The cause of my late night and the subject of several confusing thoughts, Jackson PublickLet this be a warning to all of you out there; do not listen to The Sound of Young America podcasts before bed. You will not be able to fall asleep; you will only lay awake, looking at the ceiling, and be generally inspired-like.
I was listening to an interview between Jesse Thom, the host of said radio show, and Jackson Publick, co-creator, co-star, co-writer, director, voice over guy, etc. behind The Venture Brothers, an AdultSwim cartoon which is among my very short list of "Favorite TV Shows Ever." Jackson said some pretty impressive, inspiring things, but what struck me the most was how he incorporated his childhood influences into the tapestry of Venture Brothers. There's Johnny Quest, there's Hardy Boys, there's the Space Race, there's Johnathon Swift. It's all there, and it makes for a really genuine, personal show.
Now, this is really inspiring to hear, because I happen to be working on an animated pilot of my own, which is very much influenced by Venture Bros. But where else can we go? In order to make a real and personal universe for our pilot, we should go back and see where our own creative ideas bloomed from. This won't benefit strictly the pilot, either; by knowing where I come from, I can better shape where I'm going in all of my creative endeavors.
So, for the sake of my own creative therapy, I'm going to try to list where I drew from the well of inspiration throughout my life. Bare with me, and I promise next time I'll update with some pretty pictures of my own.
When I was really young, my dad used to read abridgments of classic stories to me and my brother. I particularly remember the stories of Moby Dick, The Tell Tale Heart, and The Call of the Wild, Treasure Island. These books told tales of adventure and excitement and that has appealed to me ever since.
Moby Dick inspired me to love adventure stories as a child and probably gave me my current fear of whales
Other than that, cartoons pretty much ruled my life. Garfield was a staple of our family, as was Snoopy, and reading the colorful comics page of the newspaper always excited me, even if I only looked at the pictures. I also watched a whole lot of Looney Tunes, and especially loved Bugs Bunny (with an admiration I hold to this day). I was also fortunate to grow up with some very respectable Looney Tunes homages, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. These were all old fashioned, classic, fun comedies.
I was always a Bugs fan, my brother liked Daffy. I clearly made the better choice.Around this time, I started getting into superheroes, and this transition was much easier considering the fantastic Batman: The Animated Series. My dad took us to see the animated Batman movie, and my dad wouldn't take us to ANY movies we wanted to see. This opened the floodgates to Superman, the Green Lantern, Spider-Man, all the greats. The ironic thing is I never really picked up a comic book. So I got my love of comic book heroes from animated versions of them. Considering the material, however, it's no surprise I garnered a love for the genre.
Bad. Ass.Then came Calvin and Hobbes, the event of my life. I really can't say much I haven't said before, but it became the template of my whole life and continues to bring me such real and immense joy. I don't know where I'd be without it.
I mean...c'mon, duh.
The next big jump for me, though, came in 1997, when George Lucas became my God. I lost myself in Star Wars and didn't find my way out until around 2001, when I realized that the prequels and the re-mastered originals were pretty lame, but AT THE TIME...I was hooked something fierce. It lead me to another current love, Indiana Jones, and more surprisingly, a LucasArts adventure game called The Curse of Monkey Island. Monkey Island was all the coolness of an Indiana Jones adventure with a more goofy sense of humor. Plus it was about pirates! I must've played through that game 50+ times.
Stylized genre locals were only one of many draws Monkey Island had over a boy like me.
I mean...c'mon, duh.The next big jump for me, though, came in 1997, when George Lucas became my God. I lost myself in Star Wars and didn't find my way out until around 2001, when I realized that the prequels and the re-mastered originals were pretty lame, but AT THE TIME...I was hooked something fierce. It lead me to another current love, Indiana Jones, and more surprisingly, a LucasArts adventure game called The Curse of Monkey Island. Monkey Island was all the coolness of an Indiana Jones adventure with a more goofy sense of humor. Plus it was about pirates! I must've played through that game 50+ times.
Stylized genre locals were only one of many draws Monkey Island had over a boy like me.I think it's fair to say a good dose of humor and a good dose of grandiose adventure (with a slight hint of fantasy) got me through those turbulent years of the 1990's. When my influences are boiled down into that easy to digest sound byte, it becomes fairly clear that my taste's really haven't changed much. Of course, my list of influences goes on (especially so once I hit college), but considering how long this post actually is, and considering it's 3AM, I think I'll save it for another day.
Be creative, be happy.
Love,
Stephen
Be creative, be happy.
Love,
Stephen
