Other Resources and Inspirations

Stuff I consulted/looked at while working on this project.

Art Inspiration and Art Style

I love a ton of artists not listed here! I’m confining myself to the ones whose style or approach influenced this specific project.

  • Meredith Dillman. Inkwork: Led by Mothlight. Artbook.
  • Feimeng Shiyue (匪萌十月), Heise Shiyue / Black October (黑色十月). Gorgeous “anime-vibe” digital portraits.
  • Stephanie Pui-Mun Law generally; lots of glorious examples at her website, Shadowscapes. Her art was what inspired me to attempt watercolor.
  • David W. Mack.
  • Charlie Mackesy. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.
  • Hilary Roe Metternich, illustrations by Norovsambuugiin Baatartsog. Mongolian Folktales. Papercut art.
  • Alice Picard. Constellations. Artbook. Thanks to Dhampyresa for introducing me to her artwork.
  • Shozo Sato. Sumi-e: The Art of Japanese Ink Painting.
  • Sungsook Hong Setton. The Spirit of the Brush. Asian brush painting.
  • Brian Stelfreeze. Thanks to Stephanie Folse for introducing me to his artwork.
  • Ryan Woodward. Gesture Drawings and Sketchbook from Life.
  • Yuumei. Sanctuary: The Art Book of Yuumei: A Decade of Art, 2010-2019.
  • 기의호 지음. 전통조경 야생화. Korean brush painting.
  • 심은 이기동. 사군자 그리기: 매화편; 사군자 그리기: 국화편; 사군자 그리기: 난초편; 사군자 그리기: 대나무편. Korean brush painting guides to the “Four Gentlemen” (bamboo, plum blossom, chrysanthemum, orchid). Thanks to Mom!
  • Techniques for Drawing Beautiful Men, in the Ancient Style – sorry, I don’t read Chinese, so I don’t know how to type the title of this book! Translation of the title provided by Potofsoup; not sure of the author.

Comics, Manga, Sequential Art

Again, I love a ton of comics/manga/etc. not listed here! These are the ones that have been inspirations for this specific project.

  • Fray: Future Vampire Slayer, especially Karl Moline’s artwork.
  • Frozen Garden. Hellébore and Vesperalis. Thanks to Dhampyresa for recommending these; some of the comics are gorgeous watercolor comics.
  • Hamletmachine. Starfighter (NSFW)
  • Hiromu Arakawa. Fullmetal Alchemist (manga).
  • Maximilian Urirate’s Terminal Lance (often NSFW).
  • Military Courtesy. A series of US comics on exactly that. I think it’s in the public domain.
  • Rann. Memento Mori vol. 1. I love the manga-influenced style and colors.
  • Tillie Walden. On a Sunbeam. I love the gorgeous use of limited color.

Anime and Animation

  • 86 (anime).
  • Alien Stage: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 5 (YouTube) by Vivinos. (Apparently Round 4 was fanart?) Gorgeous effective use of limited animation, and dark/depressing in the best way. Recommendation by way of my daughter. 🙂
  • Arcane: League of Legends.
  • Batman Beyond.
  • Blue Eye Samurai. Thanks to Helen Keeble for recommending this.
  • Code Geass (anime). Thanks to Storme Winfield for pointing me at this after I started the manga!
  • Invincible (animated TV).
  • Lavatory – Lovestory (short film). Thanks to NIck Mamatas for recommending this.
  • Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These.
  • Mo Dao Zu Shi (Chinese animation).
  • Puff the Magic Dragon TV special.
  • TIE Fighter (short film, YouTube). Stunning animation. Thanks to Django Wexler for recommending this!

Characters and Costumes

  • Liza Dalby. Kimono: Fashioning Culture.
  • Timothy Godbold. Military Fashion Invades Style.
  • John Marshall. Make Your Own Japanese Clothes: Patterns and Ideas for Modern Wear.
  • Amy Miller. Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions, 1748-1857.
  • Korean Costumes Through the Ages. This appears to have been a commemorative booklet for a joint museum exhibit; I picked it up in a used bookstore.

