I have scanned some of my sketchbook work and do intend to post it soon. Before that I want to post something as a mental note to myself, as I am certain no one will read this. So I was stumbling around on John Kricfalusi's blog, when I came upon his talk on influences. The links are below.
Now I have nothing to counter, or other wise add to the discussion. However, after reading these two posts I decided to look at my influences through out my life. How expansive is it? Am I really influenced by them, or am I merely copying them with the notion of being influenced?
One thing to note, I didn't grow up with the desire to animate at all. It wasn't a life long goal/ambition until I was about 15/16. Before hand I merely drew. I had wanted to recreate epic and dynamic battles from ancient and medieval past. Showing the chaos and intensity of war, while glorifying it as well. Very childish in retrospect, but I was just drawing to create exciting imagery. This was influenced mostly from the real-time strategy video game series Age of Empires. Heck, I was also influenced by the books I read on the subjects of warfare. I would see the pictures of Knights commanding their soldiers, and doing battle with other Knights and such. It was a lot of fun, and I would get lost in it.
The only problem is that I didn't have anyone to teach me. I ended up doodling in pages, drawing people who were 5 heads tall fighting, or stick figures on oddly shaped pieces of land. I don't have any of those drawings at this point. They have long since then been thrown away.
I only ever had one teacher up until high school who I looked up to for knowledge. That was my older brother, who in some ways I have surpassed (if by a little). His understanding of drawing principles was also in a sense non-existent, all he really had was some basic understanding of anatomy. He tried to teach me what he could, and I tried to keep in mind what he said. He introduced to me (when I was 13/14) an artist by the name of Burne Hogarth.
Now, Burne Hogarth was at that time (in my life) one of the greatest artists I could imagine. His artwork felt very 3-Dimensional to me, very dynamic, and very energetic. At this point he seems like a more stylized version of George Bridgman. Not to say Hogarth isn't a talented artist, as he is. My only issue is that his work never seemed practical or have much life to it. He could draw the figure in any angle with proper perspective. That is impressive. As good as he is, it was too early of an influence to start off on. With no drawing skills to be had I ended up trying to copy someone who was far too stylized and complex.
I did this for some time, and sort of expected high school art classes to help teach me drawing fundamentals. Let me say this, don't expect your high school to teach you anything in the ways of drawing. You have to do that yourself, and hope they can point you in the right direction. Not to say I blame my high school for my failing, as they really aren't to blame. When you have about 20-30 kids (most of which take the course to relax and get an "easy credit") you don't have much motivation to teach much outside of the curriculum.
I will give my art teacher two big thumbs up for one thing though. It was his relation to a childhood friend that helped point me in the right direction. For that I can never be more grateful. Plus his classes allowed me to experiment with paints, and inks. To say I am embarrassed for my idiocy during his lessons would be putting any retrospect on it lightly. I really wish I had been more focused on drawing principles. The lack of common sense at that time was staggering, and would come to light when I interned at Chuck's studio. I still kick myself for not studying cartoons when I had the chance. I knew nothing when I entered the studio, and walked out with more direction and study material than you can shake a stick at.
Anyways, I am ranting and being a little too personal. Again, I doubt anyone will read this. However lets get back to the point I am trying to make.
My first influences (prior to internship) were simply: video games, Burne Hogarth, books on warfare (ancient to modern), anime (how embarrassing), random deviant artists (some of them I still look at with admiration), and my older brother. That is a very poor influence base to work from, and certainly explains why my work never really progressed at this point. Plus to say I was influenced is incorrect, I was again merely copying from these "influences" of mine. I have also done this with my work post-internship at the studio.
During my time at the studio I picked up "influences": Nine old men (in particular Milt Khal, Marc Davis, Freddie Moore), Tex Avery, Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, JC Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell, Preston Blair, Warner Brothers (in general), Art Babbitt, Grim Natwick, Richard Williams, Ralph Bakshi, and the artists at the Chucks studio (Chuck himself included).
Again I want to reiterate, I was merely in amazement at the talent my eyes had beheld. I had never been exposed to this much artistic work before. What I saw online through sites like Deviantart, and Sheezyart (while great talent is found on these sites) never compared to the exposure I had at the studio. I even found my self improving dramatically when I did studies there, as if a switch was turned on for the first time. I ended up treating the studio as my personal art school then as a workplace. Plus to meet some of the other high school interns made me realize how far behind I really was. Most notably I want to give a big thank you to Aaron Long who you can find here: http://aalong64.blogspot.com/
I didn't talk much to Aaron Long, I rarely ever saw him initially. When the studio moved locations (luckily within walking distance still) I ended up sharing some space with Aaron. He was on John's blog and at first I didn't take much notice. I was intrigued to say the least, and it wasn't long before I ended up on the blog reading Johns theories and study material. I did talk to Aaron at this time, but even then we didn't communicate much. He was years ahead of me then, and still is now. I was envious to say the least, and this helped motivate me to improve.
Eventually John's blog was something I was reading daily. I didn't quite agree with much of what John had to say in regards to Disney. Who at this point I was absolutely stunned by (not the man himself, just the artists who worked for him) and felt John may have been a bit harsh in his analysis. Although I didn't agree I understood that John wasn't some mere armchair historian (I unfortunately am one of these), he had quite a lot of material to back up his point and to bring theories to light. It was from John I rediscovered Warner Brothers cartoons, most notably Clampett.
Now in regards to Clampett (and Tex Avery should be lumped in here as well) I have seen some of his directed work when I was a kid. I had VHS tapes with various cartoons, and these were worn out by my two older brothers. Some of them were from Clampett, Freleng, Avery, Disney, Fleischer, and more. We also got some Disney feature films as well. These tapes were either too bright, or too dark, or were broken part way through. I always had a blast watching these cartoons, but it wasn't until I was shown Johns blog that I would ever look back at them.
This helped change some of my views and see how far cartoons can push the medium of animation. I still don't agree with everything John says, I still approach what he says with a grain of salt. In regards to theory that is. With drawing principles he is spot on, and it was backed up by what the artists at the studio tried to teach me and vice versa.
Once again I have lost focus on the point I was trying to make. Let me try and sum it up. I obtained new influence while interning at Chuck's studio. While it has benefited me I haven't really been using my "influences" to help create new work, I am merely copying them. Now to finish my rambling.
I still want to pursue animation, and I have much to work on. However, I am finding myself walking the path of a copier not a creator. Maybe it is just me having to build skill from drawing other peoples work. Maybe I need to put those influences (as well as my studies) to work and make it part of my work. All the while expanding my influences, discovering other great artists of old. Building a library of work to look to. So I just expanded what I was ultimately trying to say, and make it look good. Not much of an accomplishment.
TL;DR Personally I don't think I know what I am talking about, I am simply ranting about my inability to utilize studies for my personal work without getting lost. Also expect some sketchbook work to be posted soon enough.
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