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Description
Well I defiantly have more artists that I am fond of, but these are my main influences that made me want to go into cartooning in the first place (they're not in particular order or anything):
1: Will Eisner, When I first heard of him through Understanding Comics, and bought his book Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, I was hooked instantly! The man's a genius, the way he describes everything and I love they way he designs his logos as parts of the environment! I've always wanted to experiment on my comics and make expressive compositions for every aspect of the settings just like he did.

2: Preston Blair and/or Tex Avery, I'm using Tex Avery in there because most of his cartoons include red hot riding hood plus hes like the king of cartoons for crap sake enough said! Now Preston Blair has made a big impact on my drawing skills via Preston Blairs Animation 1 book that I bought on Amazon. Through his book and John K's Curriculum site (which I'll get to later) I was able to see classic 40's cartoons and how they are made and I trained myseld to see the forms and solid shapes the lay underneath them. So I was fortunate enough to copy a lot of his drawings in his book as well as his model sheets that he designed for Tex. It's improved my drawing skills immensely.

3: Jeff Smith, I love this guy! he's very passionate for cartoons as much as I am, and this is where I really identify with him! He was pretty much the main asset to why I would want to make comics in the first place. First of all one of his books Bone is a really awesome narrative with complex storytelling elements and symbols which took a lot of risks in order to make it happen. I'm also hooked in his new series RASL, READ IT!!!

4: Don Martin, Unfortunately I haven't read any of the MAD magazines that he made cartoons for, but when I was introduced to him, you guessed it I was hooked! I love every aspects of the personalities and jokes that he uses for his characters. I'm also fond of his made up sound-effects (he's got like a whole dictionary of them!) Most of all I love the way he draws feet, they freaking hilarious! I'm always about feet when it comes to cartoons they are like the funniest part of the body to exaggerate in my opinion.

5: John Kricfalusi, Well you've probably guessed it since hes "everybody's" influence all because he changed the face of cartoons of today and stuff like that. Personally his blog site is very insightful and informative, he's worked on shows like Bakshis New Adventures of Mighty Mouse, The Ren and Stimpy Show, and of course the Ripping Friends which is really funny! He knows what makes a cartoon funny and can thoroughly examine the details of what makes them funny in a rather analytical way which really helped me a lot. I also enjoy watching his animated bumpers that he makes for Adult Swim which you've gotta see!

6: Osamu Tezuka: Now his comics like Astro Boy are the reasons why I got into manga and anime immensely. he's a hard working soul who takes great pride in his work. For other reasons I feel like that I really identify myself to him. When I saw his work this was a revelation to me that manga doesn't have to suck ( the well thought out ones anyways) and I really enjoy the appeal that he makes with his drawings.

7: Frank Miller: Yeah I know what your thinking, this nut has probably lost his marbles since Sin City and then he conjured the recent Holy Terror comic. But aside from that, he was a true innovator of the comics industry. One of my favorite comic books The Dark Knight Returns had a huge impact on me and showed me more potential on what a comic can do. He did a lot of experimenting on his comics and used different techniques to tell his stories visually. To this day, he can still use artistic principles to make really powerful images to even compensate for weak storytelling.

8: Shel Silverstein: Ok I'm just a huge nerd for Uncle Shelby! He was literally everything! He was a cartoonist, a poet, and a musician in one cataclysmal combination! His poems are unforgettable, his characters are irresistible, and his stories will always be in my heart! When I was a child in elementary school, Silverstein poems is all I ever read! (that and also Captain Underpants but I digress) he even joined forces with Johnny Cash, how friggin' righteous is that?! Even though he passed away a long time ago, he will always be alive to me...

9: Milt Gross: Now he is the King of Clarity when it comes to cartoons. I love how his characters look absolutely wacky beyond reason but they still balance each other in the composition beautifully! And thats what I want to do with my cartoons. I want to control all those artistic elements one by one and to have a distinctive style and charm to my drawings as well.

10: Doug TenNapel, This guy is really awesome for what he does. I give him a lot of praise for creating Earthworm Jim, and making great comics like Gear and Ratfist. I have also at one point watched his show thats based loosely on Gear called Catscratch, which I missed so very much! His sense of humor is really bold and I'm really inspired by that.