Environments

  • Pam Beasant. How to Draw Buildings. For kids, from Usborne Books.
  • Steve Bowkett. Archi-Doodle: An Architect’s Activity Book.
  • Charis Chan. Architectural Guides for Travelers: Imperial China.
  • Hong Sun-pyo, Jang Nam-won, Oh Jin-kyeong, Kim Myung-sook, and Moon Suk-hie. Understanding Korean Art: From the Prehistoric through the Modern-Day.
  • Yoko Kawaguchi. Authentic Japanese Gardens.
  • Kazuo Nishi and Kazuo Hozumi. What Is Japanese Architecture?
  • Jill Matthews. Korean Gardens: Tradition, Symbolism and Resilience.
  • Michael D. Shin, ed. Korean History in Maps: From Prehistory to the Twenty-First Century.
  • Jae-sik Suh. Korean Patterns.
  • Naoko Zaima. Inspired Ikebana: Modern Design Meets the Ancient Art of Japanese Flower Arrangement.
  • The Korea Foundation. Korean Handicrafts: Art in Everyday Life.
  • Nikko Toshogu Shrine (a tourist souvenir book? bought in a used bookstore).
  • USS Kidd Veterans Museum. Local to me in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. I made my husband take me back for the express purpose of taking pics, especially of the CIC.
  • 덕수궁 (Deoksugung Palace, or Deoksu Palace) in Seoul, South Korea. My mom took us there many times when I was a kid. It’s a park now, with fabulous architecture and very hungry pigeons.

Concepts, Designs, Logos

  • Jim Dunavent. How to Draw Airplanes.
  • W. M. Hawley. Chinese Folk Designs. Papercut art.
  • Michael G. LaFosse. Making Origami Vehicles Step by Step.
  • Michael G. LaFosse & Richard L. Alexander. Michael LaFosse’s Origami Airplanes; Michael LaFosse’s Origami Butterflies.
  • Robert J. Lang. Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods for an Ancient Art, 2nd ed.
  • Jan Martin McGuire. Wolves, Foxes & Coyotes: Take Your Wildlife Painting to the Next Level.
  • Dr. Yasuaki Ninomiya. Whitewings series. Thanks to BlueGrassRoots for information (and a webstore!).
  • Peter Saydak. Everyone Can Learn Origami.
  • 3dtotal. Sketch Workshop: Mechs and Weapons; Sketch Workshop: Robots and Spaceships.
  • Counter-print. Animal Logo.
  • Counter-print. Logos from Japan.
  • Matsura Piece-Goods Store, trans. Fumie Adachi. Japanese Design Motifs: 4,260 Illustrations of Japanese Crests.

Fiction

  • Lloyd Alexander. The Westmark trilogy: Westmark, The Kestrel, The Beggar Queen. It may be significant that The Kestrel is the first one I encountered, in 5th grade.
  • John Barnes. Kaleidoscope Century.
  • Greg Bear. “Hardfought.”
  • Jack L. Chalker. Flux & Anchor.
  • C. J. Cherryh. Cyteen.
  • Glen Cook. The Black Company: The Black Company, Shadows Linger, The White Rose. Separately, The Dragon Never Sleeps.
  • Tony Daniel. “A Dry, Quiet War.”
  • David Drake. Hammer’s Slammers, especially Rolling Hot.
  • Harlan Ellison. “The Deathbird,” “Delusion for a Dragon Slayer,” “Paladin of the Lost Hour.”
  • David Feintuch. The Seafort Saga: Midshipman’s Hope, Challenger’s Hope, Prisoner’s Hope, Fisherman’s Hope.
  • C. S. Friedman. In Conquest Born and the Coldfire trilogy: Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown of Shadows.
  • Geraldine Harris. The Seven Citadels quartet: Prince of the Godborn, The Children of the Wind, The Dead Kingdom, The Seventh Gate.
  • Joseph Heller. Catch-22.
  • Douglas Hill. The Last Legionary: Galactic Warlord, Deathwing over Veynaa, Day of the Starwind, Planet of the Warlord.
  • P. C. Hodgell. “Stranger Blood.”
  • Guy Gavriel Kay. Tigana.
  • Richard A. Knaak. Dragonrealm: Firedrake, Ice Dragon, Wolfhelm, Shadow Steed, The Crystal Drake.
  • K. J. Parker. The Scavenger Trilogy: Shadow, Pattern, Memory. Also “A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong” and Purple and Black.
  • Meredith Ann Pierce. A Gathering of Gargoyles.
  • Elizabeth Marie Pope. The Perilous Gard. I still remember the terrifying epiphany that Cheris vs. Jedao was Kate Sutton vs. Christopher Heron. I can’t tell whether that means Kujen or Khiaz is The Lady?!
  • Robert Silverberg. Lord Valentine’s Castle.
  • Cordwainer Smith. “The Game of Rat and Dragon” and “The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal.”
  • Michael A. Stackpole. BattleTech Blood of Kerensky trilogy: Lethal Heritage, Blood Legacy, Lost Destiny.
  • Evangeline Walton. The Children of Llyr.
  • Margaret Weis. Star of the Guardians: The Lost King, King’s Test, King’s Sacrifice, Ghost Legion.
  • Rich Wulf’s Rokugan 2000 fanfic for Legend of the Five Rings.
  • Roger Zelazny. “The Engine at Heartspring’s Center,” Creatures of Light and Darkness, Nine Princes in Amber.

