Who are your favourite artists?

The Common Room Members, Inc.
#1

I’m surprised this topic hasn’t been created yet seeing this is an animation fan website, but here we go… I was reminded of this theme when Czarine mentioned a concept artist in the How to Train Your Dragon thread.

As budding artists, who are the masters who have inspired your work? They can be those who have influenced your drawing style, to others who you simply admire. They can be Pixarians, from other studios, or even on community websites like dA. The only guidelines to this thread is to not self-promote (naturally) or mention anyone who is a Pixar Planet member (although this is not exactly a hard-and-fast rule, I guess). Oh, and no posting of adult-oriented images (you know what I mean). I’ll start:


Jeff Smith
I guess I’ll have to start with him since I did like his Bone comic as a kid (although I didn’t understand the story) and have only just rediscovered his works. He’s like Walt Kelly (he admits that Kelly’s Pogo was a huge influence on him) and Bill Watterson (another favourite of mine) rolled into one, yet he has made his own stake with the epic Bone saga. Anyone who considers him/herself a comic connoisseur should definitely check out this fantasty masterpiece.

Hergé
I loved the Tintin comic books and TV show, and I remember creating my own action hero and his animal sidekick based on the series. It’s James Bond for kids way before Alex Rider and his copycat successors stepped on to the scene. Reading it as an adult now, you can see the political subtexts in most of his stories.

Paddy Mounter
I devoured the Puzzle Adventures books when I was young, but the ones I’ve loved most were the ‘Agent Arthur’ series. Paddy did a great job with bringing the adventures of Arthur and his trusty pooch Sleuth to life for me, as he battles the sinister Spider Organisation led by criminal mastermind Bella Donna.


Martin Brown
This Melbourne-raised Aussie was the perfect partner-in-crime to Terry Deary’s atrociously-alliterated anthologies, Horrible Histories. My style of ‘dotted eyes’ were actually taken from him. Yeah, I’m bad at drawing eyes.

Frank Cho
Also a Pogo-inspired artist, he’s the creator of the serial comic Liberty Meadows, featuring the lovely animal psychiatrist Brandy and her secret-admirer veterinarian partner Frank, as they take care of a host of cute critters at their animal sanctuary. But the Korean-American is also well known for his talent at rendering beautiful women, which I am hopelessly outmatched in. He cites the recently departed Frank Frazetta (another favourite artist of mine) as one of his inspirations. Some of his pinups are not suitable for posting on a family-oriented forum, but just Google “Shanna”, “Jungle Girl”, “Cavewoman” or “Red Sonja” with his name and you’ll see what I mean.

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Chris Sanders
Yeah, the guy who designed Stitch and Toothless and directed their respective movies. And like Frank, he happens to be amazing at drawing very pretty, scantily-clad women.

Lou Romano
The best colour script artist in the business. But you already knew that.


Jason Deamer
I absolutely love this Pixarian’s doodles, they’re so expressive and incredibly charming.

Nicolas Marlet
A very talented Frenchman and possibly Dreamworks’ biggest asset with respect to character-designing. Coincidentally, he did a short film called ‘French Toast’ which had a character who shared my name. But yeah, this guy’s good.


CW Kee
I actually had the fortune of meeting this guy, and I remember him giving me advice to “shade in my drawings”. He runs a daily serial called ‘It’s A Durian Life’. It’s hilarious.

Lat
Another great Malaysian cartoonist. His book ‘Kampung Boy’ was even turned into a TV show.

Lee Chee Chew
His comic ‘Chew On It’ is really corny, but he does cute-looking doodles for government posters in Singapore.


Johane Matte
The artist that Czarine mentioned, which reminded me to start this thread. Her drawings are full of life, and I enjoyed her ‘Egyptian Cat’ comics before I learnt she actually worked on HTTYD!

There’s probably many more, but I’ll shut up and let you guys share some favourite artists of your own. :slight_smile:

#2

I don’t draw, but I like Bob Pauley’s work for Pixar like this:

He’s a great artist. I also like Jim Davis’s artwork. He does Garfield in the newspaper.

#3

Some random people off the top of my head.

-Steve Purcell
-Teddy Newton
-Bob Pauley
-Ronnie Del Carmen
-Jeff Smith
-John K (only as an artist)
-Lou Romano
-Don Bluth

#4

Dali is my all-time favourite, but I also like Barbara Hepworth (her sculptures more than her artwork), Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, Renoir…I’d say those as a group have created most of the artwork I enjoy looking at. Classical painting and fine attention to detail, something Dali managed to combine with a surrealist approach, are things that I really like though I’m open to other stuff too.

For example at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, there were these absolutely incredible sculptures, so strange and surreal, like there was this one room full of all of these strange, brown furry objects draped over things like a sofa and a fireplace. I’m not really into modern art, but the stuff in there certainly caught my attention. And despite being a Pixar fan, I’m not really into the artwork associated with animation, either (though Pixar’s The Art of… books are certainly an exception!)

