Sailor Mooooooon!

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

So, I thought about posting in Creative Crossroads, asking the ATG's artists about their roots. Then I thought, "why not post in the main forum, so that everyone can talk about their current obsession and where it came from?"
So!
I draw (and pretend to be an artist) because I used to ADORE Sailor Moon. I started trying to draw the Sailor Scouts, along with the typically feminine unicorns and mermaids. Then, as Toonami expanded, so did my fandom.
Now, I mostly draw portraits and original characters (most of 'em are Mary Sues that I make up to chill with my favorite manga/anime characters. The first step is admitting you have a problem... xd )

So now, discuss:
-old school cartoons a la Transformers, Speed Racer, Felix the Cat, Voltron
-something you do/watch nowadays
-your creative influences
-where those influences have taken you  

[Alarias]

Well, I've always drawn...ever since I was old enough to hold a crayon anyways.
My family has a lot of ...I guess you'd call it "artistic...uh...interests"?
My grandmother had her own art studio for awhile. My mom, her sister, and her brother all dabble(d) in art and music. My mom and her sister could both play piano and her brother can play guitar.
So, I guess it just...sorta runs in the family.

I never really got inspired to draw anything by watching tv shows or movies. Usually though I get urges to make things..like...building stuff.
Like, I can't watch Batteries Not Included and not want to make my own tiny robot. I can't watch The Borrowers and not want to start making a doll house out of household items. I can't watch...well, you get the idea.
Unfortunately, my skills are lacking...majorly. So, I wind up making ....garbage. xp  

[AlcoholicPancake]

>_>
<_<

I used to wake up every morning to watch Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Pokemon, then come home from school just in time to watch Digimon...

I also Enjoyed Felix the cat and many other cartoons. Oh, and Speed Racer was my homie.

Unfortunately for me, I really have no artistic ability in which to recreate or do anything with those characters...  

[Oddplume]

I just enjoy being a connoisseur to my friends artwork. A good few of them used to draw all of the time. We were all frequently attuned to Saturday morning cartoons and Anime but oddly enough they largely drew original characters.

Their growth over the years was actually quite impressive. Nowadays they don't draw so much what with jobs and adult life.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

@ Ala: Ha ha, no one in my family is really very artistic other than myself and my sister. She's an excellent technical draftman, while my work is more organic. Also, she plays guitar and can sew. I used to have a basic understanding of piano.
I wish I could sculpt or something like that. I would love to make a series of robots. xd

@ Pan Pan the Breakfast Man: I liked Dragonball Z until the end of the android arc. After that, I felt like they were having trouble coming up with new villains... everyone seemed so plastic to me. Digimon was the s**t. biggrin

@ Odd: Blah. You're lucky. I can never work anywhere but home, or I'm buried under people saying dumb things like, "are you making art?", "I wish I could draw like that," and "will you draw me for free?" rolleyes  

[wakusei]

Hmm...well I've always drawn, so it's hard to know what my original inspirations were. I would just make up characters and stories and then draw them as best as could. Mainly started with stick figures that gradually evolved into cartoonish-looking characters.

In eight grade, though...I did discover Sailormoon, and anime in general. My friends and I would collect anime art books and then trace the pictures and turn them into our own...whether they were our own characters or characters from the anime we were tracing from. Eventually I tried my hand at drawing anime style by my own hand, and just continued to do it.
When I got to college, many animation students were very...stuck in drawing anime style. I chose then to veer away from it and continue to perfect my own cartoon style while also trying out other looks.

Some things I draw now still kind of come out "anime"...although it looks rather different from when I purposely drew that way... sweatdrop
But I continue to learn!

 

[AlcoholicPancake]

Digimon was the s**t, until the second series or whatever you would call it with the new digidestined. No more Tai, Sora, Mimi, TK, Matt, Joe, and Kari... Forget that, those 7 WERE the digidestined, and no one else could EVER replace them...

Yeah though, after the Namek Saga for me is when it started getting really dumb, DBZ was fine until then, and then it started sucking hard.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

@ Waku: I really suck at anime drawing, even today. I started around nine or ten, but almost a decade later, my prowess in that style is still just as limited. rolleyes

@ Pan-apalooza: I didn't mind the second season, when they looked up to the original Digi-destined... But now, the original kids are all old and almost never make cameos. crying Matt was my favorite!
Cell was pushing it a bit for me, and Dr. Gero was kind of a letdown. After that, I couldn't take the series seriously at all.  

[shiny dollar]

I've drawn anime style as long as I can remember...it probably started with Pokemon. ^^ I used to draw the characters from that...and Cardcaptors...digimon...transformers...dragonball z...Yeah.

Nowadays I guess you could say I watch...classier anime. All sorts though, I'm obsessed. I never watch english dubs anymore though.

My influences are all the manga that I read...the artist on deviantart.com...and the friends I have at school who also like it.
Because of my interest in art class, a while ago I started getting interested in still-life and realism, but I found myself being sucked in by my manga collection again so now I'm all animesque again.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

I never really cared for Pokemon. I guess Digimon was my equivalent. At least, the animation was better.

I like that in art classes, you don't have to be realistic. None of my concentration or breadth pieces were realistic, but I still got a good score. biggrin  

[God-Raped-Me]

Creepy, I was going to make a thread about drawing too. Must be in the name! whee

I've been trying to get back into drawing, I have to start from looking at a picture and trying to duplicate it in just pencil, then from there I can work my way to freehand. Duplicating helps me be more aware of where lines should go along with shading. I did to a portrait of GTR that I really like, and one of my duplicates came out kinda ok... The shading is off a bit though.

Also when I was about 6 or 7 there was an image of a sun that I used to draw. It's very similar to a compass as in there are 4 main points and then the 4 sub points between each. Then there was a ring of blue i would draw around it that would just touch the top of the sub points and be half way up the main ones, which are wavy. Anywhoo, I've always wanted to get this as a tattoo because the image was always relaxing to look at. I told GTR about it, he asked me to draw it up for him so I did. When he say it he didn't say anything but brought me to a pic of this.



Then he showed me this one too.



Turns out it's a Celtic sun. Which was really messed up because of my heritage and this was before I really knew or understood my background.

We also looked around because I didn't want my image to exist already especially if I want it tattooed on me, luckily it doesn't! So now I'm super stoked to get it done!

 

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

That's crazy, GRM. Perhaps it has something to do with subconscious alignment with your heritage.  

[Erverain]

My drawing abilities have always been sub-par. I can never get symmetry down right, and hands and feet are an unholy pain. And faces, god, I can never draw eyes right...
So I've stuck with stick figures or inanimate objects, since they lack the dangley bits that people have. Still can't draw worth a darn, though.
And the reason I probably started was because of my more artistically talented elder brother. And it gave some purpose for doodles on schoolwork sweatdrop  

[invisible-weirdo]

I fail at artistic-ness. sweatdrop And even if I can get whatever it is I'm sketching to look like anything other than utter crap, my perfectionism won't let me even glance at it without a look of semi-disgust on my face. (Stupid symmetry >.<)
Anyway. I stick to stick figures and amorphous blobs or patterns, really 3nodding Stick figures are more fun anyway cuz you don't really have to worry about it being too anatomically correct and you don't feel like tearing your face off because it's 'not right'.

Oh and on the subject of Digimon, I never watched it myself, but a few of my friends in Elementary that actually watched it said it was better than Pokemon anyway 3nodding  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

I myself am also best at stylized work. I find it's easier to forgive small anatomy mistakes when you filter the person through your style. biggrin
Actually, there's one ATGer who, I believe, doesn't like my style because it's too abstract.
Digimon ftw.