Random brainstorming! I was thinking of an unique-looking scene for a postcard to send out to potential clients and publishers. This was that illustration: http://fav.me/d1m63wk

Eventually I decided to make it into a webcomic. ^^

YO YO LIKE THANX N SHIZ!!!!1

Thanks for the question. Indeed, work on Meganeea began in 1997, when I was just a little over 13 years old. ^^

One interesting fact about the whole universe of Meganeea is that, until then, I had not created any characters of my own. I didn't exactly copy other people's characters either, but I had this apparent fixation with only making characters out of my toys (such as figurines and dolls) to which I gave names and personalities, as well as stories of their own.

I believe I dreamed a random scene one night, at around the time I was playing with those long-haired troll dolls from the 60's a lot. In this scene, the trolls were the good guys, and lion-elves were the bad guys, and they were battling each other. The next day I drew a little lion-elf child, very evil looking, who was to become Zad's son Lunnmoning (yet to be featured in my dA gallery.)

That first thrill of creating something basically out of nothing was exhilarating, and the rest of that year characters and ideas fairly snowballed out of my head in a way they never quite did again. It was an intense experience. The rest is history! ^^

Because my troll characters were based on a very specific toy line, as I became more involved in creating my own completely original characters I changed the trolls' look more and more. First their hair changed —the most troll-like feature. However, this made them look like little more than simple elves, which I found boring.

In my 14-year-old ignorance, I had the brilliant thought that giving them animal tails would make them the most original thing ever, which obviously they are not, but I had not seen anything like them at the time, and did not for many a year. So tails were added, and pointy elven ears stayed for the most part, although occasionally the ears matched the tail depending on the race in question.

Eventually this change brought many interesting issues into play when writing the story, such as species-fueled strife between the different races, and the issues present when predator and non predator animal hybrid characters have to interact with one another in a universe where famine is rampant, and in which to hunt one another would be charged as murder.

Inu-Yasha. That series triggered my love of anime, and subsequently of manga.

I don't even know who they are. :B

I REALLY miss King Of The Hill. ;_;

I get inspiration from everything: all the books I read, movies I watch, music I listen to. However, if you were referring to influences, which would be more relevant to one's drawing style, I'd name artists such as Howie Post, Don Rosa, Carl Barks, Don Bluth (his movies inspired and influenced me a lot, especially as a child, and Walt Disney's too, evidently --not only the films, but also animated shorts) Silly Symphonies and less well known cutesy animated shorts from the 50's and 60's. Lots of old, old comic books, and vintage children's books illustrators, Garth Williams being one of my favorites. ^_^