Well, as the title says, what inspires you with your comics?
For me it's probably mainly the films and tv shows I watch lol
I find that recently I've been inspired mainly by Torchwood, Eragon (mainly the book, but the film too), Doctor Who, Lord Of The Rings (the films), and some others that I probably don't even realise are inspiring me lol

As for music, I tend to listen to instrumental soundtracks while working on my comics, those soundtracks are: Torchwood (obviously! lol), Doctor Who (again, obviously! lol), Pirates Of The Caribbean, and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (I LOVE that film!)

Books mostly. I'd say video games, since they're the medium I've involved myself most in apart from books, but books leave a longer lasting impression on me.



Oh dear. I do hope that you're joking.

Why 'oh dear'?

Because Eragon is the worst piece of crap ever shat out by a human arse, is why 'oh dear'.

Well, that's your opinion, so fine lol

No. No it is not. Normally I'd agree and keep it to myself, but this isn't like, for example, preferring apples over chocolate, it's like preferring to stab yourself in the scrotum over chocolate.

I'm genuinely curious here, how can you possibly enjoy Eragon? There are no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Well in the book I like the characters (most of them), the settings, and I think that apart from stuff like Brom's stories (I skipped those parts lol) it's quite interesting. Have you read the book?

What do you like about the characters? Most of them are bland props for Eragon, and he acts more like a bi-polar psychopath than an actual human being.

fuck trout! take a fucking breathe would ya?

though i gotta say i was hoping i'd come into this thread and find something other then a bunch of self indulgent fandom naming. i WAS gonna do that,haha. but no one really ever gives to much of a wank about it. so hey! it's NICE to be suprised.

Oh I didn't think they were bland, you know they all had their part in the story, and I thought they were well-written really. I like how the characters aren't all just variations of the same person, if you know what I mean. They all have different personalities and opinions, and behave accordingly. I just thought they seemed pretty well thought out.

Have you actually read any other books? It's like. . . whatever the hack who wrote is called just opened a big book of fantasy clichés and copied it down exactly.

Brom: Mentor. Obi Wan wannabe.

Arya: Beautiful perfect elf, like every other fucking elf ever. Wants to jump Eragon's bones like every other female he encounters.

Murtagh: Brooding loner. Dark past.

Didn't Eragon have dragons? That automatically gives it a few cool points. =p

Though I never actually saw the movie or even knew it had a book. I just remember thinking the dragons looked neat in the commercials.

Um, on topic

The biggest inspirations for me
anime
Samurai Chanploo- The action and attitudes of the main cast were very influential
Project Ako- after I watched it again DLP seems to have a LOT of similarities XD
Ranma 1/2- THE anime influence of my life growing up. Martial arts, romance, comedy gold
Street Fighter 2 animated movie- still to date the best animated fight scenes I have ever seen

cartoon
Avatar the last airbender- Great characterizations, story, lore The story formula is my favorite kind. This show teaching you that you can have a continuous well made story without the need for every episode to be continued in run on fashion (cough Bleach, Heroes, DBZ cough)

live action
Quantum Leap- I must right what once went wrong! Man this show turned me into as big of a pansy as Sam. And a lot of my characters in return are just as morally astute.
House- cynical and sarcastic geniuses ftw
Dexter- Best story writing, characterizations, butterfly effect consequences, and inner monologue show ever made.
Law & Order CI/SVU- CI - Goren, I am very inspired by him. SVU has good crime stories
X-Files - I have Mulder and Scully homages in my comics for crying out loud =D
Star Trek Voyager/DS9/Next Generation - Characters + stories + space weeee~

Video Games
Street Fighter and Darkstalkers are the most influential games for me. I have tons of homages to these 2 games
Special mention to Tekken and King of Fighters

Classic mystery stories: Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie books comprise most of my collection and I like to write like those.

Shakespeare: Just can't beat Shakespeare for story formulas, characters, and irony. I am especially fond of the comedies.

Anime: Most anime inspires my character dynamics -- included are Tenchi Muyo, Get Backers, and Lupin III. Lupin III also inspires my humor and my story writing. Detective Conan is my #1 favorite show, and I get a lot of inspiration from it for all aspects of my writing.

Sitcoms: Sitcoms inspire my character dynamics and comedy-of-error writing. The sitcoms I have watched most are I Love Lucy, Wings, Barney Miller, Cheers, Get Smart, Frasier, Golden Girls, The Nanny.

Mystery/Crime/Adventure Shows: Let's see... MacGyver, Quantum Leap, Murder She Wrote, Monk, Moonlighting, Remington Steele, Scarecrow and Mrs. King

Movies: I'm probably most inspired by adventure movies from my childhood. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Romancing the Stone. One of my favorite movies is Nausicaa. I believe the main character is part of the inspiration for one of my heroines.

Video Games: Actually, I have only found myself really inspired by one game, and that was Skies of Arcadia. -- However, I have used The Sims (2 and 3) as posing references from time to time. Heh.



Artistic inspiration? I have no idea. I really wouldn't want to place the blame for that on anyone. ^_^;

Californication.

I will be like him someday.

Movie: Natural Born Killers really moved me. Getting past the whole serial killer thing, there's a sense of amoral freedom and mad desperation aspect that spoke to me as well as the dark but intimate relationship of the main characters, who can't be defined as good people in the least.

Cartoon: The Maxx. Spirituality, a search for self identity, and the loving sick caress of self delusion. Interesting motifs with a theme about moving on while suffering the present without a clear path.

Music: Type O Negative. Gothic dark loving themes proved a strong catalyst.

Book: The Stranger by Albert Camus.

-Games: Final Fantasy (specially the visuals), Halo, Mortal Kombat.

