Influence and inspiration

Talk with others about anything shrine-related, be it presentation, content or something else.
dubiousdisc
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Influence and inspiration

Post by dubiousdisc »

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The following is a discussion topic from December 2008! You might also be interested in the forum topics Most Influential Shrines (May 2013) and Bring These Sites Back! (March 2016).

Was there a certain person or group that inspired you to get into making shrines? When currently working on your shrines, do you get inspired by certain shrines? How does the rest of the community impact your end result?
Robin
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Re: Influence and inspiration

Post by Robin »

Was there a certain person or group that inspired you to get into making shrines?

Oh yes, most definitely. A group of 3 young ladies, 2 of whom still make websites, greatly inspired me when I first got into the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom.

- Annie had a great general YGO site called Strawberree Fantasy (and she was a fellow Kaiba fan too)

- Kaz (later known as Huma) ran several sweet YGO tributes, one about her fav pairing (Anzu/Ryou), one about her fav character (Anzu), etc.

- Setine ran a mostly Kaiba-centric fansite with lots of info and analysis, but she also had FANTASTIC layouts and incorporated music into her designs in a way that wasn't annoying.

These three girls taught me more about webdesign and development in 3 months than I had been able to learn in a year of study on my own. I could email them about certain design tricks and tactics I had seen them use on their sites, and all 3 of them were super cool about teaching me what they knew. (Annie taught me how to use PHP includes, Huma taught me how to create button-like site navigation using display:block, and Setine taught me how to do transparent iframes.)

Also, they demonstrated how to put great shrines together--how to develop content people wanted to see, how to break apart big paragraphs into little chunks of info, how to organize it all together so it "flowed" from page to page.

When currently working on your shrines, do you get inspired by certain shrines?

Most definitely, especially when it comes to design. Emma's Beatrix site super-inspired me to create a new layout for Love You to the Moon, for instance--I knew I wanted a "better" design for that site, but didn't really know what direction I wanted to go with it until I saw Emma's work. Then I was like "OH!! THATS KINDA WHAT I WAS THINKING OF BUT BRAIN WOULDNT PICTURE IT lsdkjflksajdf"

How does the rest of the community impact your end result?

I'm very sensitive to community opinion on my shrines, because I'm happier when my work makes others happy. When others find fault with my work, I feel like shit and consequently I start to hate my work because others didn't like it. But when others really enjoy my work, then I get all hype and start working like mad on it because it helps me focus on what's important.
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
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Lethe
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Re: Influence and inspiration

Post by Lethe »

I'm late to this topic, but here are my tl;dr ramblings... /o\

Was there a certain person or group that inspired you to get into making shrines?
One of my earliest memories regarding shrines is of a collective (tokyo-love-story.net) by a German person. I've mentioned it on the forums before, but they had made at least two shrines to Angel Sanctuary characters, one who was immensely minor and who I may not have come to notice, let alone appreciate, without the shrine, and one who I disliked and didn't think about much.

Just the fact that dedicated sites exist for something you've thought of as obscure says so much and leaves such a deep impression - it shows that something that someone has created (the original creator) did indeed get noticed by someone and has touched that someone, and in turn, their appreciation of the original work is passed on to the visitor... Sharing that something has resonated with you and showing that you've got your own thoughts on it - those are just such powerful things to me, and those are the sentiments that got me into shrining.

Thank you for opening a world to me, unknown person! May we all continue opening worlds to others. :heart:

When currently working on your shrines, do you get inspired by certain shrines?
Yes, definitely. I keep a button wall on my network of shrines that inspire me, and a text file of inspiring elements from other people's shrines that I'd like to toy with in future projects. There are so many different shrines by so many different people out there, I think that it's just as important to sit down and read those shrines as to try your hand at making your own, see where you can take things and how to put your own spin on some elements. Browsing other people's shrines isn't just a way of taking part in the community, but part of developing and continuously refining your own style and approach. :star:

Different shrines affect me in different ways, and I plan to discuss inspiring elements in other parts (the current "inspiring series" on the forums, for example), but here are some people in the community whose shrines have surely influenced my style and guided me when I had just started out (the list is incomplete, of course; that's what individual button walls are for haha):
  • Robin/Samantha: Their shrines, in different ways, encourage you to do your own thing. Robin's site ideas are always so creative and she breaks out of conventional structures with them. Samantha loves analysis, so she won't shy away from including a bunch of analytical pages. They made me realize that that's what I love, too, and that I should go about it the way I want.
  • Todd: When I had just joined/come back, Todd was very vocal on the forums about reading shrines to subjects he doesn't know, and his own shrines have great spoiler warnings as well as newbie-friendly introduction sections. That led me to thinking more about visitor experience, and made me refine my own spoiler warnings as well as set aside entire sections for those unfamiliar with the material.
  • Larissa/dubiousdisc: Had I not read their posts, visited their shrines and spoken to these two when I returned in 2015 (there's a "font design gap" during 2012 and 2015, when I was inactive), I think my font-size on sites may be smaller and thus less readable now, still under the influence of older shrines. Thank you for making me see the importance and beauty of bigger font-size!
  • Megan: I like the learning experience on her shrines with regard to miscellaneous information; it's playful and interesting to branch out and not just see what design aspects went into a character, but how those elements have come about "in reality". A lot of other people do this on their shrines too, but it's particularly noticeable in Megan's, and she doesn't mind dedicating several pages to it on her shrines too. *-*
  • Overall, I think Larissa, Samantha, Todd and Ava's shrines have really influenced me content-wise! I love analysis.
Those are just a few early examples of people and their shrines inspiring me! :D There are many more people who inspire me now, including the above, but in other ways.