11: Charlie Chaplin (and pantomimes in general): He has to be one of the very best silent film actors of all time! The way he moves is funny, his mannerisms are funny, and his facial expressions also come out as hilarious! I've been a huge nerd for pantomimes and silent films ever since I was first introduced to them in high school! They make great subjects to draw from and Chaplin makes a great example.

12: Johnny Cash, He has to be one of my favorite musicians of all time. There are no words I can think of to describe how awesome he is. With all of the crap that Johnny has been through in his life, he literally pours out his soul into the music that he writes. And when you listen to his music, you'll know what I mean! Now that is pretty darn impressive. I want to pour out my soul into my art just like Johnny would if he was a cartoonist of course lol.

13: Piano and Classical Music, Primarily music is like my bread and butter, I've been into music so much, I've been in symphonic band for all of high school. I also enjoy playing the piano whenever I get the chance to. So in a way I'm always studying how tempo works and how timing of music can affect peoples emotions. With that said when I started watching old cartoons from the 20's to 30's I'ved always noticed how perfectly syncopated the characters were to the music. So I always crank up some old tunes to satisfy my delight while I work on my art.

14: Milton Knight: He tops as one of my other heros in the cartooning world. I give him credit for designing the only good and funny character in The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Dr. Robotnik (insert Pingas joke here) and for also some of his comics I've read for the past year. When he once said in an interview "not to use cartooning for escaping reality, but rather looking at reality harder than the average person and satirize it." That really struck me hard and gave me an entirely new reason to love cartooning so much. I would like to satirize reality and nature through my drawings, and that is my overall goal as a cartoonist.

EDIT:
Other influences to mention: Herge, for making the always awesome Tintin. Muppets, they were funny then they're funny now. Ralph Bakshi, being the most influential director alive. Dav Pilkey, he inspired me as a kid, he inspires me now, and like I said before, I read Captain Underpants a lot! Anything Stop motion, it's a beautiful technique for film making which goes without saying. And finally web comics in general, I like to see people experiment on that medium constantly enough said!

Description
Well I defiantly have more artists that I am fond of, but these are my main influences that made me want to go into cartooning in the first place (they're not in particular order or anything):
1: Will Eisner, When I first heard of him through Understanding Comics, and bought his book Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, I was hooked instantly! The man's a genius, the way he describes everything and I love they way he designs his logos as parts of the environment! I've always wanted to experiment on my comics and make expressive compositions for every aspect of the settings just like he did.

2: Preston Blair and/or Tex Avery, I'm using Tex Avery in there because most of his cartoons include red hot riding hood plus hes like the king of cartoons for crap sake enough said! Now Preston Blair has made a big impact on my drawing skills via Preston Blairs Animation 1 book that I bought on Amazon. Through his book and John K's Curriculum site (which I'll get to later) I was able to see classic 40's cartoons and how they are made and I trained myseld to see the forms and solid shapes the lay underneath them. So I was fortunate enough to copy a lot of his drawings in his book as well as his model sheets that he designed for Tex. It's improved my drawing skills immensely.

3: Jeff Smith, I love this guy! he's very passionate for cartoons as much as I am, and this is where I really identify with him! He was pretty much the main asset to why I would want to make comics in the first place. First of all one of his books Bone is a really awesome narrative with complex storytelling elements and symbols which took a lot of risks in order to make it happen. I'm also hooked in his new series RASL, READ IT!!!

4: Don Martin, Unfortunately I haven't read any of the MAD magazines that he made cartoons for, but when I was introduced to him, you guessed it I was hooked! I love every aspects of the personalities and jokes that he uses for his characters. I'm also fond of his made up sound-effects (he's got like a whole dictionary of them!) Most of all I love the way he draws feet, they freaking hilarious! I'm always about feet when it comes to cartoons they are like the funniest part of the body to exaggerate in my opinion.

5: John Kricfalusi, Well you've probably guessed it since hes "everybody's" influence all because he changed the face of cartoons of today and stuff like that. Personally his blog site is very insightful and informative, he's worked on shows like Bakshis New Adventures of Mighty Mouse, The Ren and Stimpy Show, and of course the Ripping Friends which is really funny! He knows what makes a cartoon funny and can thoroughly examine the details of what makes them funny in a rather analytical way which really helped me a lot. I also enjoy watching his animated bumpers that he makes for Adult Swim which you've gotta see!

