.
I just wanted to do it the right way, lol. Show the bad things as bad, you know.

In general I'm very inspired by anime, it colors a lot of my action scenes and probably infects all of my work in one way or another.

[SlugBomb]

I like the idea for the comic! Good to see someone bring a spotlight to the Luigis of the world. I don't usually read or watch urban fantasy stuff, what was wrong with the genre for you?

[IdiotWithPencil]

for my start a very good unfinished nuzlocke by a guy named Landwalker (great artist), I love pokemon and other cute things with weird or dark undertones.

For my current comic my inspirations are primarily digimon tamer (the best one IMO) the premise of an innocent kid and his nuclear bomb of a dog/dragon in a dark and uncaring world is interesting and fun for me; the second one would be zatch (gash for the weebs) bell, again a troubled teen with a nuclear powered little brother/demon in a game to the death is interesting and fun for me.

@A-weird-girler whispers into his ear Tell uuuuuuuus

[Swamp]

I have three big beefs with urban fantasy
-Kitchen sink worldbuilding. I love theology and mythology, and it just... feel like a lot of stuff is lazy and doesn't get into the historical context. Every mythical creature has a history and context, and "everything is true" just doesn't work, because not all mythologies and beliefs are compatible.
-In general, I identify more with monsters than people. A lot of monster myths came from an attempt to otherize people. Changlings, witches, vampires, all of these were used to as explanations, and excuses to attack people who didn't fit social norms. For people who identify with the other rather than fear it, the good humans killing the bad evil demons can suck.
-And, for my number one beef. I don't like romance centered books, and I like messed up, complex protagonists. It's all dudes. Urban Fantasy women are hot, snarky girls in leather pants who get swept away by a hot werewolf. Or they're hot snarky girls who die in chapter four to give the main hot werewolf something to murder about. Girls are young, hot, called powerful, but never get to do anything important. And out of all the stories about the magical bond of brotherhood, books about sisterhood have more pants than bloodshed.
I just wanted to write something violent and trashy and gross as the urban fantasy I love that's also about girls who are messed up and monsterous and unsexy and fight for their family and friends.

Actually, other beef with urban fantasy, people trying to write a character who's terrified, but have no idea how to write fear. Get on my paranoia level ya scrubs.

[storytimebiondi]

I'll just list my inspirations in point form, due to length. (Hah!)
- Escaflowne (a '96 anime about a girl swept away to the mysterious land of Gaea. Mecha, magic, and fantasy mayhem. Probably one of the best scripted and constructed series I've ever seen)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms (In book, game, or television show form, this show has inspired many characters and scenarios of mine. It's a wonderful epic level tale with so much depth.)
- Suikoden (The game series, specifically one and two. They are probably some of the best written and dynamic RPGs I've ever played. Great characters, great story. So much emotion wrapped up in them).
-Earthbound (This game has so much spirit. It's a classic for a reason)
-Studio Ghibli (Nuff Said)
-Monster Hunter (For those who read my comic, be patient. Obvious MH inspiration is coming, later down the road!)
There's so much more than this. So much I can't even think of right now. I feel very affected by the works I read, watch, or play. So much of it sinks in. THat being said, I also have very strong opinions of what makes bad stories. They inspire me just as much as the good stuff does.

[SlugBomb]

By taking in things such as Celtic mythology, Egyptian mythology, Aztec mythology, etc. and mixing it all together, I can imagine that these works would have a disjointed and confusing identity. Maybe if each urban fantasy works focused on a specific continental set of myths (North American myths, African myths, Asian myths)?

[ericsalinas149]

I'm a child of the 80s and a teen of the 90s. My inspiration comes from the newspaper comics from then. Fore Better or For Worse, Rose is Rose, Zits, Bloom County, and especially Calvin and Hobbes. I loved the daydream sequences and alter-egos. That influenced my comic strip immensely.
I also like the TV shows Cheers, Friends, BBC's Coupling and IT Crowd. I liked that the humor was derived from the inane back and forth banter instead of any forced punchline followed by a laugh track.

[KoreanTacos]

A lot of my inspiration for my current comics stem from my desire to make readers smile much like how a lot of my favorite comics like Calvin & Hobbes and Zits did for me. I always wanted to make people smile even though someone like myself is incapable of being that happy go lucky person I wish I could be.

My current wip was inspired for my love for magical school girls, and as stupid as it sounds I was inspired to actually work on it because of a creator here on Tapas (I don't want to call them out, it's too embarrassing). I want to make a story about a girl coming to terms and growing up to become a strong person. I guess some influence for what I'm working on, might be partially due to Final Fantasy Dissidia in a way though too. I just really like stories about strong ladies and just want to make one myself.

[jpnakashima]

For my Maxiboy series, I have some clear ones:

Grant Morrison: Because there's nothing I'll do that won't be influenced by this writer.
Silver Age DC Comics: though mainly Batman, The Flash, Superman and Legion of Super Heroes. Silver Age (60s) super hero comic books are just wacky as all hell, borderline surreal in its content. Those are the most over the top metaphors. I love it.
Ultimate Spider Man: The legendary 200-something run by Brian Michael Bendis, redefining Spider Man for the 2000s (and 2010s, with Miles Morales) with this perfect dose of heightened teenage drama. Too good.
Smallville: Because it's basically a mixture of the two works above, just a tad worse executed. Still, boy oh boy do I love me some Smallville. Perfectly 2000s.
MOTHER: The trilogy... which is basically the best video game trilogy in history, I reckon. Some direct inspiration will become clear in the near future, some may slowly become apparent in the looooong run.
Shonen Manga: A healthy cocktail of Dragon Ball, Naruto and yeah I'll go on and put Avatar here, don't murder me!!

@SlugBomb Usagi Yojimbo is so damn good! I read too little of it, though, I've been waiting for the series to finish to see if Dark Horse will collect it in a more compact manner. We'll see.

@IdiotWithPencil Tamers is the best! I mean, what did people expect when they put the writer of Serial Experiments Lain to write Digimon!? Anime goodness, I'll tell you. What a great writer, I just love it.

@storytimebiondi oh man, Escaflowne! It's been so long since I've seen it! Also, Suikoden and Earthbound, hell yes.

[DeformedSunflower]

Un...dertale...?

Notorious fandom, I know. But I just can't pull my eyes away from those amazing fan comics about the meta system of the game like Window of Reality and The Thought.

I never expected to be so influenced by a gosh darn game, especially since I'm not a gamer myself. But the more I brainstorm for comic ideas, the more influenced I am. Not only from games anymore, though, I taking inspirations from cartoons, such as Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall. All to the point I'm worried just how much longer I will last before Disney copyright strikes me O-O

There's also my childhood, I guess. Can't leave out the good ol' cringy me.