My Prime Art Inspirations

This image here is mine, rather than from another cartoonist. I swear this isn't because links to my website always use whatever image is in this blog, rather than one of my own. And it's not timed around now because I'm job/internship hunting. Nope! (I'm quick to respond to inquiries in the contact form, COUGH).

So I wanted to make a short list of artists that I look to for direct inspiration in my own art! I've mentioned a lot of artists in the past on this little blurb at the bottom of my website, but some of them I simply respect, but don't try to emulate as much. I'll break them into the work styles I do.

LINEWORK: For this I really enjoy the work of Tony Cliff (Delilah Dirk), Rebecca Mock (Compass South) and let's add Mongie (Let's Play). They use mostly thin black lines and it looks good and I LIKE IT! It's a line style that lends itself well to the semi-realistic cartoons that I like to make. Thicker black lines are good for even more cartoony styles and looks, but that's not my cup of tea, and I just don't have the patience for NO lines like some artists can pull off.

ENERGY: By energy, I mean the implied movement and action of a static image. The winner here is Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim, Seconds, Snotgirl). While my art style departs more from his, I want to capture the amount of movement he makes look easy, particularly in his Scott Pilgrim books (STILL one of my favorite series' ever). I don't want to explain in an inferior manner, just go read them. I also like, in almost the opposite way, Unfins (Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell) pulls off dry wit better than any cartoonist I know. The most perfectly wrought straight face to a ludicrous situation has made me laugh out loud and I would give anything to be able to get that in my own comics.

COLOR: Pretty straightforward. Loish and Yaoyao Ma Van both make good art (find them on Instagram) and I wish I could color that well. I'm working on it. Lena Sayaphoum (Emma et Capucine) is another good one. My style is a bit more cel-shady than there's, but it's one field I think is still growing rapidly for me.

This is an incomplete list that I might make a part 2 for. There are a lot of amazing cartoonists out there that I hope to join the ranks of one day!

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