A short list of my biggest artistic influences over the course of my development as an artist.

So @Zombiegoast asked me today on Twitter: Which illustrator would you say that influenced you the most in your artistic journey?

How can I point to just one?? There have been several artists who have influenced my work and inspired me the most over the course of my life so far! The first big three are Ray Harryhausen: His storytelling, and the epic visions of adventure he created with his films had a big impact on me when I was very young, and his films were the biggest inspiration for East Coast Rising. Then Jim Lee: His X-Men was what first got me hooked on comics! The drama, the action, the characters! X-Men was, and remains, my favorite superhero book. Rumiko Takahashi: Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Mermaid Saga... These books were my first introduction to manga, and you can still see it’s lasting influence on my work! Her storytelling, simple paneling, and iconic characters is something I stove towards. When people say my style is manga-influenced, what they are really saying is I read way too much Ranma in middle school.

When I was 13 I met Jen Quick (In reading class, over a poetry assignment if memory serves me). She had the same passion I did for drawing, and we were both so competitive, (and compatible!) that we became BFFs! Without her, who knows if I would have pushed myself to get better! We used to draw so similar that people couldn’t tell our art apart, and we had so many stories we wrote together. Jen went on to draw Off*Beat for Tokyopop, and after a brief hiatus from comics, is now back with six new chapters of her webcomic WITCH’S QUARRY! If you are a fan of high fantasy or manga (or both!) I highly recommend you check it out!

I also read David Mack’s Kabuki when I was in highschool, and that’s when it hit me that you can tell a solid story in a completely abstract, non-linear way! His loose brush work and meticulous but seemingly arbitrary panel arrangements got me thinking outside the box. He was also the first professional cartoonist I met at a convention (I think Philly? Or Pittsburgh? back in 1999 or 2000…) and he was so supportive, and really encouraged me to keep making mini comics. Which I am, to this day!

And I can’t forget Matthew Woodson, who I met back in 2000, I think. Agh that was over 10 years ago! His work ethic and constant improvement kept pushing me to be a better artist, at a time that I was becoming more aware of black and white, and just starting to ink with a brush. Matthew has gone on to become a phenomenal illustrator, with inking chops and design skills most of us can only dream of. And he has an impressive taxidermy collection. 

In the last decade you can really see the influences of turn of the century illustrators like Joseph Clement Coll, Howard Pyle, and Arthur Rackham as I started to look back in time for inspiration. Also (and I think I’ve said this before) but everything I learned about black and white I learned from Expressionist filmmakers- Fritz Lang, F.W. Murneau and Carl Dryer to name a few. I still watch black and white films (A lot of which you can find in entirety on youtube!) for inspiration on how to set up my panels and how to lay out a scene. 

So there we go! A lot of my growth as an artist I owe to friends I’ve met along the way- I have been so lucky to know so many ridiculously talented people, who keep raising the bar, and giving me something to aspire to. If I started listing everybody who keeps making work for me to strive for, we’d be here all day (or, I would, and you would probably just stop reading.)

So with that, I leave you with a short list of my biggest artistic influences over the course of my development as an artist, and one piece of advice: If you are a budding creative person, surround yourself with like-minded individuals, people who are motivated who will challenge you to always be better than you were yesterday. Especially in a field that can seem as lonely and desolate as comics, friends are so important for encouragement, inspiration, and to call you out when you draw a whack pannel. 

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