I don't know if it's actually my first but my earliest art inspiration that I can remember was definitely Rez for the PS2. Everything else that looks great from that era I think I appreciated (at the time) for superficial reasons. Rez is the first thing I remember looking at and understanding that you could very intentionally make something look like that for a reason. It'd take a while to realize that that's why I also liked Ridge Racer Type-4 so much.
My latest art inspiration is probably work from other artists I follow. Folks like Lhata, Sateko, and Gattles for character art. Design stuff I'm still going through a long-standing 'Damn NASA's graphic and industrial design slapped real hard' phase. Spend a bit going through their 1976 standards manual if you've got a bit of time, it's wild.


