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Description
Found this cool meme in `fox-orian 's gallery the other day:

The Influence Map!

The idea is to fill in the squares in the grid with whatever you consider to be the influences on your work: other artists, subject matter, locations... whatever has inspired and informed your work. The more important the influence, the bigger the space (and the more squares) it occupies. So, here's what I came up with.

-My wife Janet: there's a little of her in almost every (female) character I've created

- Women bodybuilders: in case you haven't noticed yet, muscle-women are my favorite subject I'd been imagining women with muscles in my mind since I was a high-school freshman - even drew a couple of pictures of what I thought they'd look like (sorry, those drawing are lost to oblivion). When women's bodybuilding was born in the early '80's, it was like seeing the women of my imagination come to life!

- Kirby: breathes there a single artist who works in comics or comics-style art who hasn't been influenced by The King? Much of what (I think) I've learned (though it may be hard to tell from looking at my stuff) was from copying panels from late-60's-early70's Kirby panels from Fantastic Four during that legendary Lee-Kirby era.

- Alex Toth: In a way, it's Toth who led me to Kirby. Toth adapted Jack's character designs from FF for Hanna-Barbera's 1967 animated adaptation (still my favorite cartoon version of FF). That show led me to look for the FF comic on the newsstands, (#72, "Sizzling Big ACTION Issue!") and that's what got me hooked on comics. Toth also designed H-B's other superhero/adventure shows like Space Ghost, The Herculoids , Mighty Mightor, etc. I was drawing the characters from these shows as well when I was young, and only learned a few years ago the name of their creator.

Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta - both made their reputations with bold, well-crafted and popular illustrations in the fantasy/science-fiction genres. But while I admired the craftsmanship and sheen Boris brought to his work, Frazetta's appealed to me on a visceral level: his work always seemed a little more alive than Boris'. Still, both have played a role in influencing and inspiring my work. (I chose the Boris piece because it features another of my favorite bodybuilders, Janice Ragain; and the cover of Vampirella #5 was chosen to represent Frazetta because a. it's not one of his better-known works, and 2. I like the pose and the attitude of the woman in this pic: she's like "Stand back, I'll handle this.")

Gil Elvgren - represents not only himself but the many other pin-up/cheesecake artists who've become a source of inspiration over the last few years: George Petty, Al Buell, Alberto Vargas, Georg Sundblom, the list goes on...

And Dave Stevens combines comics and cheescake at a level few others have achieved. (Had I more squares, and time, I'd have added Adam Hughes as well.)

Rumiko Takahashi and Masamune Shirow (or is it Shirow Masamune? I keep getting confused) - I discovered anime and manga in 1989, and discovered a whole new world of expression. Tetsuko was the result of that discovery, and Takahashi and Masamune were the two biggest influences on Tet-chan's creation.

Tohru Nishimaki - I debated putting him in the map, even though he's the most recent of my influences, because 1. he's a hentai (X-rated) artist, and b. the women he draws are extremely "well-endowed". It was difficult finding an illustration with which to represent him; I finally found one that showed one of his girls wearing something up top (even though she looks like she might fall out of it at any second). And believe it or not, this girl has the smallest breasts I think he's ever drawn. But it's precisely the way he depicts large breasts - in a way that's much more realistic than almost any other artist I've encountered - that I find so useful in my own work (especially when I'm drawing that sexy scientist Dr. Sonya Gannon).

And I think that covers the major ones, at least.

Description
Found this cool meme in `fox-orian 's gallery the other day:

The Influence Map!

The idea is to fill in the squares in the grid with whatever you consider to be the influences on your work: other artists, subject matter, locations... whatever has inspired and informed your work. The more important the influence, the bigger the space (and the more squares) it occupies. So, here's what I came up with.

-My wife Janet: there's a little of her in almost every (female) character I've created

- Women bodybuilders: in case you haven't noticed yet, muscle-women are my favorite subject I'd been imagining women with muscles in my mind since I was a high-school freshman - even drew a couple of pictures of what I thought they'd look like (sorry, those drawing are lost to oblivion). When women's bodybuilding was born in the early '80's, it was like seeing the women of my imagination come to life!

- Kirby: breathes there a single artist who works in comics or comics-style art who hasn't been influenced by The King? Much of what (I think) I've learned (though it may be hard to tell from looking at my stuff) was from copying panels from late-60's-early70's Kirby panels from Fantastic Four during that legendary Lee-Kirby era.

- Alex Toth: In a way, it's Toth who led me to Kirby. Toth adapted Jack's character designs from FF for Hanna-Barbera's 1967 animated adaptation (still my favorite cartoon version of FF). That show led me to look for the FF comic on the newsstands, (#72, "Sizzling Big ACTION Issue!") and that's what got me hooked on comics. Toth also designed H-B's other superhero/adventure shows like Space Ghost, The Herculoids , Mighty Mightor, etc. I was drawing the characters from these shows as well when I was young, and only learned a few years ago the name of their creator.

Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta - both made their reputations with bold, well-crafted and popular illustrations in the fantasy/science-fiction genres. But while I admired the craftsmanship and sheen Boris brought to his work, Frazetta's appealed to me on a visceral level: his work always seemed a little more alive than Boris'. Still, both have played a role in influencing and inspiring my work. (I chose the Boris piece because it features another of my favorite bodybuilders, Janice Ragain; and the cover of Vampirella #5 was chosen to represent Frazetta because a. it's not one of his better-known works, and 2. I like the pose and the attitude of the woman in this pic: she's like "Stand back, I'll handle this.")

Gil Elvgren - represents not only himself but the many other pin-up/cheesecake artists who've become a source of inspiration over the last few years: George Petty, Al Buell, Alberto Vargas, Georg Sundblom, the list goes on...

And Dave Stevens combines comics and cheescake at a level few others have achieved. (Had I more squares, and time, I'd have added Adam Hughes as well.)

Rumiko Takahashi and Masamune Shirow (or is it Shirow Masamune? I keep getting confused) - I discovered anime and manga in 1989, and discovered a whole new world of expression. Tetsuko was the result of that discovery, and Takahashi and Masamune were the two biggest influences on Tet-chan's creation.

Tohru Nishimaki - I debated putting him in the map, even though he's the most recent of my influences, because 1. he's a hentai (X-rated) artist, and b. the women he draws are extremely "well-endowed". It was difficult finding an illustration with which to represent him; I finally found one that showed one of his girls wearing something up top (even though she looks like she might fall out of it at any second). And believe it or not, this girl has the smallest breasts I think he's ever drawn. But it's precisely the way he depicts large breasts - in a way that's much more realistic than almost any other artist I've encountered - that I find so useful in my own work (especially when I'm drawing that sexy scientist Dr. Sonya Gannon).

And I think that covers the major ones, at least.