Visual Influence Map

When people ask what inspires you as an artist most people will reply nature. I get inspired by nature and rocks and trees, dirt, water, world peace....and the family. Hold on let me write my manifesto and possibly bore you. Manifesto Quisquiliae Fastidiunt. That sounds brilliant!

If I told you that I'd be lying. Being inspired by nature. Except the family part though. I might be moved by nature but its not the main factor that makes me work.


What inspires me is music, words and mannerisms. Also seeing beautiful things not particularly nature. Music, Art, and Video games have always been a factor in my life and always been there. I've turned to art because of instant sublimation I couldn't have that instant satisfaction with any other art form.

Also my family was always supportive of this artistic itch I had. Whether if it was waiting for 3 months to get a light box from my dad. Or bothering...more like barging into my sister's room just to show off the latest sketches. I'm pretty sure that there was a period of time where I wouldn't even knock I'd just walk in.


The first games I ever was conscience of playing of was Earth Worm Jim on the Sega Genesis. I did not understand it nor get too far in the game. And also the Busy world of Richard Scary book game thing that hooked up to the tv. It came with a drawing tablet peripheral I think this helped with my fascination of digital art. I have no idea what that purple turquoise thing is called.


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This map sums up different points and marks in my artistic journey that are highlights. From when I was little to pretty much about now. Certain influences I dropped and some I still oogle over from time to time.

In no particular order there is 

Vincent Van Gogh-I first saw his work in 2nd grade we were studying him. I instantly fell in love  with his use of color. It reverberated something deep within me pulling me into a trance. Then when I was 8 my first art teacher made my sister and I do a study of the Starry Night painting.  Always felt a strong connection with his color and mood. A highly emotional man. 

Drew Struzan-I did not know who he was for a long time. I saw his work on multiple movie covers and was instantly spellbound and look at them for long periods of time. If you don't know his name google him and you'll know instantly the work he has done in the movie poster industry. 

Blade of the Immortal- Discovered this manga in my sophomore year in high school during spring break to my detriment to what little productivity I had. I had an art project due and somehow this came up as a horror genre manga. I was curious how can one make something real scary in a comic book? The first tankobon was boring but after that it is pretty stellar. 

The beautiful art and well choreographic fight scenes and finishing moves. His anatomy is mastery. Hiroaki Samura is a master storyteller he can tell a lot with just simple gestures. He once depicted an awkward scene with two characters who had their grievances with each other. Their conversation and the panels only showed their feet and hands. It told so much...  Blade of the Immortal made me drop the Moe moe suki desho shojo anime style work that I was doing. This was the mark of the beginning of my pursuit in academic art. Taking it seriously.  I wanted create realistic but fantastic stylized characters like he did. 

Andrew Loomis- An illustrator who made practically the best art instruction books in the universe. Some of the first artbooks I'd look at when I took Academic art seriously.

Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden- An example of Moe moe suki desho shojo anime that I used to like draw and imitate. Marshmallow is what I call it now. Too sweet and fluffy it makes you sick.

Uncharted 2- One of the best single player experiences in a game  ever. The concept art is amazing, the story, characters. If I had to say if I had a video game crush it would be Nathan Drake. He's so charming.<3 The Falling train c oncept art by James Paick is I can say is my favorite Concept art piece of all time.

Naughty Dog 

Streets of Rage

Okage: Shadow King-Whimsical game that has an usual art style thats captivating. One of the video games that made want to be a concept artist. Funny art and music. It kindled my passion for world domination. 

Academy of Art University- Hard curriculum. Taught me a lot about foundations. Provided a lot of structure to my work and also met a lot of friends.

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy XII

Ninja Theory-Cool names and games

Massive Black-Concept Art Studio with amazing work. First workshop I've attended.

Yoshitaka Amano-Beautiful watercolor and ink work I try to imitate with markers.

Crash Bandicoot

Sonic the Hedgehog

Golden Axe

Deviant Art

Cg Society

Age of Empires & Mythology- So Addicting. I can't stop if I start.

Pokemon-I was the cool kid who copied the pokemon pictures. And no one wanted to play with me on the gameboy game anymore because I was a ruthless winner. No mercy.

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time-One of the best games of all time. Yes I mean the pun. Hands down. I will pick a fight with anyone who says otherwise. I used to copy the art from the game manual. 

Ninja Mountain Scrolls- Been listening to their podcast for about 5 years now. Their diverse topics of art, interviews, business and fun to listen to. They really motivated me to consider stepping out of my shell and going to art events and conventions.

Gintama- The best long running series in anime. It is very funny and also serious at times. Parodies many things. All the characters have a dysfunctional quirk about them. Its funnier to watch the anime then read the manga. Because the voice acting is humorous.

Bleach -At some point. Used to like it but fell into the typical shonen genre. Ridculuosy long fights and too frequent of flashbacks. The covers are the great but Blade of the Immortal won me over. So instead of placing Bleach art I put the Gintama parody of it.

Cghub-Beautiful art lives here and its so easy and addicting to click on pictures. Too bad the website went down. It was the next up and rising digital art Mecca besides Deviant Art.

Concept Art.Org-Met a lot of friends who were around my age serious about the same thing Concept art. Got a lot of critiques there. Good and bad ones. Was the first site I made my online presence known was not just a lurker.  Have a considerable amount of hits. 

I found out about concept art is by most of the older game manuals in a game would display some of the concept art in the game. I would take out these manuals and copy the pictures inside. I got really upset when the manuals was not included. 

I never put a name to Concept Art until The Art Institute did a presentation recruitment in my intermediate art class in my sophomore year in highschool.They handed out pamphlets and that was I knew the title of what I wanted to be.