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Description
I had a lot of influences in my life. But let's stick to the art related ones, for now?

Bruce Timm and Batman TAS - Bruce Timm's art always had a great influence on my work. I always tried to copy his style when it came to super heroes than those from mainstream comic books. I liked how appealing and stylized it looked, and it didn't have to be gritty bogged down with a lot of details.

The Batman animated show from the 90's was the reason why I wanted to be an animator. Many great things (including long articles and videos) have expressed how truly amazing this show is. I still watch Batman TAS to this day, and I learn something new each time. It taught me that cartoons weren't always kid stuff. It can be moody, serious, dark, but most of all, intelligent.

Fooly Cooly/FLCL - Boy, oh boy! Did this open my eyes to what great animation (including anime) can do! I used to watch a ton of anime back in the day, but FLCL really hits me the most. I love almost everything about it! The humor, the animated action scenes, the complete randomness, and it's clever bizarre story telling of a classic coming of age story. It's short but oh so very sweet!

Frank Frazetta - The master of composition! I know, I know, Frank Frazetta is mostly known for his epic paintings and beautiful buxom women. And I love those! But one thing that always stuck out for me was the way Frazetta could stage a painting or illustration. There's a reason why it looks so epic and it's not only because the guy on the canvas has a big ax. But instead it's the lighting, the colors, maybe there's something in the background that's drawing your attention upward to the guy holding the giant ax. All those are meshed together beautifully in his paintings. I learned a lot from his work about staging and composition. It taught me a lot about silhouettes and posing too!

Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball If you knew me personally, you'd probably thought that DB would take up more than half the the influence map! I'm a huge fan of Toriyama's art and his famous ultimate shonen manga, Dragon Ball. It was the first manga I've read and I loved it to pieces almost instantly. The characters and stories were fun and exciting! The action was excellently drawn and staged. I've never once was confused about what was going on when two characters went at it, and I really felt the impact of those hits. Most importantly, DB made me love adventure and fantasy. Which is why sometimes, I gravitate more towards books with a sense of a grand journey or a goal that's not quite out of reach, but close to be.

Retro Sci-fi and Fantasy art - I love sci-fi.... almost anything! I have for a long time. Even my short comic SPACE 88 is basically my love letter to the genre. I can't describe my fascination with Sci-fi and Space travel. There's something about the unknown cosmos that tickles me to the very bone. I like to imagine what it would be like to travel to the depths of space, exploring new planets, new species, new civilizations that are vastly different from our own. But since that will probably won't happen in my lifetime, I guess I can make it up and dream.

Heavy Metal Magazine - My dad had a bunch of these just lying around and I used to read them a million times. Mostly just staring at the art. The art in Heavy Metal was experimental, each story had it's on style. It wasn't like the mainstream comics I was used to reading at the time. Were every hero or woman looked powerful or very colorful. Instead characters looked funky, weird, strange, beautiful, ugly, etc. Things were very diverse which made it far more interesting than what I got at the comic shop. Plus, it had the whole sci-fi/fantasy thing going, so, SCORE!

Cartoon Network - I was having a hard to picking one CN show for the influence map. Then it accord to me that the whole network (from it's early days to even today) had a big influence on me. Batman TAS was the jumping point for me when it came to appreciating animation. CN kept the fire going for me for years! Reruns of the Looney Tunes shorts, Dexter's Lab, Power Puff Girls, Megas XLR... hell, even the classic Hanna Barbera cartoons kept me motivated! CN is not perfect, it wasn't even back then. But I appreciate a lot what the network has done over the years and the many great cartoon shows it's given us.

Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog - The first Sonic game I've played was the original Sonic (1) for the Sega Genesis. The first Sonic show I've watched was Sonic SATAM. Then after the show ended, I sort fell out of the franchise for a while. But then, as I was in the comic shop picking up my usual titles for that week, I noticed that in the "Archie corner" there was Sonic #50 . End Game. I was first amazed that there was even a Sonic comic book, even more surprised to see characters from the canceled tv show in the comic as well. I picked up the book and became a fan all over again.

Bill Watterson - Every time I tell this story, I tear up a little and you'll know why. When I was young I read the collected Calvin and Hobbes volumes that my mother brought me. I read them so many times, the pages were falling out. When I asked her if they were any new Calvin and Hobbes comics, she said the bookstore didn't have anything new for a while. So I wrote a letter to Mr. Watterson, asking him if they were going to be new Calvin and Hobbes comics and how I can be a good artist like him. (I sent the letter to the publisher's address, not his home address, in case you were wondering).

Months later, I got a letter back from Mr. Watterson. He said that unfortunately he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes strips and moved on to painting personal work for himself. He told me that if I wanted to be a good artist, I have to draw every day and never give up. At the bottom of the letter was a hand drawn and inked picture of Calvin hugging Hobbes.

I lost that letter a long time ago but I never forgot what was written in it, and the little drawing of two of my favorite characters ever. I owe a lot to Bill Watterson, as simple as those words were they meant the world to me!

---

I have many, many, MANY, influences in my life. I wish I could fit them all here. But putting together this map really opened my eyes to the people, genre, and styles that heavily inspires me even to this day.

I hope to continue learning and growing not only as a person, but as a professional artist as well.

