Introduction// Inspirations

Hello

The amount of inspiration I've collected for this project is arguably the most I've had for a single project. The artists I'm going to list below have helped me with this project, not only as inspiration but most importantly as motivation as an artist myself. Many of these artists feature female characters, LGBTQ+ characters as well as diversity between the characters within their works.

The Big List Of Artists 2016

Phillipa Rice 

• Beautiful colours 
• Lovely angles/shots in animation
• Tender feeling to work

'Soppy' is an red and black illustrated scrap book of her relationship with her boyfriend, from the first moment they met; but instead of focusing on 'traditional moments' Phillipa illustrates what's important and memorable to her out of her relationship, like playing video games together or insulting each other out of kindness by comparing them to something silly. The comic is lovely and from my first read I've gone back to it over and over (at least monthly) to re-read just to get my adorable kick. Phillipa also studied as a stop-motion animation student and currently (fuelled by her Patron account) producing a Youtube series titled 'Soft spot' which features stop-motion hand made cuties, such as her crocheted animal children. Soft spot features soft synth music, hand drawn animation, stop-motion and all together soft gentle ness with a very phillipa attitude.

 Her taste in colours and visual layout is what I personally love most about her work and is the most important influence her work has had on myself, including this project.
You can find her Twitter here:  Phillipa Rice

Lindsay/Alex Small-Bruta

• Character personalities
• Character animation, motion
• voice acting

Lindsay is the co-creator of the YouTube series 'Baman Piderman' and has worked as an animator on shows within Cartoon Network such as Adventure Time. Baman piderman started as a spoof sort of short episode animation thing, about the badly drawn friendship of batman and spiderman. The series features a range of interesting character as well as some of the best motion animation I've seen on YouTube. Lindsay works with her partner Alex and the pair have been working on the show as well as commissions as a joint two-part animation studio. 

Baman Pidermans characters are well written, well developed (and very weird, yes) and that act unique in their actions, approaches to situations and towards one another. Their online animated series truly brings joy into my life, as the characters and jokes are in no way offensive or crude and the themes, despite being very weird are never violent. The storyline, as far as drama goes seems very loose, however seems to be building up to something - despite the over all friendly and bezaar writing style towards storyline. This series truly is a precious segment of the internet and art for me and the series has influenced my writing style to be 'lighter' then was previously.

 Lindsay and Alex and their approach as storytellers has influenced how I myself write characters and draw. They've both really helped heal me and given me a positive attitude towards animation again. You can find them on twitter here:  Lindsay  and  Alex

Andrew Maclean

• Female characters that matter to the story
• Drawing style/ colours

Andrew Maclean is an American illustrator and cartoonist, who's most popular works feature strong warrior women. 'Apocalyptigirl' is a comic about a strong female character called Aria and she's 'a woman with a mission!'. Aria's character, despite being alone with her cat for the majority of the pages, is well developed within the story. From peaceful situations to intense moments of violence, her character remains powerful, independent and goal driven. I own a copy of Apocalyptigirl and it remains a firm place above my work desk. Andrew Macleans attention to figure structure defines his characters when verbal narrative isn't present - In Aria's case, her posture is always confident and determined, because she's focused on her goal. But her personality is shown so clearly in her expression. The over all narrative of the story is also spoken through her perspective to the reader, which is awesome because it quickly puts her character on a relatable interesting level for the reader to identify with.

Andrew Maclean's storytelling is much more from character perspectives and goals than occurring events that get in the character way. His character have goals and they need to over come them, they work hard and do it independently. His characters and storytelling is wonderful and I love it. I also met him once and got so anxious I nervously asked for him to give me a post-it note with his name on it that he then did and then left quickly. Andrew I'm sorry.
You can find him on twitter here: Andrew Maclean

Rebecca Sugar

• Independent characters
• relatable character behaviour (reactions to events)
• Wonderful visual storytelling 

I've spoken countless of times about Rebecca Sugar and her works, especially within Cartoon Network. Rebecca Sugar is the first female creative to have her own show on Cartoon Network, 'Steven Universe' which features strong characters that challenge traditional gender roles, LGBTQ+ themes, feminist themes within a show aimed at a younger audience.  I've been a fan of hers for quite some time now, but discovered through her social media about a past project she worked on called 'Margo in bed' which she spoke about on an online published video.  I also discovered another one of her comics 'Don't cry for me, I'm already dead' which focuses on the relationship between two brothers who love Simpsons quotes. Rebecca also spoke about how important it is to study comics to then go on to study animation, as she personally believes it helped her more than anything with perspective within visual media.

Within Steven Universe, the constant diversity between characters and representation of different themes and identities within something aimed at a younger audience was a main reason I wanted to create something for a younger audience myself.
You can find Rebecca on Tumblr here: Rebecca Sugar

Natasha Allegri

• Visual comedy 
• Colours and Character design
• Strong female characters

Natasha Allegri has worked within Studio Frederator/Cartoon Network on such shows as Adventure time and she's creator of Bee and Puppycat. The series was the biggest Kickstarter campaign recorded on the site (as of 2017) and resulted in fully animated episodes being funded of the series and several comic books. Natasha Allegri draws her inspiration from feminist Japanese animations, which focus on leading female characters fighting evil such as Sailor Moon. As a result her works feature strong kick-butt female characters. 'Bee' from the series is a semi-functioning adult who comes into contact with a magical creature and faces a number of monsters as a result. Bee and Puppycat focuses on battles between Bee and monsters as well as characters relationships, deeper messages about what it means to 'grow up' and about identity.  Natasha's comical, light and soft approach to story telling is something I'm a huge fan of and has defiantly inspired this projects visuals as well as character interactions. 

Slightly Smaller List Of Films

Several films have also helped me better focus my idea of this project and what sort of film I'd want to make/ what I'd like it to come out like.  

• La La Land, Filming and Character Building. Communicating characteristics to the audiance with characters body language.
• The Wind Rises, Authorship. Miyazaki's personal approach and thoughts about art/being an artist communicated through the main character. Political within story and from authorship influence on the animation.
• The Girl With All The Gifts, apocalyptic setting and tender relationship building. Although a zombie movie the film presents an interesting relationship between 'the different' and 'the normal'. Despite fears, a tender motherly relationship forms.
• i, Daniel Blake,  Political character driven story. Realistic relatable characters push story, rather than events happening to them. Characters are already introduced struggling move 'forward' from their.
•  Zootopia, Prejudices against 'others'.  Relationship between the masses and the minorities. Political themes and equality promoting, for a younger audience.