-Movies: Star Wars saga, Kill Bill, Kung Fu and Samurai movies in general, spaghetti westerns.

-TV Series: Firefly, Carnivale, Millenium.

-Cartoons/Anime: Avatar, Bleach, Gargoyles, Dragon Ball Z, Samurai Champloo.

-Comics/Manga: Hokuto no Ken, Batman/Superman: Public Enemies (loved the over the top action), Green Lantern: Rebirth.

-Music: Tool, Killswitch Engage, Metallica (awesome for fight scenes), Heroes del Silencio and Soda Stereo (awesome to write dialogue).

I mostly get inspired by music - bands such as; Killswitch, Foo Fighters, Disturbed, Slipknot and so on

Let's see:

TV
Law and Order (namely SVU and Prime)
South Park
Penn and Teller: Bullshit
Futurama
Peanuts Specials (in a way)

Films
Anything by Kevin Smith
The Dark Knight

Games
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Deus Ex

Books
1984 (only non-comic I can really list here)

Music
Kekal
Sigh
Holy Moses
Celtic Frost
Slayer
Voivod
Sodom
Kreator
Atheist
Cynic
Megadeth
Metallica
Anthrax
Iron Maiden
Sepultura (but only the early stuff)
Rush

And that's all I can think of at the moment.

Movies:
John Carpenter's the Thing
Aliens
Fight Club

Books:
Anything and everything by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth
1984
Brave New World

Comics:
Fall of Cthulhu (by Michael Alan Nelson)
Cthulhu Tales
Hellboy

Music: (probably my single biggest influence)
Metallica
Iron Maiden
In Flames
Chimaira
Agathodaimon
Arch Enemy
Children of Bodom
Dark Tranquillity
Kalmah
Satariel
Therion

Lol I forgot to say which games inspire me! The games that inspire me are Legend Of Kay (mainly for Last Of The Wilds) Fable 2, and Vexx (mainly for Quest For Zanvadas)

In fact, the main character of Quest For Zanvadas, Varin, actually resembles Vexx ever so slightly. In my initial idea of how he was going to look (which I never actually drew) he looked even more like him. I think it's the hair and ears lol

Here's Varin


And here's Vexx.

Ghost In The Shell is a big influence, and the old Robotech series, and Tank girl (the film and the comic). When making work though I take my influences from anywhere that fits the mood or the style at the time.
Music tends to vary from Rammstein to Gershwin. For film it could be Indiana Jones for a chapter, Lawrence of Arabia, The Quick and the Dead, Run Lola Run, Battle of the River Plate, whatever. As long as it fits the scene or the mood.

I just reread my favorite comics for inspiration, because they make me think: I wanna produce something this amazing!!!

I have a huge collection of old Takahashi Rumiko manga, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fruits Basket, Hana Yori Dango, NARUTO, One Piece, City Hunter, GTO, DragonBall, Bleach, Hachimitsu to Clover, NHK, Kindaichi Shonen, Detective Conan, and so much more that I can't name it all.

My dream is to someday buy a house and make one room into "Jonko's Manga Library" like they had in the Bakuman studio

It depends on what I'm writing

Out of this World (a comic about funky aliens): Music - Lou Rawls, George Clinton, Bootie Collins, Earth Wind and Fire
My Lil' Zombies (preschool zombies): Romero Zombie movies
The Rejects (superhero parody): Bruce Timm DC cartoons, Invincible
Claptrap Films (Parody of B Sci-fi movies): MST3K, or just straight up watching black and white sci-fi movies
SP Earthgaurd (shounen manga): One Piece, Fairy Tail, Kenichi, Naruto

Pretty wide range i suppose :P

Graphic novels for me mostly. Sounds of Your Name by Nate Powell is a long time favorite, even so I've probable reread My Brain Hurts by Liz Baillie and Too Much Coffee Man's Guide for the Perplexed more times. A recent comic I picked up that I found inspirational was Capacity by Theo Ellsworth just because it had such a unique way of tying these short stories together and actually did a good job of engaging the reader.

Fuck yes, that is an excellent cartoon, one that I will never stop plugging.

As for my own inspiration, anything and everything really. A lot of cartoons, Batman the animated series, anime, blah blah blah. And many things from this site as well. I'll look at a great comic (print or web), and say to myself, "Wow, someone made all that by themselves. I may as well give it a shot too." Or you see a really shit comic that gets a lot of attention (fucking family circus), and I say to myself, "Wow, I can do SO much better!"

While I'm actually drawing stuff I'll listen to a lot of music, podcasts, and stand up comedy.

My comic actually has a little inspiration from drunk duck's own Putrid Meat, but mostly Escape From New York. Snake Plisskin is a bad ass. And then also a little bit of Wassup Rokers but I doubt many of you would've see nthat movie.

books
- Infinite Love is the Only Truth, Everything Else is Illusion
- Thiaoouba Prophecy
- Sojourn
- The Next Million Years by Darwin
- Brave New World by Huxley
- Politics of Obedience: Discourse on Voluntary Servitude
- The Bible
- Any book about hypnosis, psychology, history, politics, religion, philosophy, spirituality, paranormal, etc.


films
- Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z a whole lot of animes and mangas. I can't remember.
- Lord of The Rings
- Star Wars
- Matrix Trilogy
- Fight Club
- Fall of The Republic

tv shows
- n/a I barely watch TV. Does the news and the occasional TV sport count?

music
- Slapshock
- Greyhoundz
- Pop Shuvit
- Rage Against The Machine
- Megadeth
- Metallica
- Linkin Park
- Flobots
- Eraserheads


games
- Command and Conquer games (Red Alert, Zero Hour, Tiberium Wars, etc.)
- Starcraft
- Counter-Strike

etc
- A compilation of real life experiences and accounts from various people.