Poetry

  • Mike Allen. “Metarebellion.”
  • A. E. Housman. “I to my perils.”
  • Wilfred Owen. “Dulce et Decorum Est.”
  • Algernon Charles Swinburne. “The Garden of Proserpine.”
  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson. “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”

Games

  • BattleTech miniature war game.
  • Chess, including a House of Staunton set.
  • Legend of the Five Rings. CCG and d10 TTRPG from AEG, back in the day.
  • Mage: The Ascension. White Wolf’s TTRPG.
  • Mechwarrior: Living Legends. Computer game.
  • Planescape: Torment. CRPG. Also the AD&D 2nd ed. Planescape campaign setting.

Other Research

  • Ross Anderson. Security Engineering. I’ve read/owned this in multiple editions. Thanks to Daedala for the recommendation.
  • Richard V. Andrée. Selections from Modern Abstract Algebra. Thanks to Somerville High School for letting me make off with this. (It’s from 1958 so I imagine they had more updated texts available!)
  • Marcia Ascher. Mathematics Elsewhere.
  • Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber. Challenges for Game Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers.
  • Nigel Cawthorne. Confirmed Kill: Heroic Sniper Stories from the Jungles of Vietnam to the Mountains of Afghanistan.
  • Irving Chernev. Logical Chess: Move by Move. Thanks to Eller. :3
  • E. H. Connell. Elements of Abstract and Linear Algebra.
  • Martin J. Dougherty. Unarmed Combat.
  • James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi. Victory and Deceit: Dirty Tricks at War.
  • Bobby Fischer, Stuart Margulies, and Don Mosenfelder. Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess.
  • Samuel Hawley. The Imjin War.
  • Rania Huntington. Alien Kind: Foxes and Late Imperial Chinese Narrative. Thanks to K. :3
  • Georges Ifrah. The Universal History of Numbers. Thanks to my sister for loaning this to me.
  • John Keegan. The Face of Battle.
  • Stanley Milgram. Obedience to Authority. I’m aware this has been disputed/debunked since, but it gave me a lot of food for thought when I came across it in high school.
  • Roger H. Nye. The Challenge of Command.
  • John Allen Paulos. Innumeracy.
  • Mary Louise Robert. What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France.
  • Jesse Schell. The Art of Game Design.
  • Shin Myung-ho, trans. Timothy V. Atkinson. Joseon Royal Court Culture: Ceremonial and Daily Life.
  • David Sirlin. Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion.
  • Viktor Suvurov. Spetsnaz: The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces. Thanks to Chris Chinn for recommending this.
  • Sun-Tzu. The Art of War. 🙂
  • Ernest Swinton. The Defence of Duffer’s Drift.
  • Peter Watson. War on the Mind.
  • John Wick. Play Dirty and Play Dirty 2.
  • Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin. Trans. Ha Tae-hung, ed. Sohn Pow-key.
  • FMFRP 12-2 Infantry in Battle.
  • US Army Hand-to-Hand Combat.