My Influence Map

If anyone asked me what or who inspired me to do what I do, I would tell them my following influences:

1. Don Bluth: For a guy that once worked in Disney, Don Bluth was sure a great rival that beat Disney at his own game in 80s. Even though his four of his movies in the early 90s didn't fare well both critically and financially, I thought they were mostly okay and/or meh in my opinion. Funny thing you should know, he is actually the one who made Disney have the guts to make the Disney Renaissance possible! He was an inspiration by inspiring me to draw characters in a similar style like his. It's rather a shame that Don Bluth only made 10 films, and I wish he could've made more. But even with that, Don Bluth is sure one talented person at drawing!

2. Hanna-Barbera: From the same people who made Tom and Jerry, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were very known people who were involved as pioneers in limited animation along with UPA! Also, not only were they the ones who made such cartoons like Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones, but they were the ones who helped creators like Genndy Tartakovsky and Craig McCracken make shows like Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls (respectively). Heck, if they weren't bought by Turner Broadcasting, we wouldn't have Cartoon Network Studios! They inspired me to draw such wacky characters like Maxwell!

3. Warner Bros. Animation Division: Even though I used to watch Tom and Jerry a lot, I did watch "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" shorts as much as the Tom and Jerry shorts. Out of all the noteworthy people who worked there during the golden age of animation, the most influential ones I had to choose from were Robert McKimson, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, and Bob Clampett.

4. Craig McCracken: For someone who worked with Hanna-Barbera in the 1990s, Craig's style is always improving! Every time he makes a new show, I see his style getting better! Even though he had to switch to Flash (and ToonBoom in Wander Over Yonder later on), I've always like the designs he made on the Imaginary Friends from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and the types of aliens in wander Over Yonder. One noteworthy thing about Craig is that he had Genndy Tartakovsky as the animation director in The Powerpuff Girls Movie.

5. Rebecca Sugar/Cartoon Network Studios: In my opinion, Cartoon Network Studios is the Spiritual Successor of Hanna-Barbera Studios for two reasons. One might be how the people who previously worked at Hanna-Barbera Studios moved to the new studio after the old one closed down, and another reason might be how Cartoon Network Studios got new people to make shows that were better than the others in the past! I think one example of a person the studio hired is Rebecca Sugar and her show, Steven Universe! Apparently, this show and Cartoon Network Studios inspired me to find a career in the animation industry. Someday though, I hope to start small and get on to some bigger projects later on... Also, I'd like to tell some that while the cartoons CN Studios made then were great, I'd say the new CN originals are better then ever!

6. UPA: Next to Hanna-Barbera, UPA studios was one of the best studios that used its own stylized animation. UPA was an inspiration that caused me to draw stylized people and make new designs and test on new drawing experiments that would soon improve my style later on!

7. Spongebob: What can I say? I've always liked Spongebob's show for the funny humor and wonderful use of storytelling. Even if people find Spongebob to be questionable, at least its nice to know that his creator is coming back for the tenth season. And I hope it's as good as the 3rd or 1st seasons!

8. Pogo: Ever since August 2013, I've been listening to some wonderful music that uses the use of auto tuning sound clips and making them part of a catchy melody. I never knew that Pogo's music could be so relaxing and cool. I might even say that this actually helps me get away from all the bad thoughts I had back then and just move on..

9. Dr Seuss: Back then, I used to read, watch, and play anything Dr. Seuss, and sometimes now, I'd look at some Dr. Seuss stuff from time to time. One Time, I've shown one of my two unnamed robots to my teacher in Study Hall, and she thought they looked like something from Dr. Seuss! When looking back at my drawing, I do see what she means. So I guess I could say that next to Craig McCracken, Dr. Seuss inspired my style by creating strange creatures and bizarre stuff.

10. Glove and Boots: I've been watching the series on YouTube and I've started to gain my sense of humor back! Often at times they make great informative, yet entertaining videos like how Candy Crush Saga is bad or made other stuff like Top 10 lists or whatsoever. I've also had the thought this series is overlooked and at least should get a level of attention that shouldn't be on the levels of being overrated...

11. Walt Disney: He's Walt Disney: The man who was willing to take risks and go onto new directions and inspired others (EVEN ME!) to draw. Need I say more?

12. Fleischer Studios: Now as I mentioned before, Disney was willing to take risks and make new directions. As for the Fleischer brothers they were conservative and innovative. In fact they were so Innovative, they let people that used to work for them be distracted, which might be one of the reasons why Fleischer studios closed down. The Fleischer brothers inspired me to make my characters have some sort of Fleischer feeling in them in some of my drawings.

13. Jim Henson: Like McCracken and Dr. Seuss, Jim Henson's work has inspired me to make monsters and creatures galore! Another thing that Jim Henson inspired me to do was to hope to wonder what my purpose was and how I might show my talent and be unique out of anyone.

14. Code Lyoko: Out of all the foreign series out of the US, never have I seen such a unique show with a great art style that seems similar to anime and also has a great use of both CGI and 2d animation! It inspired me to make characters with great abilities, unique worlds, and find uses with any animation medium.

15. Genndy Tartakovsky: Unlike Craig McCracken whereas he inspired me to make creatures, Genndy Tartakovsky also inspired me to make stylized humans and robots as much as possible (next to UPA) . Also, from comparing both Craig and Genndy's styles they do look similar in some way or another.

16. Pixar: When I was a young baby, the first two Pixar films I saw were Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life. Later on, I began seeing more of some great Pixar films like Finding Nemo and Up for example. Out of all the people who worked there, the ones that influenced my drawing styles was mostly Pete Docter (The director of Monsters Inc., Up, and the upcoming Inside Out.)

17. Bill Watterson: Known for being the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson is a great cartoonist who seems to capture the slice of life and down to earth storytelling styles so greatly. He inspired me to draw freely and express myself how I feel!

18. Walt Kelly: I haven't heard about him and his comics until 2014 and now I'm starting to appreciate his work! Walt Kelly's work inspired me to find a way to make comics. He also inspired me to draw animals in a cartoon-like way similar to his style.

Here are a few honorable mentions that didn't make it, but were still influences nonetheless:
1. Tex Avery
2. Jim Davis (of "Garfield" fame)
3. "Lumage" animation in Twice Upon a Time (or cutout animation for a better term.)
4. Pendelton Ward
5. C. H. Greenblatt
6. Lauren Faust
7. Milt Kahl
8. Ward Kimball
9. Al Hirschfeld
10. YouTube
11. The Simpsons
12. Rob Renzetti
13. Natasha Allegri
14. Over the Garden Wall
15. Mark Dindal (of "Cats Don't Dance" fame)