Influence Map...

Again, I can't keep off the bandwagon!
Thanks, `fox-orian, this was fun!
WARNING: TL;DR DESCRIPTION!

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EXPLAINED:
<sub>Angels: I've always loved Angels, or just humans with wings, mostly because I have always adored the idea of flying. Which also explains my love of aircraft- I solemnly believe that humans not having wings is an evolutionary defect.
Most of my characters used to have wings- but due to Mary-Sue-ness, only Jordan and Fenyx have them, as well as Eli, even though Eli's wings are never seen.

Books: Books have always been a big part of my life. I've grown up in three languages: Afrikaans, German and English and my grandmother was an English teacher. I have a big love of literature and I pride myself of having read just about every book in my Primary School library. I love reading everything from dictonaries and phone books and atlasses to classic literature. This also inspires me to keep developing my characters and to keep them alive through physically writing stories about their lives.

Photography: Photography is a big, BIG part of my life, since I try to make half my living as a photographer. The fashion photos of artists like Dermarchilier and Rankin are a big inspiration to me and even though I don't spend ages reading through Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, I do enjoy spending hours googling pretty pretty fashion shoots!

Cape Winelands: This, people, is my favourite place on the PLANET. I don't care if South Africa is a hell-hole, if it's the most dangerous place in the world, this is my home. I grew up in Wellington, right in the heart of the Boland. Secretly I imagine all my adventures I had in that little town to be more valuable than all the education I will even acquire.

Language: I love languages! Because of my trilingual upbringing, it's only natural. I love being able to speak to a tourist in his own language and learning the grammatical structure of a new language. I also love the sound of other languages, which means I love accents. My favourites are hard ones like German and Russian and Scandinavian ones like Finnish and Swedish.
I've also been known to use language as a design device, like when I made a whole poster for Anthony and Cleopatra in Latin as a design project in college with the help of my Latin-speaking lecturer! This is also why I have my characters all be able to speak at LEAST two languages each! If I don't know the language I will ask someone to translate something for me if I need it!

Lady Gaga: Yes, yes- I know. Some of you HATE her and are laughing or cursing uncontrollably right now. Like I care. Thing is, I LOVE music. The only reason I didn't put it in a block was because it kind of goes without saying. I never liked Lady Gaga when she started out, but she started intriguing me and I really got into her. I love her incredible individuality and the fact that she's not ashamed of it. The whole "it's okay to be a weirdo if that's who you are" - thing REALLY appeals to me.And she rocks on a piano!

Julie Doucet: It's artists like these that make me love being an artist. I read My New York Diary in my second year at design school and it's inspired me to not only keep graphic novel-ing, no matter HOW unconventional my style is, it's also inspired a long-running project of mine: the Alter E.G.O. project, (which has been dormant for a while), which is kind of my own little life-diary.

Jackson Pollock: Look at my art. Look at it carefully. I don't have the crazy soft-shading skills like *WarrenLouw or `Wen-M and in regards to digital art, it's taken me a while to accept that.
He also instilled this "it's okay to be messy, just do it RIGHT and call it expressive" ideology in me, which I must say, is as inspiring as it's comforting.

Queen: Ladies and Gentlemen, these four boys make up my favourite band of ALL TIME. I am the biggest fan EVER. Many a night I have spent working on art projects or homework or doing nothing listening to Freddie and the boys making love to my ears. Bohemian Rhapsody is and forever will be, my favourite song EVER.

X-MEN: I just LOVE X-MEN! And when all the girls went batshit over Rogue, I fell in love with Storm!
X-MEN is probably the biggest influence on my characters and story and art in general, since most of my characters come from different countries and they all have mutant-like qualities, in other words, they each have a different power. I've also always been a fan of Mike Deodato's work!

Fighter jets: Oh yes, this is a BIG love. BIG BIG BIG love! I wanted to go to the South African Air Force instead of design school, but several reasons prohibited me from doing so. Right now I'm a photographer for the SAAF, which is a close second My adoration and almost encyclopedic knowledge of aircraft also made most of my favourite characters pilots of some sort!

Lord of the Rings: Like I've said, grandma was an English teacher, and I grew up with The Hobbit and LOTR. If anything, it's only served to teach me the incredible power of imagination and fantasy and also, great writing.

Phil: Yes, some of you will say I'm obsessed with my boyfriend and I just wanted an excuse to put a photo of him on here, but honestly: just about EVERYTHING I've learnt in regards to digital art the past few years is thanks to him. He's a GOD with lighting and I've struggled a LOT and he's always been there to help. He's taught me MANY Photoshop skills and I will always be grateful to him for that! <3

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