Hayao Miyazaki- I grew up with his movies and his unique, lovable art style. Often considered the one of the great masters of animated movies, he was my idol and inspiration to learn animation and create characters that could be enjoyed worldwide. I also consider him one of my favorite visual storytellers, as he has an ability to create worlds and stories so fantastic and inviting that is hard not to be completely drawn into his films. I wish to someday be able to shape fictional worlds with the same mastery as he does. He has since retired but his timeless works will continue to inspire long after he is gone.
Hiromu Arakawa- Author and Illustrator of my favorite fiction series to date, Hiromu Arakawa is the most current and most influential artist on my own work and style. Her work is a masterful blend of storytelling, character development and fantastic art. Working beyond typical Japanese art, she has created something wondrous and new, but still familiar and inviting. Her story, Fullmetal Alchemist, is the greatest piece of fiction that I personally have experienced. While not classic or acknowledged much by the west, her work has managed to make me feel a myriad of emotions and draw me closer to her characters than any other piece of fiction or art has done before. Much of my art has subtle influences from her style. It would be a dream to have a fraction of her skill in art and storytelling someday.
Ken Sugimori- My childhood idol and first favorite artist, Ken Sugimori was the one who got me hooked on drawing monsters and creatures of all types. He is the artist of the Pokemon franchise to this day, and as a child, his art was everything I wanted to achieve. Loving Pokemon myself, I filled sketchbook after sketchbook with attempts at replicating his art that appeared on the Pokemon cards and promotional art. While by my standards now, those drawings were terrible, they were got me drawing in the first place. I still love Pokemon and still love drawing in Sugimori's art style.
Svetlin Velinov- Also a bit of a childhood favorite, Velinov's illustrations were what filled the pages of my greek myth books. His incredibly detailed illustrations of great beasts and monsters captured my imagination. I tried for hours as a kid trying to create a dragon head that looked even remotely like one of the pictures in my book. I never got very close and even today any attempt at Velinov's level of detail is bound to end in disappointing results. But I still greatly admire his work and the influence it had and continues to have on me.
Wenqing Yan- Her art is the kind that dazzles you with the endless layers of detail they contain. For me, it was probably the best digital art I had ever laid eyes on back in 2007. Even today, I find it hard to find an artist that matches her in pure attention to detail and skill. All of her works also carry a meaning, often environmental or philosophical in meaning, giving them an intense sense of importance. She opened my eyes to the horrors of shark finning, divorce and the wastefulness of the human race. Whenever I wish to convey meaning in my work, I am inspired by her techniques.
Walt Disney- The infamous king of animation and our childhoods, Disney's films and art style influences any and all animators in the United States and others all over the world. I am no exception, I ate up every minute of his films as a youngster and still do to this day. He was the first exposure I had to moving pieces of art being used to create a movie. Drawings that depicted people, worlds and stories. Animation is what I am pursuing and the fact I can do that at all is thanks to him. Though he is no longer with us, his presence is immortalized in his works that have continued to captured hearts to this day.
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