First up we have Twinkie Chan!
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This woman inspired me to learn how to crochet! I had a couple months of being marooned in the desert at my mother's house after graduating college. I needed a distraction from the misery of doing absolutely nothing all day (it was too hot to cast resin cause of no a/c in 100ยบ heat) so I decided to learn a new craft! I fell in love with crochet. Twinkie was a huge part of that. I saw the sculptural potential in crochet that knitting just didn't seem to possess. My mom is a knitter and I always wanted to learn a yarn craft to feel closer to her but I just never could wrap my head around it. Crochet was a different matter. I started to understand it almost instantly. I'm not a whiz or anything but i've started sculpting with crochet and it feels amazing. My portfolio for my MFA applications is going to be so soft and fuzzy! Thanks Twinkie!
Next we have Athina LaBelle of Eclectic Essentials Boutique!
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I just recently discovered Athina's work. She inspired me to start playing more with pastel colors in my resin! I always left the pastel colors in a corner, all neglected. I love pastel but I would forget about it in favor of brighter, more saturated colors because that's what I usually am drawn to. Seeing how this stay-at-home mom/jewelry designer used pastel colors to such wonderful ends I was really inspired to start playing with them myself. I've fallen so much in love with my pastel glitters! I've been mixing pastel with bold saturated colors and the result is really great. I'm loving it and loving her jewelry! She's also inspired me in part to start working with chunky curb chains and beading for the necklace part of my pendants. I'm so tired of slapping a pendant that I worked hard on onto a commercial ball chain with no personality. I want my chains to be just as DIY and fun as the jewelry they suspend.
And now for Amy Shrinkle!
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This girl makes some of the most awesome clothes! Not only that but she makes her clothes in more than just her own size. I love that! There are a number of other handmade clothing sellers who ONLY make clothes in their own size. I might not be a fatty anymore but I'm tall and have wide hips so a size 4-6 is out of the question for me! Even at my skinniest (I looked like an unhealthy twig!) I was a size 10-11 because of my height and bone structure. It feels really good to know that there are designers who understand that there are different types of girls out there and they ALL deserve to look fabulous! I can't wait for the launch of her Sugarpill cosmetics line. She always has amazing makeup on and I can't wait to see what the mind behind her makeup looks has been working on for 4 years! You know that after 4 years of conceptualizing and building that her makeup isn't going to be repackaged junk that you can get for $5 an ounce. It's going to be bold, original and fun. I'm so looking forward to it!
This next girl was a close friend some years ago. We lost touch a little bit but I still hold her in my heart. I'm talking about Roux!
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Hilary (aka Roux aka Tom Hoshino) was a really good friend back in the early 2000's. I even went to visit her in Cincinnati! I had a blast with her. There was a group of us on VLC (before it was mostly just furry porn). We all drew each other's characters constantly. We talked all the time. It was a good feeling to be part of that group. I miss all those people. I started moving away from the anthro scene but I still love the colorful characters and I don't think there's anything weird about anthro art. The porn can be a little weird but it's not like these people are having sex with REAL animals so whatever. I would never be an advocate of art censorship! Anyway, Hilary still really inspires me! Thanks to her I've been feeling the drawing itch a lot lately. I even drew today! It felt great and I would really like to get back into illustration for fun. I hated being an Illustration major in school but I love drawing. I think I just needed a drawing hiatus. NOT drawing did me a lot of favors but it's starting to feel wrong. I know I have a lot of talent in that area and it's silly to waste it. I know that there are people who would be happy to hear that I'm putting pencil to paper again. Maybe some day my illustrations will be popping up on DeviantArt again! I miss you Hilaroux. You were and still are a big influence on me!
And finally (for now) Sam MacKenzie!
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I LOVE this kid's work. Ha. I say "kid" but he's only a year younger than I am. This Australian is a favorite artist of mine. has been for years. I really look forward to his big sketch compilations. I think I enjoy artists' sketches and unfinished doodles more than their completed pieces. I feel like you learn more about their process and how their brains work from their doodles. I love his range! From pretty girls to silly doodles to big burly men with arms the size of trucks. His drawings can make me laugh and I do love to laugh. Looking at his work makes me BURN to draw things. Particularly cute girls in their underoos! He seems to really understand anatomy to the point of warping and bending it to his will. I like that. I also love boobies! Boobies make me happy. So thanks Sam! Thanks for boobies and inspiration galore!
That's it for now! There are a billion more people and things that inspire me every day. Too many to list really. But as of right this minute these are the people who are on my mind. I wanted to give them some credit for helping me keep the creative juices flowing! Without people to inspire us we would never do anything new or original. No artist can exist in a vacuum. We need other people around us doing things, making things, thinking, breathing. Otherwise we become stagnant and boring. With all the inspiration on the internet there's NO reason to be boring or uninspired. There are a million reasons to make something!
What inspires you internets? Colors? People? Books? Places? We all draw inspiration from somewhere. I would love to hear about yours!!
Ohman, TwinkieChan is definitely my number one motivater. I don't know what it is about her and her work that just makes me feel like I can actually accomplish something, but there's nothing like reading her tweets and blog entries to put me in the mood to be productive!
ReplyDeleteOh, you know who else I forgot about but is still awesome? Rose Besch! I randomly remembered about her on Christmas and she still has her old domain.. I don't know about you but I still think she's amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the love!!! I really appreciate it. Inspiration does make the world go round. I really love your work as well. Color inspires me, music, film, fashion, my home, and studio. Its filled with all that I love. My mood plays a big part as well. I couldn't agree more with what you said in the end of your blog. You're a sweetheart, now go make a masterpiece. lol. :)
ReplyDeleteEeeeee!!! First of all it felt awesome to check my blog today and see three comments! Second:
ReplyDelete@Loona Rose used to be a HUGE influence on me! But then I started moving away from being so heavily anime influenced and more into an angular comic book kinda style. I'd say Charmaine ended up having a bigger influence on me. Her style is so much grittier and all of her drawings look like she banged them out in minutes because of her super fast looking linework. I like all the speed you can sense in her drawings! I looked at some of Rose's stuff after you posted about her on your Tumblr but I feel like, for me at least, a lot of the magic is gone. As much as I LOVE super bubbly cuteness and bright colors they have to be the right kind. I like a little more creepy in my cute than she delivers. She draws and colors beautifully. There's no doubt about that!
@Athina Inspiration is everywhere! Sometimes just being in the supermarket surrounded by all those colors and smells makes me want to create things. I think I draw the most inspiration from conversation though. talking to people, talking through ideas that lead to new ideas and more ideas has been the biggest inspiration for me. That's where so much of my art came from while I was in art school. I would sit and talk to my friends and have billions of ideas flood into me! It was such a thrill, that feeling of perfect inspiration. I miss that dialog so much! It's really hard to surround yourself with creative people in a city where you just don't know anybody and have no ties to start out with. I never realized how hard it would be to make new friends once I got out of school. I'm trying to surround myself with creative people online, so I went on a blog following spree! I don't think anything will ever replace the magic of art school. Having a studio next to six other people who were all constantly making things and talking about them was an incredible experience.
I hope one day I will be covered in creative people again! In the mean time I draw a lot of inspiration from the same things you do. Music, color, my mood, fashion (especially this resurgence of 80s awesomeness!). I also get a lot of goodness from writing in my little red notebook. It's kind of like an internal version of the conversations I used to have with my art school chums. Oooooh I can't wait to get back in my studio and make more stuff! <3