15 in 15

The illustrators over at Drawger.com are doing this exercise called 15 in 15 minutes. 15 artists that have shaped your visual thinking. Here are the rules that Yuko Shimizu has set up: "The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen Artists who've influenced you and that will ALWAYS STICK WITH YOU. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes." 

I believe this is a great challenge that every artist should go through so I took a few minutes to gather my 15, very difficult because there seem to be so many.

Unknown: My mother had several of these beautiful Korean dolls around the house. I had wonderful nightmares about them coming to life and chasing me around the house with knives when mom was gone. She was the only person who could stop the dolls.
Arthur Szyck: These book covers have stuck with me since I was a child. I only recently learned the illustrators name and have enjoyed looking at an expanded view of his work.


James "Flournoy" Holmes: The Allman Brothers' album "Eat a Peach" and album artwork, inside and out, had a profound effect on me when I was young.


Roger Dean: And of course other albums and album artists further fueled the fire.


Wayne Anderson: The first children's book I ever bought was "The Magic Circus". Wayne Anderson's work is still influencing me to this day.

Frank Frazetta: Not many young artists went unaffected by Frazetta. I might have been affected more by his ink work than his paintings.


Brian Froud: When I stumbled upon the work of Froud a whole new world was opened to me. And although I didn't discover his work until much later Froud opened the incredible door to Arthur Rackham's universe.

Jan van Eyck: When I first opened an art history book "The Ghent Altarpiece" was burned into my psyche. I have a bucket list goal to see it in person.

Rogier van der Weyden: Then when I finally left the house and visited a museum I marveled, yes I said marveled, at this tiny "St. George and the Dragon". I couldn't believe that someone could paint that beautifully so small.

Jan Vermeer: I had my first physical experience with art in front of three nearly perfect Vermeer's hanging in the National Gallery.

James Christensen: My teacher and mentor was the person who most influenced and affected my career as an artist. It's his fault so stop blaming me.

Brad Holland: As James and others started opening my eyes to the world of illustration huge influences started piling on.

Alan Cober: One of the most intuitive and sensitive illustrators ever.

Ian Miller: When I first discovered Ian's work I was in junior college. It just blew me away. His work is every bit as influential to me today and continues to blow me away.

I'm cheating a bit on this last group. These are a few artists I discovered in school whose compositional cues I wish I had the courage to follow. I couldn't choose just one.
Degas, Sargent, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn.

Now these were profound influences up to and including my time in school. The list iswoefully incomplete but the first I could think of. I had fun doing this so at some point I'm going to put together another list of influences after school. I enjoyed this and maybe you learned a little about me.