Influences

Like anyone else, artists are complex, so for me it is fun to peel back the layers and discover more about the artists I admire most. Often times I can see one’s influences in his/her work directly, but not always. In that spirit, I thought it would be fun to share my influences and provide more insight to the pictures and choices I make.

Salvador Dali

Dali is the godfather of my artistic endeavors. I wrote previously of how being exposed to his work at an early age gave me the freedom to dream and visualize surreal pictures that could only exist in my imagination before ever appearing on paper. Seeing that anything is possible was an invitation to create — one that I cling to still.

MC Escher

As a lifelong doodler, it wasn’t until a personal training client of mine many years ago caught sight of one of my scribbled and doodled notebooks and said: “Looks like Escher” that I finally dove into the Dutch artist’s work. Once I did though, it was as if I knew him all along. I used to think mine was a unique obsession with filling spaces with shapes but I found everlasting company and comfort in his work. Since then I have leaned hard into my doodle fascination. I am not as mathematically charged as Escher was, but my exploring patterns and creating accordingly is certainly inspired by him.

Alex Ross

For the longest time comic book art was just comic book art to me. There wasn’t anything particularly special about it. It was a simplified visual mostly noted for depicting action while moving along story. And then I found Alex Ross. Ross is a masterful painter whose realistic depictions of the superhero mythology opened up a whole new world to me. While his superb technique is rooted in the old masters, the main tool I have borrowed from Ross is creating my own reference image library. He is well known for photographing himself in various poses that he later uses as reference for his magical paintings. Free from worrying about copyright, this is something I do often for my own works. Just don’t ask to see those. They are under lock and key. Ha!

Phil Hester

Staying in the world of comics, I’ve always been drawn to the simple artistic style of Phil Hester. Hester is a master of shadow shapes and he uses such technique to create drama and depth. His style is really best seen in black and white — a style I often incorporate into my work. I just love how he is able to do so much with so few lines.

Pablo Picasso

There is nothing I can say here that hasn’t already been said about one of the most prolific and revered artists of our time. He makes my list of influences because he had the artistic courage to break away from the norm in order to create things he wanted to create, regardless of what the world around him thought..

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,” he said.

For me there is much value in doing traditional style portraiture, landscapes, still lifes and the like, but in true Picasso tradition, I too, love doing my own thing.

Are you an artist? If so, tell me in the comments who your influences are! And thanks for sharing!