Today I saw two posts on Cartoon Brew that made me think about the influences we have on our work.

The first one was about director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) making comic strips, while the second pointed to an interview of storyboard artist Enrico Casarosa (Pixar) given to GhibliWorld.

On the comments section in the post about Sanders, many readers pointed similarities between his strips and Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes. I agree that the influence is there. After all, I think that the only ones who are not influenced by Watterson's work are the ones who doesn't know it at all! Actually, I think that these influences are among the good qualities of Sanders' comic strips.

Being influenced doesn't mean you are copying, and Sanders doesn't seem to be copying anyone. He had just absorbed what he considered to be good (not only in Watterson's work) and applied his personal touch in something I consider very promising.

In Casarosa's interview, it's very interesting how he talks about the influence of Miyasaki's work not only on his own production, but also in John Lasseter and Pete Docter ones.

I don't need to talk about how talented all those guys are. It's something that - along with their influences - makes possible the creation of great pieces of art: whether animated or not.

It's funny that this is the second post in a row that I feel the need  to point out to John Kricfalusi's blog, which has two cool articles about influences:

The importance of having a lot of influences and Influences won't help you without skill.