6: Osamu Tezuka: Now his comics like Astro Boy are the reasons why I got into manga and anime immensely. he's a hard working soul who takes great pride in his work. For other reasons I feel like that I really identify myself to him. When I saw his work this was a revelation to me that manga doesn't have to suck ( the well thought out ones anyways) and I really enjoy the appeal that he makes with his drawings.

7: Frank Miller: Yeah I know what your thinking, this nut has probably lost his marbles since Sin City and then he conjured the recent Holy Terror comic. But aside from that, he was a true innovator of the comics industry. One of my favorite comic books The Dark Knight Returns had a huge impact on me and showed me more potential on what a comic can do. He did a lot of experimenting on his comics and used different techniques to tell his stories visually. To this day, he can still use artistic principles to make really powerful images to even compensate for weak storytelling.

8: Shel Silverstein: Ok I'm just a huge nerd for Uncle Shelby! He was literally everything! He was a cartoonist, a poet, and a musician in one cataclysmal combination! His poems are unforgettable, his characters are irresistible, and his stories will always be in my heart! When I was a child in elementary school, Silverstein poems is all I ever read! (that and also Captain Underpants but I digress) he even joined forces with Johnny Cash, how friggin' righteous is that?! Even though he passed away a long time ago, he will always be alive to me...

9: Milt Gross: Now he is the King of Clarity when it comes to cartoons. I love how his characters look absolutely wacky beyond reason but they still balance each other in the composition beautifully! And thats what I want to do with my cartoons. I want to control all those artistic elements one by one and to have a distinctive style and charm to my drawings as well.

10: Doug TenNapel, This guy is really awesome for what he does. I give him a lot of praise for creating Earthworm Jim, and making great comics like Gear and Ratfist. I have also at one point watched his show thats based loosely on Gear called Catscratch, which I missed so very much! His sense of humor is really bold and I'm really inspired by that.

11: Charlie Chaplin (and pantomimes in general): He has to be one of the very best silent film actors of all time! The way he moves is funny, his mannerisms are funny, and his facial expressions also come out as hilarious! I've been a huge nerd for pantomimes and silent films ever since I was first introduced to them in high school! They make great subjects to draw from and Chaplin makes a great example.

12: Johnny Cash, He has to be one of my favorite musicians of all time. There are no words I can think of to describe how awesome he is. With all of the crap that Johnny has been through in his life, he literally pours out his soul into the music that he writes. And when you listen to his music, you'll know what I mean! Now that is pretty darn impressive. I want to pour out my soul into my art just like Johnny would if he was a cartoonist of course lol.

13: Piano and Classical Music, Primarily music is like my bread and butter, I've been into music so much, I've been in symphonic band for all of high school. I also enjoy playing the piano whenever I get the chance to. So in a way I'm always studying how tempo works and how timing of music can affect peoples emotions. With that said when I started watching old cartoons from the 20's to 30's I'ved always noticed how perfectly syncopated the characters were to the music. So I always crank up some old tunes to satisfy my delight while I work on my art.

14: Milton Knight: He tops as one of my other heros in the cartooning world. I give him credit for designing the only good and funny character in The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Dr. Robotnik (insert Pingas joke here) and for also some of his comics I've read for the past year. When he once said in an interview "not to use cartooning for escaping reality, but rather looking at reality harder than the average person and satirize it." That really struck me hard and gave me an entirely new reason to love cartooning so much. I would like to satirize reality and nature through my drawings, and that is my overall goal as a cartoonist.

EDIT:
Other influences to mention: Herge, for making the always awesome Tintin. Muppets, they were funny then they're funny now. Ralph Bakshi, being the most influential director alive. Dav Pilkey, he inspired me as a kid, he inspires me now, and like I said before, I read Captain Underpants a lot! Anything Stop motion, it's a beautiful technique for film making which goes without saying. And finally web comics in general, I like to see people experiment on that medium constantly enough said!