Ross Burt and the Lost Map of Influence!

So i spotted these kicking around the internet recently, and thought it sounded like a fun thing to put together - just didn't realise how long I would take picking which images to use, where to put them, how big they should be....but finally got there. There's a template u can find easily on google if u fancy putting one together yourself. The idea is something like to remind yourself and show others what has influenced your art over the years....now for me and I'm sure most of you, that's a heck of a lot of things, but I've tried to stick to artwork itself that has influenced my artwork, rather than get into toys , movies, and everything else - although some of my choices kinda involve elements of some of those areas. What I have tried to do is pick images that represent more than one thing - so not only an artist, but a topic or theme too.

Anyways, I'll put together a proper description to go with this shortly, talking about each image, but it's getting late, so for now u can just look at the nice pictures :)


ok...so here we go with a run down of the pics:

Cheeks - Panthro - Starting at the top left, one of my favourite current artists is Sean 'Cheeks' Galloway. Love his stylisation and simplification, and the fact he designed the recent Spiderman animation means I can now enjoy his work with my son which rocks! This image also covers Th-Th-Th-Thundercats, which was a massive influence when i was about 9, one of my favourite cartoons from my childhood that i occassionally watch again these days, just a fantasticly strong and varied set of characters, and a great mix of sci-fi and fantasy.

Jamie Hewlett - Gorillaz - next up is another of my current faves. First got into Hewletts work at Art College, i kinda missed the Tank girl comics first time round, but I still remember first spotting Gorillaz on the cover of Dazed magazine , and pouring over the Clint Eastwood video. There's a lot to love about Hewletts work, it's contemporary and unique, and the characters have real life and personality...plus i love that u can see it's hand drawn, he doesn't hide the pencil lines. Quality.


8 bit MegaMan - so this covers a bunch of stuff - first up, i love retro video games, the blocky stylings of the NES and the sweet old school arcade cabinet graphics look amazing and have always stuck with me. Plus when i was like 8 or 9 I used to keep a Megaman scrapbook, and draw all the Robot characters. GoodTimes.

Calvin and Hobbes - the genius that is Bill Waterson had to take a large chunk of this map. I first discovered these guys in my early teens, during our Saturday library trips. Finding comic books of anykind in there was hard enough - but this was amazing...these days I own all the books, and I find myself going back to them time and again, pouring over Bills amazing work. And this image best sums it up for me - whenever you read Calvin and Hobbes it feels like you're a kid again, in front of the fire on an autumn/winter day with the comics out. These guys were also the biggest influence behind my Captain Fuzzball comic strip. I only wish Bill would come back to them for one last volume..... Amazing.

Ralph McQuarrie - Rebo Band - oh man. StarWars. Well, Return of the Jedi. I'll go into the entire SW thing later with the main image, but this pic is up there for a few reasons - first up, McQuarrie was probably one of the first concept artists i was aware of, I got the Jedi portfolio for christmas when i was only 7 ish, and it was stunning. This is one of my favourite pieces from that folio - I loved Jedi mainly for the Jabbas Palace scene - so many wierd and wonderful creatures and characters that it blew my tiny mind. Mcquarries work captured moments from the saga in breathtaking style. Wow.

Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim - I discovered this about 4 years ago when I moved down to London, and quickly caught up on the first 3 volumes. I loved the fact it was simplified with bold lines like an animation, in an almost Cartoon Network kind of way, but it wasn't a kids comic - and it's mix of smart dialogue and original action was a big influence when putting together my first issue of Astrofunk.

Chris Warner - Predator - This is a blast from the past. I remember sitting drawing around the age of maybe 13, and my Dad asked me what I wanted to be - and I said 'Comic Artist...like Chris Warner'. This guy was one of the first artist names I recognised, he was drawing a lot of my favourite comics at that age, when I was getting the british reprints of american stuff - so his Predator strip was one of the first, then Terminator, then his Aliens vs. Predator. I used to sit and just copy some of his covers or splash pages. I guess his work was a kind good balance between cartoony and realistic, and he was working on these cool movie tie-ins. Loved it.

Joe Madureira - Marvel Heroes

J.Scott Campbell - Mary Jane

Gendy Tartakovsky - Clone Wars

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Street Fighter - Third Strike

Mike Mignola - Aliens

STAR WARS - Drew Struzan


ooft..this is taking longer than i thought...to be continued !