My Artistic Influences
My early influences were generally Television Animation and comics. I did not go to the movies often until Junior high, so for me, it was what was on T.V., or What I could pick up at the Pharmacy's comic spin rack for 25 cents. As a child I preferred my entertainment with lots of violence, with not a lot of patience for anything "soft." I was an early reader, and when from Dr. Suess, to Allistair MacLean, and Robert A. Heinlein rather quickly. On TV, anything war, space, or monster related I watched. Gerry Anderson's "the Thunderbirds" and later "Captain Scarlett" were favorites, because things blew up or fell down a lot. I also watched a lot of cartoons and even in the first grade I could make reasonably recognizable style swipes of cartoon characters from TV. I would often read war comics, usually from D.C. at the time, and the occasional Marvel Superhero. As I was entering the Junior High (Middle School) years, I discovered Dungeons & Dragons, and my former interest in SF, was heavily supplemented, if not supplanted by an interest in Fantasy, and history. Though exposed to fine art, and having taken A.P. Art History in high School, There are not a lot of fine art influences on me, as I found a lot of it static and cold, and much preferred classic commercial illustrators to the fine arts. In College, in the early 80's was when the new "Comics Renaissance started with publishers like "Pacific Comics", and "First comics". My interest in becoming an animator shifted, when I actually had to animate, for class at De Anza College, and my laziness steered me away from 2D, into 3D animation still somewhat in its infancy at the time. I still liked to draw, so I started doing game illustration and comics, until I got full time work at video game companies in 1991. From 1991 on, computer art became my career, and drawing was relegated back to being a hobby. That may change?
Alex Toth, for his economy of form and line and a lack of cross hatching, probably acquired from Hanna Barbera Adventure Cartoons from the 1960's. His economy is probably the most evident visual influence on my art.
Ed Benedict, again a noted character designer from Hanna Barbera And again for the graphic simplicity, and design.
Ty Templeton, "Canadian Comic book Inker who used a super bold, and cursive lines, and almost no Crosshatching. (The influence is most seen when I was inking Red Shetland for Graph-X-Press.)
Howard Chaykin,l very similar to Alex Toth, but with a bit more realism and more of a graphical punch, hsi approach to posing, page layout and the female form were infuential to me.
John Severin, who's movie and TV Parodies, as well as his near perfect war comics through the 70's and 80's led me to observation, and research.
Dennis Loubet, A game illustrator for Steve Jackson Games, Hero Games and Origin systems. His approach to inking was influential to me, especially when approaching illustration.
Sheldon Borenstein, He was an animation and anatomy instructor from Cal State Northridge, hired by 3Do, to instruct the artists on anatomy. Studying under him gave me the most dramatic improvement in my anatomy of any instruction I had received previously, and hus phrase "Cal State Cool" (based on the Cal state logo T-shirt or hoodie of the time), showed me the design importance of straight, versus curves in design.
Syd Meade, Who's work I started following in college, along with Luigi Colani, due to my shift in college from "art" to Industrial Design (A discussion for another post). His way of making the most out of the box concepts seem plausible and concrete. How he could make something seem as solid as granite with only a few marker lines, to full blown paintings. His work has influenced me more on the 3D side of things, but it stil appears in my 2D.
J.C. Leyendecker, Prolific illustrator from the first half of the 20th Century, who's depiction of glossy elegance and perfect lighting is jsut an object of lust for me. Sort of the opposite of Toth, in that while Toth displayed an economy of line, with just a cursive ink line. Leyendecker portrayed the same, smooth economy, though a lot of hard work and special paint consistencies.
Dylan Cole, I took two classes with him at a Massive Black artist's gathering in San Francisco years ago, on the art of Matte painting, and it was a large influence on how to handle backgrounds and lighting. More of a 3D influence, but it shows occasionally in some background work. Believe it or not, yes, I can do matte paintings.
Michael Golden, Mostly from his work in Marvel's The Nam. He showed it was permissible to be a little cartoony, without losing the authenticity or accuracy of the costume details. A big influence on how I approached anthros. His GI-Joe super special with the "Red Guard" was a favorite for many years.
Steve Gallacci, Again, a cursive economy of line, incredibly solid tech design, and a subtly of writing that snuck up on me from behind. A big influence on how I handle anthros, and I have to thank him for showing me that anthros don't have to be goofy, animated cartoon characters.
Juanjo Guarnido, Artist of Blacksad. still studying this style, as a good approach for anthros and comics. His animation influence dovetails nicely with mine, but his color handling is something I have never been good with. Deeper study is warranted.
Jack Kirby, Not as evident now as it used to be, but still influences some costume designs, and dramatic posing.
Frank Cho, His babes, and his inking, though the appearance, not his obsessive practices to get that technique.
Gilbert Shelton, How could one grow up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 70's and NOT be influenced by the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers? Not a fan of drug use, but the comic timing and gag construction are Marx Brothers applied to comics. Many of my early comics efforts in high school and college followed that formula.
Savage Tales, A Marvel Black and White magazine from the late 80's that featured a lot of top art talent in hyper violent, and often funny adventure stories.
Epic Illustrated, Another Marvel magazine, but this time in full color. It was published as a competitor to...
Heavy Metal, The American version of the French magazine "Metal Hurlant", often featuring the same artists. Published, high quality, glossy comic stories.
Hot Rod Cartoons, I wasn't that much of a "car guy",but being a boy I liked cars, but what I liked better, was seeing how people could make comics work so well in black and white. (To this day I am terrible at color.)
This is a long, but probably not complete list of influences and I may think of more later.
Scott