---

Influence Map Template created by

Description
I had a lot of influences in my life. But let's stick to the art related ones, for now?

Bruce Timm and Batman TAS - Bruce Timm's art always had a great influence on my work. I always tried to copy his style when it came to super heroes than those from mainstream comic books. I liked how appealing and stylized it looked, and it didn't have to be gritty bogged down with a lot of details.

The Batman animated show from the 90's was the reason why I wanted to be an animator. Many great things (including long articles and videos) have expressed how truly amazing this show is. I still watch Batman TAS to this day, and I learn something new each time. It taught me that cartoons weren't always kid stuff. It can be moody, serious, dark, but most of all, intelligent.

Fooly Cooly/FLCL - Boy, oh boy! Did this open my eyes to what great animation (including anime) can do! I used to watch a ton of anime back in the day, but FLCL really hits me the most. I love almost everything about it! The humor, the animated action scenes, the complete randomness, and it's clever bizarre story telling of a classic coming of age story. It's short but oh so very sweet!

Frank Frazetta - The master of composition! I know, I know, Frank Frazetta is mostly known for his epic paintings and beautiful buxom women. And I love those! But one thing that always stuck out for me was the way Frazetta could stage a painting or illustration. There's a reason why it looks so epic and it's not only because the guy on the canvas has a big ax. But instead it's the lighting, the colors, maybe there's something in the background that's drawing your attention upward to the guy holding the giant ax. All those are meshed together beautifully in his paintings. I learned a lot from his work about staging and composition. It taught me a lot about silhouettes and posing too!

Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball If you knew me personally, you'd probably thought that DB would take up more than half the the influence map! I'm a huge fan of Toriyama's art and his famous ultimate shonen manga, Dragon Ball. It was the first manga I've read and I loved it to pieces almost instantly. The characters and stories were fun and exciting! The action was excellently drawn and staged. I've never once was confused about what was going on when two characters went at it, and I really felt the impact of those hits. Most importantly, DB made me love adventure and fantasy. Which is why sometimes, I gravitate more towards books with a sense of a grand journey or a goal that's not quite out of reach, but close to be.

Retro Sci-fi and Fantasy art - I love sci-fi.... almost anything! I have for a long time. Even my short comic SPACE 88 is basically my love letter to the genre. I can't describe my fascination with Sci-fi and Space travel. There's something about the unknown cosmos that tickles me to the very bone. I like to imagine what it would be like to travel to the depths of space, exploring new planets, new species, new civilizations that are vastly different from our own. But since that will probably won't happen in my lifetime, I guess I can make it up and dream.

Heavy Metal Magazine - My dad had a bunch of these just lying around and I used to read them a million times. Mostly just staring at the art. The art in Heavy Metal was experimental, each story had it's on style. It wasn't like the mainstream comics I was used to reading at the time. Were every hero or woman looked powerful or very colorful. Instead characters looked funky, weird, strange, beautiful, ugly, etc. Things were very diverse which made it far more interesting than what I got at the comic shop. Plus, it had the whole sci-fi/fantasy thing going, so, SCORE!

Cartoon Network - I was having a hard to picking one CN show for the influence map. Then it accord to me that the whole network (from it's early days to even today) had a big influence on me. Batman TAS was the jumping point for me when it came to appreciating animation. CN kept the fire going for me for years! Reruns of the Looney Tunes shorts, Dexter's Lab, Power Puff Girls, Megas XLR... hell, even the classic Hanna Barbera cartoons kept me motivated! CN is not perfect, it wasn't even back then. But I appreciate a lot what the network has done over the years and the many great cartoon shows it's given us.

Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog - The first Sonic game I've played was the original Sonic (1) for the Sega Genesis. The first Sonic show I've watched was Sonic SATAM. Then after the show ended, I sort fell out of the franchise for a while. But then, as I was in the comic shop picking up my usual titles for that week, I noticed that in the "Archie corner" there was Sonic #50 . End Game. I was first amazed that there was even a Sonic comic book, even more surprised to see characters from the canceled tv show in the comic as well. I picked up the book and became a fan all over again.

Bill Watterson - Every time I tell this story, I tear up a little and you'll know why. When I was young I read the collected Calvin and Hobbes volumes that my mother brought me. I read them so many times, the pages were falling out. When I asked her if they were any new Calvin and Hobbes comics, she said the bookstore didn't have anything new for a while. So I wrote a letter to Mr. Watterson, asking him if they were going to be new Calvin and Hobbes comics and how I can be a good artist like him. (I sent the letter to the publisher's address, not his home address, in case you were wondering).

Months later, I got a letter back from Mr. Watterson. He said that unfortunately he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes strips and moved on to painting personal work for himself. He told me that if I wanted to be a good artist, I have to draw every day and never give up. At the bottom of the letter was a hand drawn and inked picture of Calvin hugging Hobbes.

I lost that letter a long time ago but I never forgot what was written in it, and the little drawing of two of my favorite characters ever. I owe a lot to Bill Watterson, as simple as those words were they meant the world to me!

---

I have many, many, MANY, influences in my life. I wish I could fit them all here. But putting together this map really opened my eyes to the people, genre, and styles that heavily inspires me even to this day.

I hope to continue learning and growing not only as a person, but as a professional artist as well.

---

Influence Map Template created by