Each of us has had different experiences that have influenced our lives, our likes and dislikes. Many of these started in childhood. For example, because I had Mrs. Southington as my homeroom teacher in 4th grade, I now hate all homeroom teachers, in addition to Mrs. Southington. Not coincidentally, the evil teachers I portray in my cartooning books look eerily similar to her. Actually, if you stripped away her peevishness, impatience and hostility toward boys, she was really a good lady way down deep. We’re talking “way down deep.”
Sometimes, these influences don’t affect your style, per se, but affect your work in other ways. What do I mean by that? Heck if I know, but let me give it a shot:
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Disney. So he got a restraining order. Just kidding. It was really just a warning from the judge. Anyway, I found Disney’s work to be utterly magical, like a euphoric dream. When a Disney movie was released, I would be filled with anxiousness to see it, as if it were the night before Christmas.
And yet, my cartooning style is not “Disney-ish.” So although it did not influence my drawing style, it influenced my enthusiasm for cartooning. I am still excited to get to work each day. I love and admire the art of so many talented manga, cartoon and comics artists. And that excitement translates into my work, as well as it does yours. It’s often been said that if you love what you do, it isn’t work. Boy, is that ever wrong. Yes, it’s work. When you’re stressing under a deadline, it sure feels like work. But the actual “doing” of it, the drawing – that remains fun and, more importantly, engaging.
You never know when something you enjoyed as a child put a useful imprint on you. For example, when I was eight years old, my favorite TV show was undoubtedly “8th Man,” which was an early anime (Japanese animation). I didn’t know back then that someday I would be doing art instruction books about Japanese comics.
The past may be gone, but it can be mined for inspiration. So, my question is, what has influenced you? Was it a cartoon character, a creator, or something completely different? I’m interested to know.
Your Cartooning Sherpa,
Chris Hart
Please could you please do a book about how to draw Greek gods and goddess.
Danny Phantom was my childhood hero, I never liked Dinsey much, but cartoons in general made me want to draw my own cartoon when I was older. I still obsess over cartoons as well as anime, still Danny Phantom’s #1 fan, I watch Kick Buttowski, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Ed Edd N Eddy, Codename Kids Next Door, Old school cartoons like the Jetsons, or flintstones, Tom and Jerry, and Looney Toons, anime’s with beautiful art like Black butler/Kuroshitsuji, Free: Iwatobi Swimming Club, Durarara!!, Jun Jou Romantica, and Gravitation. I also watch plenty of geeky shows like Doctor Who, Sherlock, Psych, ect. (Plus Homestuck the web comic) I watch anything really that can have a fandom. I use my love of humans and researching them to create fun and realistic characters for normal drawing, Comics, RPGs, Roleplays, and Fanfiction. Art is my safe haven. without it, my hands would be useless.
Well, my influence came rather recently. Anime is my influence. Before that, I just drew, simply because I loved to draw. I hadn’t exactly found WHAT it was that I liked to draw, so I drew everything. Landscape, portraits, abstract, cartoons… you name it. There was nothing in particular that I liked & I had no influence that led me to drawing either. It was like your everyday, “doodling because i was bored”, except I wanted to become better at it. That was all. About 7-8 months ago, (hey, i said it was recently), I found an influence to draw anime & I began to enjoy drawing more. That influence began from watching my 1st anime, Fairy Tail. After that, I started watching more anime & quickly discovered manga as well. Manga reminded me of my 1st graphic novel that I had ever seen, which was 2 years ago, today. In fact, I had never even known they made things like graphic novels until that day, it completely captured me. (i know, it must sound like I live under a rock. Which, frankly, for all I hear about in the world around me, I might as well.) Anime & manga continued to capture my heart & a few months ago, while I was writing another one of my little stories, a thought came to me. I had been so caught up in anime & manga recently that I started to imagine how the story would play out as a graphic novel or something. So, that’s what influenced me to draw, write, & make manga like I’m doing today. Words will never be able to fully express just how much I love doing what I do.
I was strongly influenced by movies and TV shows. Every time I watch a good movie, I always think, “What if my stories became movies?” That would be one of my big dreams come true. 🙂
I drew pictures and wrote stories when I was growing up. I loved to draw animals and landscapes. Since I was in my twenties, I’ve had a love affair with fantasy art. And I’ve always loved dragons and dinosaurs, I think I drew so many dinosaurs when I was young. My parents didn’t believe artists could make a living, and insisted I take business training in high school, and no art. I got away from drawing for years, but now that my children are grown and I’m a grandma, I’ve started drawing again and teaching myself to draw and paint. Your books and tutorials are very helpful and encouraging.