How does the rest of the community impact your end result?
I think the forums in general have been instrumental in how my shrines have come about and how I keep evolving. I backread all the time (the forums, the LJ) and there are so many things you learn by looking around and interacting with the community... For example, on the forums, Aku and dubiousdisc's posts over the years have really opened my eyes to many things, or fundamentally impacted me: regarding what shrines can be (how there is no set way for anything), the process of shrining things, etc. I think it's great when the community has discussions that lead to new ideas or trends, or even practices or lines of thinking being challenged!

I think we also shouldn't be afraid to point out where a shrine can be improved or where something may be difficult to understand, or what else would be good to include in any given shrine: Any time such feedback has been given to me, that has led to improvement on my shrines! In the same vein, leaving detailed feedback about what you've particularly enjoyed on a shrine also helps those who read those comments (not just the person they're directed at); I'm sure browsing arainymonday in the past was a learning experience for me too.

I love how the community is still growing even now, and how active we are with not just feedback, but encouragement while a shrine is being created: External motivation and other people's enthusiasm make such a difference. Making new friends here and mutually supporting each other means so much to me. On some recent layouts of mine, I also liked how many people I could go to for help and input... The end product then feels like a "collaboration", and it makes me happy because I couldn't have arrived there myself.

?? I have no idea what else I should talk about here so I'M GONNA CUT THIS OFF.
Both despair and ecstasy are part of the elements that compose a person.
Destinie
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Re: Influence and inspiration

Post by Destinie »

How did I miss this topic?

In the pre-Amassment days I had an online friend who ran http://lucidify.com and I had been following her for YEARS since she ran http://boundless-world.net. Her work had always inspired me because of her clean designs but also thoughtful presentations. Another online friend ran http://conijito.com and she also had high standards for shrines and a wicked sense of humor. She doesn't make shrines anymore but now has a personal business selling raw, organic products.

I was making shrines back in 1999 or so and a lot of the people who had I had made connections with had stopped. But something inspired me to start making shrines again in 2006 when I began my Meowth shrine (it was 3 pages at the time) and it wasn't until late 2007 when I found that other people were out there actually making shrines! http://glamdreamer.com was a site I used to visit a lot, I think because she had a Tamaki Suou shrine that I was all about.

It's hard for me to pick any one person, though, because I did a basic search for character shrines in general and I found some now-defunct so-called elitist cliques and then Amassment. TBH I first joined Amassment so that I could get listed in the directory to try and get some people to check out what I was doing but then I found out that I really liked how nice and accepting everyone was. I was really nervous because I had bad experiences with LJ communities in the past but I found that people really pushed me to do bigger and better things and that was exactly what I needed!

Some other Amassment members did inspire me in my early days: I was inspired a lot by Todd's shrines because we both like Nintendo games! I liked Shiori's work because even though she had a small shrine collection she put a lot of attention on her writing and it was always a treat reading her facts and snark. Other early Amassment members who inspired me a lot were Chrissy, Varen, Michelle, Emma, DubiousDisc, and Larissa, just throwing a few off the top of my head!

Nowadays there are so many people creating great things that I feel constantly inspired! ♥
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Tara
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Re: Influence and inspiration

Post by Tara »

Was there a certain person or group that inspired you to get into making shrines?
Gooooooosh, I started looking at shrines way back when I was 14 so I can't name anyone specifically, the old shrines that were up around that time (2004-2005 era). One I do remember is a certain Yuna shrine @ yuna.us. I never got too into shrining until Amassment started up, and a lot of the founders and early members kept me inspired to keep going now that I had a community to relate to. Todd and Masao especially were very inspirational for me!!

When currently working on your shrines, do you get inspired by certain shrines?
Seeing other shrines of the same subject definitely keep me inspired!! It helps me in figuring out subjects I want to touch base on, as well as someone I can potentially chat with and partner with when the shrine is complete. I know Samantha's Persona shrines were a huge inspiration when I was working on all of mine!! Todd and Crystal's Fire Emblem shrines are also huge inspirations to me now because I'm working on some Fire Emblem content. I'm a little shy when it comes to chatting people up, but I love seeing content on Twitter and here on Amassment. Oftentimes I'll just be suddenly motivated to work on my own stuff when I see it around.

