For our CMT professional practice component.
I apologise for my mostly cliched and predictable influences.
Hayao Miyazaki is a great animator, but is mostly influential for his mastery in story telling. Now if only he wasn't such a grumpy git.. fortunately, i'll never have to meet him. It would be odd to worship and possibly loathe a man in equal measure. I first saw his oscar winning film, Spirited Away, in 2005, and not only did it bring me back into the world of anime, and animation, it gave me back the desire to create animations of my own.
Yutaka Nakamura, an incredible key animator. His speciality seems to be in rediculously fast and impressive action sequences. I know nothing of the man, but would, have, and will watch any of his scenes out of context for hours. Notable works include my favourite Anime Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, Escaflowne, Gurren Lagann, One Piece and Sword of the Stranger.
Jay Pavlina: Not only did he recreate the original Super Mario Brothers (for the NES) perfectly in Flash, he added a ton of other classic NES era characters complete with intact abilities, and did it with little to no prior knowledge of game making. On his own. He now has 1 other team member, and continues to update the game and make many hilarious "Let's Play" videos on youtube. In one of his videos he mentions that the best way to learn, is to do, something with which I totally agree.
Legend of Zelda: This game series has had a large impression of me, Link's Awakening especially got me interested in game, sound, icon and level design. The art direction of the series has always been my favourite of any game, with the earlier games being superior in my opinion.
Bill Watterson: Not only is this man's work the best in his field (in my opinion) his high standard of morals are what truly inspires me. You will probably all know that he kept the integrity of his IP by frequently turning down merchandise deals, in a profession which is all about selling yourself. And that's why he's on this list.
Cyriak Harris: A non-conventional animator by any means, his style is a circus freak sideshow of mutating cows, hands and faces. Extraordinarily, he is hired by clients and gets to keep animating in his ugly yet beautiful vision of the world, for clients like the BBC and Adult Swim. Of course it's normal for freelance artists to be hired for their style, but for such a bizarre and abstract animator to keep doing what he loves is very inspiring.
Sketchbooks: One that I shouldn't need to explain, but I guess I should just say other artists' sketchbooks. Obviously, they are inspiring because they are different. This covers all my friends, within and outwith DoJ college.
Chris Morris: By far, my favourite satirist/film maker. Him and Warp Records/Films are probably my favourite breath of fresh air in a world of samey same sames. Brass Eye, which is pretty much a Morris/Ianucci collaboration, is my favourite show of all time.
Pendleton Ward: A funny guy who made a great pilot (Adventure Time!) for what is now a great show on Cartoon Network. And it's nice to have actual Cartoons on Cartoon Network, even if I don't watch television anymore. SchmaowZow!
Harry Partridge: Like Cyriak Harris, another internet animator who is excellent, and rightly famous for it. His hilarious animation is inspired by Disney, but with a dark Partridge twist.
Yoni Goodman: An Animator who I've "discovered" recently, mind my ignorance, but like Nakamura I haven't bothered really finding out about them but watch all his Dailymations on youtube. He has uploaded many great Flash FBF linetests, which emulate pencil tests, but save muchly on the paper and the scanning!
Milt Kahl: A great man, no doubt like Miyazaki, he's harsh but fair. And was probably very grumpy (from interviews I've seen, and account from Dick Williams). He claimed in one particular interview that he wasn't so fond of the static image - he was just made for animation.
As you probably know, since he's super famous, he was one of, if not the best animator that ever lived.
John Burgerman: Perhaps not so much a big influence anymore, his illustrative and very commercial style has landed JB into the big time. He is probably one of the best known and famous illustrators of this time, and really proves how important it is in this day and age to sell yourself. Probably the opposite of Watterson, then.
Scotland: Yes, we reach the final influence that I could be bothered listing and it's the biggest and cheesiest of them all - the country I call home. But, damn, it's pretty! I often express how content I would feel to be confined to this small part of the world, because of it's varied and dynamic landscape. And castles! Things are everywhere, some more crumbled than others. Have you actually seen the west coast of Scotland? With your own eyes? And this is coming from someone who was born and lived in England for 7 Years...
