Visual Style - Influences

 So  I've really been struggling lately trying to figure out what direction I want to move in. There are many styles of animation, and they all require different skillsets. So far I've been dabbling around in a bit of everything, but I feel it's time to start focussing my attention. 

I thought I was more interested in "realistic" artstyles, because I want to tell more mature stories. But what I have discovered is that visually I am just more drawn to cartoony faces that allow for a broad range of expressions. And very often, even with live action movies, mature stories can be "all ages", it's not about violence, or offensive language, it's about talking about mature themes.

The movie "Stalker" for example by legendary director Andrei Tarkovsky is rated PG. And that is one of the most powerful movies I have seen that made me reflect on things for days after watching it. 

Anyway, that is going off topic a bit :D What I wanted to do was to list some of current influences for what I feel I is my -range- of visual influences. 


Akira Toriyama - Dragon Ball. He's got great comedy, great action, lots of volume and amazing linework. Never gets old for me!

Pixar story artists. I'm especially a fan of the older pixar work, but big fan of their storytelling and character art.

Disney - ranging from the older films (especially the ones designed by Milt Kahl) to the newer flms like Tangled, Big Hero 6, Moana.

Katsuhiro Otomo - (Akira ) : Perfect blend of cinematic action but also keeping really expressive face designs. 

Eiichiro Oda - One Piece. The guy knows how to create awesome characters with a lot of heart. It's mad and super cartoony..the recent films however, have pushed the artstyle to even greater appeal (The movie Stampede )

Anyway I am putting this up, to remind myself of my influences and to stick with in this range :D