The Line between Inspiration and Stealing

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>>91405680
This basically was FLCL without Haruko or her Freudian undertones.

If disney can get away with it then so can you.

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Look, everything is influenced by other art. Stealing is taking something wholesale. Unless you're lifting dialogue and stories from something, you're fine.

If you want to differentiate your characters, a good place to start is to flip them on their head. I'm not too familiar with this anime so I can't give an example relating to it. But what I mean is, say you have a character that's like James Bond. You could take your character and make it so he takes his coolness towards women a little too far and comes off like a jerk, so instead of women wanting him and men wanting to be him, women don't like that they want him and men are jealous that he gets to be an asshole and still get women.

Another way is to explore a side of the character that wasn't originally explored. Maybe Bond never had a strong female presence in his childhood and so grew up with a distorted view of women. Or maybe he was hurt so badly by a past girlfriend that he's afraid of forming longterm relationships.

>>91405835
How, exactly? I fucking love FLCL and have seen BH6 enough times, but don't really get any comparisons beyond a boy and a robot.

>>91405835
Did I mention, a robot also a part of the cast? It really seems similar now. Thanks, I never really looked into Big Hero Six, but I'll check out the story
>>91406046
This is great, thanks!

>>91405835
Frankly I'd have to disagree here... FLCL was a chaotic mess of action and themes, BH6 was a pretty cut and dry animated movie.

>>91406046
\thread

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>>91405680
I feel your pain, anon.

Am writing my own stuff and then every time I come on boards like this and look into shows/comics all my stuff seems to be taken down to the last shred of character dialogue.

I have to constantly rewrite to keep it different.

But a little tip I can give is this;

Often when you get other people to read your stuff/edit your scripts etc and you ask them to look for similarities/concepts down in other works….Often times they can't find anything.

More often than not it's the author that over analyzes the shit out of their own works the most. The average person is unlikely to notice the similarities and enjoy it for what it is. Of course this does mean you have a passion for your work which is always a good thing, but don't let the obsession get to your head. Trust me, I know.

Of course you'd have to worry about the assholes who'll nitpick the fuck out of any similarity they see, but then again they'd nitpick anything anyways.

This doesn't mean ignore them or any other criticism completely or not change anything of course. The main thing I'm trying to get at is relax and take a step back and think of it objectively and you might realize they aren't as similar as you might think.

>>91405680
All you need to do is present it in a different and interesting way.

For example, nothing in Star Wars is original. The story is openly The Hero's Journey meets The Hidden Fortress, The characters fit neatly into cliche and many other elements are taken from elsewhere.

But the audience finds the way they are given these elements engaging. A large part of this is because its a well made film. So focus on making you work good first and foremost.

>>91406215
>Angsty boy loses brother
>angsty boy meets peaceful robot with symbolic connection to brother
>things become increasingly more anime
>angsty boy claims to 'pilot' the robot, but in reality is just carried by the robot and sometimes lets his anger out through it
>euntepenurial single gaurdian doesn't seem wise and often dosen't take things too seriously
>girlfriend of missing brother is awkward, other girl is too cool for school and male friends are plain goofy
>secrative technology corparation builds machine that poses the final threat to the city
>older villian has a simillar angst level to mc and is a result of lossing a female
>final battel results in the mc finding 'maturity' and reaching out to the lost female while the animation is turned to eleven
>in the end life goes on with the mc having more perspecitve on growing up and losing somebody

I guess a lot of these are superficial and FLCL isn't really FLCL without Haruko anyways. Also none of this is a bad thing, post Frozen Disney is getting kind of samey and this was still incredibly unique for a kids movie.

>>91406486
I do feel I'm judging myself too hard, I really don't want to be on the receiving end of nitpicking. But it's inevitable, I'll get some friends to run over my characters. Thanks for the idea.
>>91406576
I feel like my problem is FLCL is my main source of inspiration. Star Wars like you said had many things backing it up.

>>91405680
Dilute it with more inspiration?

>>91407269
Yeah, that's my plan but right now nothing really jumps out at me like FLCL. Might have to build the entire story again.

