What real life events or people inspire your comics?

[Kamikaze]

I've been watching a lot of documentaries lately on different era's and movements in history. I love watching documentaries and a lot of the stuff I learned in them I ended up using in my own comic Kamikaze.

The building of the great wall of China, the Mongols, feudalism, and documentaries on popular sci-fi, technology, business, food production and world politics really influence what I write. Got to give a special shout out to Dan Carlin who does the Hardcore History podcasts (especially on the Mongols, Wrath of the Khans)!

So what documentaries do you watch? What world history or real life people mundane or earth shaking have inspired the characters and worlds you create?

[DynamoToon]

My friends and family, they're hilarious.

[Kura]

It depends on the series (novel or comic) sometimes they are very far removed from what I know in my life, just because I want to write in a escapism manner. While others are based A LOT off of events and people in my life. I guess it depends on if I wanna talk about my life or if I just want a break from it ^^;;

[Kamikaze]

@andres8ol Oh we definitely have those! Friends and family, or even past acquaintances have made their ways into our character line up. It's interesting to look back at old school year books or something and realize, "Oh my gosh I didn't even REALIZE I'd used this person as inspiration!" Whoops!

@kurapikasuki I really like to do escapism stuff, I think that's half the reason I work so hard on Kamikaze. My life isn't awful but there's times I just want to go elsewhere - so I head into my comic work! I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that.

[Strontium]

Among the ones in my comic: Historical English literature, the 1960's new age movement, hippies, Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare plays, book burning throughout history, Early Christian art, Joan of Arc, Egyptian mythology, gladiator games, The Bicycle Thief, the 1990's, and probably some other stuff. I love history, and writing a comic about ghosts, I get to include a lot of it.

[gabmonastrial]

hmm very interesting.. i watch documentaries too thou they dont inspire my comic coz i watch mostly crime documentaries ( recently watched jeffrey dahmer's doc) and science related stuff like the multiverse.
my comic is instead inspired by millions of people...theyre called haters.

[Kamikaze]

I love history, and writing a comic about ghosts

::SLAMS SUBSCRIBE BUTTON::

[vocaloidno1fan]

my inspiration for my comic Hybrid (im in the process of uploading it...) comes from A LOT of different things... movies, animes, mangas, comics, books, rl celebrities, my friends, sometimes nature itself, etc etc
:3

[Kamikaze]

Any historical or real life people though @vocaloidno1fan? I bet there's some even if you dont' realize it!

[vocaloidno1fan]

historical... not exactly... i mainly get my inspiration from my surroundings :S

[noctuidae]

I used to watch documentaries of Kowloon Walled City back in high school. it was basically the reason why I wrote this story.

The stories my parents have told me about their childhood also inspired some of the events of my comic.

[Waterdrain]

Mostly friends and family, because I think that they're amazing, and sometimes dreams if I remember them.

[TrustyShamrock]

i dont really watch documentarys or anythin. but i try to make my comic really nostalgic so i keep puttin stuff in there that makes me nostalgic like the houses and styles of the buildings from old towns i lived in and junk. i also name characters after streets and schools i used to go to. all that bizz

[maeaton08]

The story itself is pretty inspired by things I've actually been through. The fine details are more inspired by Lithuanian mythology. I first started learning about Lithuanian mythology my first year of college when I wrote a paper about the personification of death in literature and I fell in love with Giltine (lithuanian goddess of death). Then the more I researched the more I loved the mythology.

My favorite part (which I do use in my comic) is that every person is allotted a certain amount of time alive and if anything happens that causes that persons time to end too soon they come back as a spirit of nature to finish out their time.

[SethJH]

I am really interested in history and the reasons why people/cultures/nations do what they do (So much so, that they'd send my parents "Very Gifted in History" letters in the mail when I was in grade school - and yet, I'm terrible with dates and names. Just the event and why it happened sticks with me well). I've been applying my interest in history and sociology to creating new history for my comic universe. It's also a fun project to "steal" things that do happen in the real world and figure out how to make it work in my story universe. I have done a load of research on traditional rural/siberian Russian culture for part 2 of my comic (not on Tapastic yet, probably won't be for a while). I've also researched German culture, Haitian Vodou tradition, Linguistics, and probably tons more I just can't remember.

As for people, one of my protagonists is based off of myself if I had pursued a technology career instead of an art career. Other characters are combinations of my friends and co-workers. I find tossing in real things people have said or real personalities I've met makes the character seem more believable and embedded in the story universe.

[maeaton08]

As for people, one of my protagonists is based off of myself if I had pursued a technology career instead of an art career.

I think that's really cool. I've been thinking about doing something similar in the future as well. The idea of alternate realities is fascinating and really fun to play with.

[Kamikaze]

If you like alternate realities you should check out The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. He took history of WWII and created an alternate future where the US was divided by Axis powers. Whenever he got stuck he'd use IChing to help guide his story. He was kinda a wierd guy but he had really interesting stories and methods!

The book is considered one of scifi's staples so you can probably find a free download somewhere!

[SpavVy]

Mostly my friends and family inspire characters. One of my characters was inspired by my two aunts that like to yell out inappropriate words and I call one of them auntie inappropriate, if one of my characters was to ever become an aunt her nieces and nephews would definitely call her that xD

[ashriott]

My comic Malleus Maleficarum is very much inspired by 15-17th century witch history, especially the Salem Witch Trials which plays the biggest part. This applies to both the history in general, practices, people etc... As the story is in its early stages, not much of that witch stuff is apparent yet. But I'm excited to get there! It's gonna be so much fun to draw xD

As for people, some characters are inspired by both people I love and people I hate IRL, hah. Now I credit myself for not hating people too often, so if you've gotten me to hate you, you've got issues. So I hope the characters inspired by those people are hated by readers just as much LOL

[Doubtcent]

I'm a gag a day, but I'm working on a full series based on my old art experiences and my walk through finding myself in art.