Under the Influence

Published on May 4, 2018 in Art & Artists

Back in 2010 there was a meme circulating around the Deviant Art community. The Influence Map meme was popping up everywhere and I felt the urge to make one for myself. That was eight years ago. Do those same artists still have any impact on me now?

Stylistically, my influences can be difficult to see since they cover a fairly broad range. Ideally, my Influence Map consisted of artists I admired and would have liked to incorporate into my own style.

These days I don’t draw nearly as much as I used to, but here’s a current version of my influence map.

Jim Lee: Todd McFarlane’s Spawn may have made me want to draw comics, but I’ve always wanted to draw like Jim Lee. His women and attractive and graceful, and his men are look powerful and proud without being brutes.

Todd McFarlane: Like I said above, my discovery of Spawn sent me careening into an art career.

Erik Larsen: The man has been writing and drawing his own comic for decades (over 200 issues)! And it features characters he created as a kid. It’s the sort of thing that makes me wish all of my childhood characters weren’t third-rate copies of existing ones. Artistically, he’s carrying the torch of Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson – both of which I’d be proud to consider an influence.

Mike Mignola: His quirky high contrast style and amazing compositions are what fascinate me about his work.

Frank Miller: His Sin City work in particular is a great study in black and white patterns, use of negative space, and interesting compositions. The extreme noir of it is fun.

Jack Kirby: I wish I had an ounce of his creativity and off-the-wall imagination!

Alphonse Mucha: His art nouveau illustrations are comic book-esque with bold outlines and strategically placed curls.

Darwyn Cooke and Bruce Timm: They’re styles are similar and they both worked for Warner Bros. Animation on the Batman cartoons. I love the simplified, angular look they gave superheroes, inspiring a new generation of artists.

Frank Cho: His women have curves, his men have muscles, and his animals (and dinosaurs) look realistic. He can draw it all, and ink it with a technical pen. Hell, lately, he’s been creating art with ballpoint pens!

« Keeping the Art of Lettering Alive | Back to Blog | Metal Maniac Master Illustrators »