You need an editor, OP.

>>91407183
Don't forget to get editor Guinea pigs that have actually watched the show/idea you've been inspired by in addition to other people, if you're that worried about it. Just get a wide range of people.

>>91405680
>What are some good ideas to make sure that you're not drawing too much from a source of inspiration.
The obvious first-line of defense is to have multiple sources of inspiration. Blend enough of them and the borrowed elements will become less conspicuous. It is best, though, if you know each source in-depth and the sources aren't all from the medium you work in. In-depth knowledge of the material that inspired you means you can deliberately avoid making the obvious, shallow, tired references to it that everybody else make (e.g., you draw from The Cats of Ulthar, not The Call of Cthulhu). Your material being from another medium means that there is creativity involved in translating it into yours. Do you have any strong, lasting interests? If you cultivate them, you will have sources of inspiration you know in-depth.

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Also, in terms of stories that are similar to each other consider these movies;

Species and Under the Skin.

There are a lot of similarities between them down to the premise itself, but it's the execution that sets them apart. Both are horror movies but their styles are vastly different.

Without spoiling anything, one is more of a b movie, the other is very remeniscent of space odyssey.

>>91408712
I did mention that I liked the punk theme of FLCL, and have been thinking of adding the influence straight from my favorite punk movements and culture throughout history. Although it doesn't really help me with the characters, it's still a boy, a girl and a robot. I do think it help come up with more original writing.

>>91410335
Another thing you can do is research girl, boy and robot shows and see if you can use something from them. Or research a theme like TV-headed creatures. You'll find interesting works this way like Dead Leaves and Saga.

I have something similar, but it's with art style, how do I develop my own? I'm in love with Jamie Hewlett's style and would love for something like that in a comic project of mine, but don't want to be called a copycat.

Anyone with experience can help out with this?

>>91406668
This is an anormous strench.

>>91406046
>women don't like that they want him and men are jealous that he gets to be an asshole and still get women.

Sounds like Archer

Here's a tip for all of you:

Make sure you ask for advice from different places and people and not just 4chan.

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The thing is that FLCL is about a lot of things, more so than you might realise. If all you've taken is the "punk theme" then I really doubt its going to be visibly derivative.

Not only that, but FLCL itself is very derivative. It's also self-aware enough to also be thematically about "being derivative".

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You can take an idea like FLCL and run with it in interesting directions.
Pic related, Bikini Cowboy.
It's all about looking at other sources, looking in yourself or the world around you.

>>91405680

Its okay to take the punk theme. Just don't take FLCL's plot or messages too. Just write your own story.

>>91410335
You've got a lot of places to diverge and I assume you haven't actually committed to anything yet.
You have chances to diverge on relationships, personalities, and designs. Also tons of other plot elements. I mean what's your idea really besides "It's kinda like FLCL"?

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>>91405680
>I'm a fan of Fooly Cooly. And currently in the works of drafting a story of my own, taking the inspiration from FLCLs punk theme I started working until now I noticed that my cast of characters too much like FLCLs. Or at least as the author I see the connection almost too well.
Okay here's the thing.

You noticed the connection. But why is that connection there? Of course one reason is because you like FLCL, but what is it about it that resonates with you that you felt the need to emulate it? Just aesthetics? A theme? The music? The storyline?

Identify that aspect that you feel like you're copying, and then look for that aspect in all sorts of other works. Other cartoons, music, movies, it's inevitable that you'll find similarities everywhere. Study and learn from them. Then you can make it your own. Especially if you're been able to find how it connects with your personal life, then it'll be even easier to give it that personal touch that makes it more unique, more indicative of you and your history as an individual.

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I highly doubt you would be able to replicate something like FLCL just out of "there's a boy and a girl and a robot" and a "punk theme"

>>91412618
>>91411900
>>91412105
>>91412762
Thanks for the help guys. This really clears everything up.
>>91412871
You're right, it's probably just me overracting, there was probably no way to see FLCL in this, but thanks to this I have so many new things to work with and things to revise.

You guys are great.

>>91406046

You mean archer?