Not necessarily my inspiration or people who I try to imitate, but just mappers whose maps I really like - sayaka- - gaston_2199 - the law
Advice for new Taiko mappers:
Don't get guest difficulties. The first few maps you make will be a learning process, so you should try your best to avoid relying on guest difficulties at first. It prevents you from learning the concepts specific to the difficulties you haven't mapped. It also makes it harder to manage spread, which is very important in taiko. Lastly, you can't control the rate at which your friends learn. An exception would be getting a maximum of 1 GD from an experienced mapper who either maps Kantan or Inner Oni.
Ask questions about the RC. Odds are that on your first read through of the RC, you will have questions about it and maybe come across concepts that are new to you. It's okay to be confused, but you should seek to answer any questions you have about it to better understand why the rules are in place.
Do M4M. It has countless benefits. First, it gives you an incentive to mod other people's maps because you know you need the mods yourself. But it's especially great because you get feedback on both your mapping (through their mod) and your modding (through your reply to their mod).
Get comfortable with the editor. This will come naturally with time as you map more, but it also helps to poke around and notice what tools are available to you if you want to use them. For example, did you know that there are keyboard shortcuts for adding green lines?
Focus on the essentials. Do not spend hours adding decorations to your map such as storyboards, keysounds, or SV gimmicks if you haven't learned how to make good difficulties. You may find that you enjoy these or are really good at these later, but it's best to focus on what you need to learn first and worry about extra stuff later.