Hey Guys,
I was just thinking about something. When at work, or at home working on personal stuff, there comes a point with every creative person when they hit that creative brick wall and look to others for inspiration.
I'm curious to know who you guys turn to for inspiration? For me, I usually find myself looking at the following:
The Art of Star Wars books by Del Rey Publishing,
Any Art of Final Fantasy books I can find.
Sid Meid and Ron Cobb designs.
Creature work done by Stan Winston's Workshop.
Many different threads on Polycount.
The Art of Matt Rhodes.
Anything by Blizzard. Just to name a few.
What about you?
Replies
Terrence McKenna
Robert Anton Wilson
Amano
Katsuhiro Otomo
Moebius
Harlan Ellison
Phillip K Dick
H.R. Giger
Keith Thompson
Paul Richards
Juan Gimenez
etc, etc..
Good list 8ftSpider!! Moebius is Awesome!!
For me its pretty much all the tech/game pioneers.
And above all that to destroy myself is my biggest motivational source.
I hear ya about trying to outdo the inspirational people. Its always good to try to exceed your goals.
edit: oh and Ashley Wood
This is actually a Scottish folk band. Surprisingly popular amongst the young people.
I'm tend to like subtle models that tie a scene together and make it as a whole pretty epic. Johnstones the exception of course.
I find a lot of peoples work on here is awesome! Also, I'm really glad to see that Polycount has a lot of artists that focus on Environment work. Other sites seem to have a general focus on just characters. I like the Variety here
Massimiliano Frezzato
Auguste Rodin
Here here.
Simon Lee
Jordu Schell
Jason Chan
Takayuki Takeya
Casey Love
Shiflett Bro.s
Martin Canale
Auguste Rodin (gates of hell is one of the most inspirational pieces ever made in the history of man)
Frank Frazetta
Mark Newman
Keith Thompson
Gabe Perna
Rick Baker
Simon Bisley
But that's not to say there's NO Digital 3D guys that inspire me. A few are:
rv_el
Cesar Decol JR.
Kenneth Scott
Josh_Singh
Kolby Jukes
There's a few more, but you can see, there's a LOT more traditional sculpting, and 2D guys.
2D: (I can only ever remember the names of some of the comic artists)
Adi Granov
Clayton Crain
Geof Darrow
Mark Djurdjevic
Tony Moore
3D:
Guys at work, but mostly polycounters, and a few movie guys who show their work.
I havent settled my idol artist(s) yet because I am not at that pro level in 2d and 3d, but whenever I will, I will pick Blizzard, Or GameWorkshop
- Paul Pepera (Eraserhead) - His understanding of 'art', specifically in the 3D world, is something I admire.
- Josh Singh - He's never (seriously, NEVER) created something I didn't spend some good time raping with my eyeballs.
- Manny (~Austin) - This dude bleeds Star Wars, and gets to create some majory players in the SW universe on a professional level. Colour me envious.
- Vince Joyeux (Vahl) - His attention to detail is something I looked up to some 3 or 4 years ago and try to apply that same attention to my own work.
More recently, Emil (formerly of Australia!) has a drive to help see polycount succeed that is certainly contagious and Jason Lavoie's drive to improve his skillset is just too fun to watch you can't help but admire the dude.off the top of my head these are some of my fav artists past and present that I admire...
2D:
Adam Hughes
Claire Wendling
Norman Rockwell
Drew Struzan
Yoji Shinkawa
Akiman and a few other prominent capcom artists back in the day whose names escape me
James Hawkins (concept artist for Epic)
Humberto Ramos
Jason Scott Campbell
3D:
harder for me to nail down a few but the guys at Epic have always impressed me. Their work is always a great source of inspiration.
The team at Naughty Dog are also an impressive bunch
The artists at Valve, amazing also
Stefan Morrel
and anyone who makes really badass guns
As for all around inspiring in the gaming field, always thought Carmack was a hell of a guy, had as much of an influence as anyone creating the first person shooter and helped orchestrate much of what we consider current gen graphics. Obviously not anywhere near what we do here, but that's what makes it all the more awe inspiring.
Good call Rooster! Didn't think anybody would be into Mr Mcabee on here. I just watched Stingray Sam the other week and thouroughly enjoyed it - not as dark as American Astronaut but still a really funny, fresh take on the whole thing.
Also I have got to put a shout in for Paul Bonner... oh and the Spectrum: Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art books - http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/books.php?id=928 - they have some great stuff published in them and you can often find them on Amazon for fairly cheap.
I just dl'd 250 issues of Heavy Metal Magazine, starting from the very first issue. I've been finding a lot of inspiration in those magazines as well. There are some sick french comic artists out there, that's for sure!!
Adam, Vig, Eraserhead, Poop (mainly his photos), everyone involved with Eat3D, and mainly all the polycount vets...