That influence meme everyone's doing, I decided to do it in between my work at the studio. Original can be found here [link]

These are just some of my major influences and the screencaps in particular were either the focal points of the influences or I was just too lazy to dig up certain references XD

MEGAMAN SERIES - This was THEE biggest inspiration to me and had the greatest impact on me as an artist and a storyteller, Megaman was a character I grew up with and influenced not only my artwork, but the type of characters I liked to create. Marx and Emerald were influenced by two "particular" characters you may recognize from the Legends Series, while radically different from their inspirational source, they still show a similarity that I hope shows just how much appreciation for those characters I have. Megaman to this day is my favorite game series and is still one of the many series I look to for inspiration.

DRAGON BALL - This was one of the first Shonen Series that I was completely in love with and introduced me to Akira Toriyama's artstyle, it was definitely one of the more definitive series that made me start coming up with story ideas and concepts since I just adored the characters. However, when DBZ came around it didn't have the charm that Dragon Ball had, while I do love DBZ, I think it was the best of the entire series.

ONE PIECE - While Dragon Ball started shonen style Manga, One Piece perfected it and to this day goes almost unmatched in creativity and character development, while not originality because of all the references to real world figures and such, it truly is a masterpiece. I've followed this series since it practically started thanks to import stores and the owners who translated the books as well. One Piece was unlike any other anime I've ever seen, it wasn't pretty or sparkly and didn't have the big desu eyes, but rather felt like a cartoony more exaggerated for of anime. While people quickly dismiss it for it's look, that's something that drew me in and influenced me concept and storytelling wise heavily. To this day I still go back and get the chills from reading it and looking at it's beautifully ugly anime style

ASTRO BOY - this is what genuinely made me wanna be an animator/artist and what started Anime all together, Astro Boy was something that always floored me, the characters and stories are so simple yet they always seem to floor me with it's Drama, it's such a fun series but also very emotional and influenced my distinction of character and story themes, plus it also was what greatly inspired Megaman too, so it's a win win all together

SUPER MARIO - What CAN I say that hasn't been said about this 260 lb lovable Italian Stereotype?! Mario was the man I WANTED to be as a child; The Red Hat! The Perfectly Tailored Overalls! THAT EPIC STACHE!! SHIT DUDE! MARIO! YOU'RE THE MAN WHO INFLUENCED ME TO BE MANLY! *FLEX*

DUCKTALES - Disney was always a huge inspiration for me, and just about 90% of artists today, but if there was one series that influenced me the most, it was Ducktales. It always made Treasure Hunting and Adventuring so awesome to me; the lovable characters, the awesome yet silly villains, the EPIC THEME SONG! It's hard to explain just how this really influenced me, but I think it was because of Scrooge as the main hero of the series and how different he was from your ordinary hero, and I loved that about the series.

VELMA (from Scooby Doo) - I just wanna go on the record and say I FUCKIN' HATE SCOOBY DOO WITH AN UNDYING PASSION! However, Velma was just so appealing to me as a child and to this day. I'm still a Velma fanboy to this day, she also sparked my interest for nerdy girls and girls with glasses and it influenced Emerald as well (She had a lot of influences) another thing worth noting is she seemed to have this charm to make me actually sit through what may be one of my top 5 most hated shows in the world! Now that's one hell of woman!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (80s Cartoon Version) - I can't get enough of these guys, seriously, and I don't know who can! What stood out for me most aside from The epic games and April O'Neil were the villains, it had some really menacing villains, they were silly but at times they did some serious damage which showed them that you should not fuck with this guys, definitely a quality I wanted my villains to have.

DON BLUTH - This guy is a legendary animator and was what got me into the concept of animation. The way he moved the characters and even designed them were astonishing and overall breath taking. One thing that stood out from Don Bluth's animation style was that he could make ANYTHING look good, whether it be something cute, something scary, something disgusting or something sexy; he could do it! He's also my favorite animator that does figure drawings and realistic movements and integrates into his animation, he was one of the reasons I like drawing women of a heavier build because he drew it so right, while sometimes comical, it turned out to be down right sexy (Points to Sophie) It just makes me curious if I get to this level of animation, how would Marx and Emerald look animated like that? *Curious and motivated*

TREASURE GAMES - Treasure always influenced me in the video game department because just about every game THEY made I loved, and I always said that if I made a game based off of my series I'd want it to be just like these games. While it's hard to really choose a favorite, I think Mischief Makers was my biggest set of inspiration, Marina Lightyears influenced Marx's design somewhat (look at his gloves)

CHRONO TRIGGER - This game is simply THEE best RPG out there. You may like Chrono Cross better but that's cool, I just like Trigger more :3 It played a huge influence in how the concept of Time Travel can be done right. Also, Lucca, design influence #3 for Emerald :3

PHANTASY STAR SERIES - Perfect story telling from games 1,2 and 4 as well as being the best MMO to this date. It really showed just how far the concept of Science Fiction and Fantasy could really go which always gives me ideas on just what I can do, I just wish Sega would make the stories as fun and interesting as they used too. (Sadface) BUT OH WELL, AT LEAST IT'S STILL FUN! DERP DERP DERP!

MY FRIENDS - I wouldn't have half of my motivation if it weren't for them, while I degrade myself and strive to get better, they constantly encourage me to move forward. I hope that one of these days we all end up working on a major project together with all our characters or something we all created as a whole. It's just one way of showing my thanks to them :3