Inspiration

This is a fun little meme that I participated in on deviantart.com, which is the invention of a user by the name of fox-orian. The group of work is by phenomenal artists and most of them illustrators. I could have added several more paintings, but that would mean i would have had to make some of those pictures smaller. I have a much larger group of artists that have inspired me in all walks of my life, but these are the most recent. Also, I should say that I am inspired by things other than illustrations all the time, believe it or not.

The artists are:

1. J.C. Leyendecker. Before there was Rockwell, there was this guy who painted pictures with the fluidity of butter and who had a really cool signature.

2. Hiyao Miyazaki. This man and Studio Ghibli set a high standard for Japanese animation, putting the rigid, half-an-hour-of-hair-blowing-in-the-wind anime to shame.

3. Vladimir Kush. His whimsical paintings are both fantastical and believable. Go to Kush's website.

4. Jon Foster. If you put a stethoscope up to his paintings, you would probably hear a heart beat.

5. James Gurney. I have learned more about oil painting from this guy than any other teacher I have had. Go to Jon Foster's website.

6. Arthur Rackham. Master illustrator and king of nuance of line.

7. Gregory Manchess. He's the Man...chess. Go to Greg Manchess' website.

8. Ilya Repin. Few painters have brought a tear to mine eye not simply for technical skill, but also for the ability to express an exquisite depth of story.

9. Charles Dana Gibson. Such skill with ink the world may never know again.