How does the rest of the community impact your end result?
Events are REALLY inspirational for me to finally get my ass in gear and work on projects because it sets a due date. I work best with an end date in mind because otherwise I will just keep procrastinating... I also love the positive outcome of constructive an positive feedback here because positive enforcement really helps tome to strive to improve and pump out more projects.
I used to practice smiling when i'm feeling sad, y'know.
dubiousdisc
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Re: Influence and inspiration

Post by dubiousdisc »

Was there a certain person or group that inspired you to get into making shrines?
Back in 2003, I was inspired to make my own Pokemon fansite by a certain webmistress...DarkJiggly I think was her name? But I was mostly blundering in the dark as I was making my site - I guess that I didn't really know the direction I wanted to take with it until I saw Denise's CopyCat, with all her super in-depth articles...That was in 2006. At the time especially, fansites tended to be a collection of random sections that didn't really add up to a complete narrative, so visiting her site was a complete eye-opener for me. Funny that we ended up marrying...
There was also the now defunct Kokowa Dokoda by Megan, a friend of Denise - it was another Mewtwo fansite with incredible content, I loved the way she wrote. Now she's an artist making her own comics and things - I feel so starstruck that I got to meet her like that back then!

But it wasn't until joining Amassment that I got to see so many different shrines to many different things, and with such high content standards! I'll point at - Larissa, Destinie, Crystal, Aku, Varen, Lucas. That's the ones that really stuck with me at the beginning of my times over here, but more recently there's been other people who are totally an inspiration to continue and improve! That's pretty much all of you wonderful people. :D

When currently working on your shrines, do you get inspired by certain shrines?
Fucking absolutely. I love you all and you're all amazing.

How does the rest of the community impact your end result?
I really want to echo what Lethe said about the final result feeling like a collaboration, which is amazing and incredible and it wasn't like that back then. I think it's because we're all in different fandoms and with different interests and we're all completely different people with the same passion.
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Re: Influence and inspiration

Post by Megan A »

Was there a certain person or group that inspired you to get into making shrines?
Like Lethe, I actually lurked around shrines for a bit! My favorite ones were Rinoa's Rebelling Princess for Rinoa (FFVIII) and Janice's Lilac for Garnet (FFIX). There's also a Yuna one that had a beautiful splash page with music from the game that I'd visit regularly. They were my first experience with shrines, and I thought that their layout design, content, and just everything was so magical. I made sites but nothing relating to fandoms until I got into fanlistings. I have a secret, unfinished Jade Curtiss shrine which was my first attempt at something like a shrine, but it's embarrassing and not very good. :X At the time, I wasn't aware of Amassment or any other communities dedicated to shrines though, and I didn't finish and was never happy with it.

After making that shrine though, I did disappear for a few years and came back to make fanlistings when I noticed my favorite Tales of Symphonia character was available for application. Then Megan told me about Amassment, and Amassment overall really helped inspire me to get back into shrines even though it took me awhile to finish my first and second ones. I was really inspired by Todd to get into making shrines, and I don't think my first two shrines would exist without his inspiration.

When currently working on your shrines, do you get inspired by certain shrines?
Yes! There have been times where I have been unable to find motivation on my own. Both shrines and people motivate me a lot! To name some individuals, I am always inspired by Samantha's designs and analysis sections, Megan's media sections and enthusiasm for her subjects, and Crystal's personal touches upon all of her shrines. I've also been writing content for some JRPG characters, and I've been really inspired by what both Emma and Larissa do with their Final Fantasy shrines. But I've browsed and been inspired by so many shrines.

This might be strange, but to be REALLY specific, I am really inspired by Lethe's index pages! Her introductions are really thorough and provide a great insight on what her shrine is about and what she hopes to accomplish.

How does the rest of the community impact your end result?
I want others to enjoy reading through my shrine as much as I enjoyed writing it so I love feedback and take it very seriously. I love that there are people I can go to for beta reading if I am uncomfortable with my writing for a specific section and even help with layout design / coding. Being part of the community has really inspired me to improve both my writing and design skills which I've been able to apply to other aspects of my life.

I still have a long way to come with my own self-confidence in my creations, but being part of this wonderful and welcoming community has taught me to be more confident.
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Re: Influence and inspiration

Post by Anise »

Was there a certain person or group that inspired you to get into making shrines?
I got into making shrines years and years ago when I had friends who were interested in making websites. I actually got to know members of the Spiral fandom. I got to know Ayumi from clynefaction.net because of her Blade Children shrine and from there got involved with the online TCG groups and then one thing led to another and here I am.

When currently working on your shrines, do you get inspired by certain shrines?
When working on certain subjects I will admit to reading on shrines to similar subjects to see what other people have done with it. I'm especially inspired by the analysis others write because you all have such wonderful writing skills and often find that I need to try and slow down so as to not ramble and make typos. I definitely enjoy writing but it's probably not my forte.

How does the rest of the community impact your end result?
I think it encourages me to make shrines (and to get back into making them) because even if I'm not active all the time I have someplace I can come back and work on things when I have the chance.
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