easily the most formative media that i've ever experienced was yume nikki. masada-sensei's space ship is one of the greatest het age gappy liminal spaces i've come across in media. at its core it is a man and a girl who cannot communicate sharing a space owned by him and unfamiliar to her. it gives me such heartaching comfort, but you can't stay on the ship forever.

naturally homestuck. its influence was so heavy that i used to be able to clock former homestuck fans in online art communities years and years later. the web-focused approach to webcomics was incredibly influential to me over the plot or art direction when i realized just how much i could do as i continued to study web development. but it had your brocon, age gap if you squint, etc. none of my current ocs were fan trolls but uhhh (throws horns on it)

i think i am most heavily influenced by the feeling some media leaves me with over a literal, more stylistic visual influence. i struggle to say "this is this artist's linework" or "these are that artists's color palettes." within my own art, i focus on a feeling i'm trying to leave a viewer with and build everything else around it. it leaves me open to translate those core emotions across different subjects and mediums.

this is such a nice question 🥺 i appreciate you asking.