#5

I’ve been to a lot of Jeff Smith’s book signings, so he’s probably my all time favorite.

Some other of my favorites:
Frank Miller
Todd McFarlane
Anyone from Pixar!
Leonardo Da Vinci
Vincent Van Gogh
Corneilus de Heem

#6

Don Bluth
Glen Keane
Byron Howard
Chris Sanders
Dean Deblois
Nathan Greno

#7

The Lord of all animation, Chuck Jones, is my favorite artist. I always have loved cartoons, but once I read his books “Chuck Amuck” and “Chuck Reducks” I have learned that animation is an art, much more than just cartoons.

I perfer his earlier works to his later, but he is a brilliant animator and artist.

#8

William Blake, especially his pen and watercolour work. Elohim Creating Adam is a personal favorite.

Gustav Klimt, notably Hope, The Kiss, and Judith and the Head of Holofernes. Been to the Belvedere in Vienna, loved it!

Chuck Jones! Probably the finest in animation ever, especially if one includes philosophy. My Chuck Amuck copy got dogeared soon after it was published. Saw him speak in DC–great!

Charles Addams. Even his signature looks creepy.

John Byrne or Frank Miller? Call it a draw.

Graeme Base of Animalia fame.

Jakub Dvorsky of Amanita Design. The Machinarium game is a feast of curious, wonderful drawings.

#9

Aside from people in animation (not sure if I have an ultimate favorite–I would probably hang a Lou Romano print on the wall, though), there are artists like Ishida Tetsuya, Audrey Kawasaki, René Magritte, Heather Gabel, Mark Ryden… stuff like that. They’ve been my biggest influences.

#10

Well my favorite artist is Bill Waterson, :smiley:

#11

NICE one! He is a fantastic cartoonist!

#12

Chuck Jones was always my favorite Looney Tunes artist as well. Watching the classic shorts as a kid, his style was the one I can remember responding to the most.

Here are some other influences I’ve been having:

Hanna-Barbera
Matt Groening (I’ve found his drawing style to have an appealing quality to it)
Charles Schulz
The late Joe Ranft’s storyboard art

#13

I forgot to mention Walt Stanchfield. He’s not a great at the ‘details’, but he’s fantastic at gesture-drawing. His two-volume series ‘Drawn to Life’ is an inspiration. :slight_smile:


Image from ParkaBlogs.

#14

Flik-E: I’m glad there’s someone else here who appriciates Chuck Jones. Have you read his books?

And I like your list.
I have a love/hate relationship with Hanna-Barbera. But I appricate their influence on animation, however I do like their style (Secret Squirrl, Top Cat, Yogi Bear. Amazing!)

Charles Schulz: I really like him, his drawings are cute. I’m kind of required to by unwritten law since I literally go to college in Peanuts-ville USA.

Ranft: How can you NOT Love him! RIP.

tdit: Stanchfield sounds awfully familier. I think we had to draw some of his drawings in my drawing class. Just by the pic you put I can tell he’s a great festure and figure artist.

#15

Unfortunately, I haven’t. The only art book I still have relating to Looney Tunes is on the making of Space Jam, and I wouldn’t even consider that close.

The thing I like about Joe Ranft’s artwork is that storyboards are often just roughed out sketches that don’t have to be that good, but when I was looking at Joe’s sketches for Cars I found that he had such natural talent in his drawings that you’d think “I’d like to see the movie in his style!”.

#16

I love the art of Caricature, and my favorite artist of Caricature is by far Al Hirschfeld, who did caricatures of famous Hollywood actors. His career started in the 1920s to his death in 2003. His ability to use simple lines to evoke such character always amazes me. Here are a few of my favorites:

WC Fields, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Chico Marx in Animal Crackers

Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind

#17

could’ve sworn I already commented here… oh well

My all-time favourite artist is definitely Glen Keane! I just admire his work so much. There’s so much life and personality in his drawings!

Of course, Jeff Smith as well, Bone is my favourite comic! I just love how much emotions he shows in the comics he draws. And not only is he an amazing artist, he’s a really nice guy as well. Yeah, I actually met him once - it was so awesome!

And last but definitely not least - anyone that has an unique art style and knows how to use it!

#18

I’m not an artist (you don’t want to see my drawings 8D), but I really like Marjolein Bastin. She paints a lot of birds, which are my favorite animals. You’ve probably seen her art on greeting cards.

Here is her site:
[url]http://www.marjoleinbastin.com/en[/url]

Here’s a site with a lot of good art from her.
[url]http://www.dana-mad.ru/gal/painter.php?pID=13[/url]

#19

Jean Honore Fragonard
James Van Der Zee
Van Gogh
Bruce Timm
Jeff Smith
Glen Keane

#20

I had to split up to another class a few days ago (we always go to another class if a class doesn’t happen for whatever reason) and of course I went to drawing… they showed a clip of Vincent Van Gogh’s work and a lot of information. I must say I grew to rather like his style, especially all the colours…

Oh, and he was Dutch, like me, so that’s a major reason why I like his work as well~