Inspiration

So last week I talked about being inspired, which I would like to follow up on today. As stated, I am inspired by many things. I do, however, want to make a distinction here between inspiration and influence. I am influenced by everything, whether I like it or not. Sometimes I'm influenced directly by things that I read or see. Other times I absorb ideas through pop culture osmosis. That is life. We are influenced by the things around us. I am mostly the product of my surroundings.

But true inspiration is different. Inspiration comes from connecting with something on a personal level in such a way that it completely changes the way you look at the world. At least, for me it does. And I remember specifically what it was that first truly inspired me:




Calvin and Hobbes opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at comics. I'm going to try to refrain from gushing over how great Bill Watterson and his creation is because it's pretty much a universally accepted fact(I could talk for hours about how great, funny, identifiable, etc every single strip is). But I do want to talk about how Watterson, through Calvin and Hobbes, changed my life.

Ill be blunt, I grew up learning to read on Calvin and Hobbes comics. I read it in the paper everyday, forced my mom to buy me all the collected books when they came out, and cut most of the Sunday strips out of the paper and taped them to my bedroom wall. I was in love with Calvin and Hobbes, and for many reasons. It's hilarious, well drawn, and able to jump from innocent simplicity to complex commentary with no effort at all. And it had dinosaurs.

This wasn't just a comic strip about a child and his overactive imagination. Even at the young age that I was, I could see that this comic was vastly different than anything else in the paper. Watterson's layouts were nothing less than stunning, his backgrounds were detailed and imaginative, and the jokes were universally understood.

I was imbued with a strong sense of artistic integrity long before I ever listened to punk rock (or anything else that requires you don't sell out to "the man") without even knowing, all thanks to Calvin and Hobbes. Clearly, this strip was doing something that no other strip could. I won't go into detail over the specifics because you can find them in many places(like the Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book or Wikipedia). The bottom line is, Watterson refused to compromise his artistic vision, and though it seems stubborn and bullheaded, and he received his fare share of criticism for it, I think the fact that he's remembered as one of the greatest cartoonists of all time speaks for itself.

Calvin and Hobbes didn't just inspire me to write, read, and draw(which it did, as a kid I drew Calvin and Hobbes fanfiction), it inspired me to live my life to the fullest, to constantly push myself to improve, and to never follow anyone's agenda but my own.