What do you use for inspiration for your comic?

[UzukiCheverie]

Three words.

Calvin and Hobbes.

I cannot stress enough what an influence these comics have had on me as a comic artist, from the time I first started doodling them up until now. Holy crap you don't even know. Even if it's not directly, these comics have really helped shape my own style and content (circle eyes and heads, wheee).

Frakin' love Calvin and Hobbes <3

[TristanJensen]

I say everything counts as inspiration. If you see something funny, take a picture of it. You hear someone say something funny, you write it down, a random idea pops into your head at a bus stop, write it on you palm until you can find some paper. Then put all those funny ideas in a notebook that way, one day, you can say, "What will I draw today?", and have an good idea right away! okay that's a lot of "ay"s, better stop.

Also read Steal like an Artist, it's really helpful for this kind of stuff. Good luck!

[rainbowolfe]

I'm inspired a lot by pop-punk music and supernatural stuff, like TV shows and the Paranormal Activity movies :3

[SpavVy]

I was inspired by Stephen King, Devil May Cry and Black Rock Shooter. As for the art it was the Bacanno anime, Durarara!! And Shirow Miwa's art.

[gateofselidor]

Everything. It doesn't matter where I go or what I'm doing, I'm always observing the world around me and looking for interesting things that I can use in one of my projects. If I go somewhere especially interesting, I like to take plenty of photos for my own reference. I use music to motivate myself if I'm having trouble focusing. As far as other media goes, for Lemongrass, I've watched a lot of historical and nature documentaries to look for interesting landscapes, architecture and cultures that might give me a new idea, or help me develop an existing idea further.

[Sidulus]

Damn. I have so many that it's hard to pin down just a few.

I guess currently my primary ones are history (particularly US. history), Westerns, weird folklore and creepy stuff. Currently I've gotten pretty into H.P. Lovecraft and other works of Gothic fiction, so those have been elements which have been starting to creep their way into my work, as well.
Music-wise a lot of inspiration can be drawn from Bluegrass, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, psychobilly, and music done by the likes of 16 Horsepower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Horsepower).
I've also been heavily influenced by the early Silent Hills when it comes to horror designs.

I guess really my primary influences nowadays can be summed up a Cthulhu cowboys.

[auren256]

I don't really know exactly. Sometimes I feel highly inspired by something I see on the street, on a movie, by someone (an actor or an actress), or something I read on a book, some philosophical sentence that makes me think...

I must say that when I'm drawing my comics, I use to listen to some especific music, depending on the story I'm working on in that moment. When it's a story of action and adventure, I listen to rock bands. When I'm working in some project about romance, I change the kind of music. Some lyrics and melodies are very inspiring for me.

[AlkseeyaKC]

The inspiration for Neon Glow started when I was trying to make another comic (Alkseeya Power). I kept failing at staring it up and got fed up. I actually never wanted to make comics again because of it. But then I decided, I should just give it a fresh start and just make a comic to see if I'm any good at it before wanting to make AP. So I put some things together. There was a pet site called Squiby where you can upload your own click-able evolving pets. I had some that were quite popular at the time so I thought to make a comic about them. So the neons came first! XD I had been watching a lot of supernatural hunting TV shows like Ghost Hunters and thought I'll have these two guys go around catching the neons. (two guys because I wanted to make a light BoyLove for the fun of it. XD) So I drew Zedof who was to be like the neons, colorful and unique to my style. Then I made Jake who was just all gray in a colorful comic. I thought it would be fun.

[ametueraspirant]

is it too arrogant to say that I sit around with a notebook and inspire myself?

[ebeethe1st]

is it too arrogant to say that I sit around with a notebook and inspire myself?

I wouldn't say so, sometimes the best thing to do is to just get some paper and let your mind go on random tangents until you end up with something mildly coherent, then build from that.

[jjfresh]

Erh, I don' t think I can tell you that yet. I'm trying to make it implied in my story. Someone was on the right track.
Aside from that, something that has also influenced Beautiful Lies is my own experiences. Now, they aren't exactly like the events in Beautiful Lies but it has to do with our minds. "A story about dull or miserable adolescents who seek comfort in their own fantasy world."

It's about escapism. Looking back at my story, I'm not sure to what extent it portrays the message but it shows who escapes, why they escape, and what the result always turns out to be.

[anon13984047]

For Weaker Sides, a lot of my inspiration comes from music. I'm a visual artist, but I need music to work and lose myself in the mood of the story. My inspiration playlist can be found at http://www.weakersides.com/connect/

Music like The Birthday Massacre (happy / melancholy goth rock, I guess), Oneiroid Psychosis (dark wave), White Lies, the list goes on.

Also, and I can heartily recommend this to any artist (probably those working on dark / dreadful stuff): dark ambient like Atrium Carceri, Desiderii Marginis, Lustmord --- wonderful, evocative soundscapes galore.

My own gender questions / life issues, social frustrations and love for night and nature also inspire me all the time. And most of my characters are inspired both by my own feelings as well as the lives and peculiarities of my friends - especially my main characters Kyoko and Ashley. I don't always tell my friends, though

Visually, there's so many artists I admire and get inspired by! I love Edwin Ushiro, Martin Wittfooth, Hamletmachine, Lois van Baarle, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Sam Weber - the list is pretty long.

Interesting topic - great to see how diverse a maker's sources of inspiration can be!

[anon13984047]

Silent Hill - oh, the glory <3

[Alli]

I developed much of the back-story of Tigress Queen while listening to background music from Attack On Titan. If you haven't listened to it, it's pretty epic. Nothing gets me more in the mood to draw it than listening to that kind of stuff.

[aferrara]

honestly...many of the inspiration for LostBoysAcademy came from a combination of life experience, and people watching.

[yvettegustafsson]

The best inspiration I have for my comic strip (first ep. on Wednesday!) is real life. I read the daily paper and if there's something there that's whacky, funny, strange or just awesome I manage to make some foolishness from it I also listen to a lot of podcasts, some things come from there. Almost never directly, my mind sometimes spin out of control

The more lengthy comics I make are a bit more complicated. There I also use my own experiences but also a lot of older pop cultural references, litterature, history, psychology and religion to connect everything.

[superbran15]

I think the influences of Warner Bros and Disney cartoons are apparent in my cartooning style. I absolutely LOVED Saturday Morning Cartoons and the Disney Afternoon Block when I was a kid. So, Dogstar is a homage to those things in a way, while adding my own little spin on the genre.

[shortygul]

Shorty Gul here. New creator that moved over from Inkblazers. My web comic My Girl: Nano Alchemist is based off my life. Except for the mutants, cyborgs, and evil scientists. http://m.tapastic.com/series/mygirl

[Aspie_Gamer]

I'd say everyday life....That's more or less the best way I can describe the inspiration I get to make Da Life N' Times Uvv (some delinquent)

[allenthomas]

Outside of advice and support I mainly draw inspiration from shonen manga and fighting video games for my comic. I, with no exaggeration, play hours of youtube videos of fighting gameplay or listen to fighting game soundtracks while I draw my pages.