My Influence map

Been wanting to do one of these for a bit, finally decided to put one together. Original template can be found here: fav.me/d2vx881

Mark Kistler
I honestly wonder how many people these days know of this guy, he was my earliest childhood memories when it came to drawing. Mark Kistler, or Commander Mark, was the host of a PBS kids show called The Secret City. The show centered around teaching kids how to draw and encouraged general positive creativity. youtu.be/wgLeSe8pN3s
It was like if you crossed Bob Ross with Shari Lewis...And now I wonder if anyone knows who Shari Lewis was...

The Real Ghostbusters
Specifically the cartoon series, which was always full of completely bat shit crazy monster designs. I always loved the weird ways the ghosts would manifest in possesing day to day objects, mutating it into a warped monster version of it's former self. And then there was the Boogieman...The Boogieman...How did they get away with putting that thing in a kids cartoon? youtu.be/_ItrHSLIZ5U?t=6m56s  I loved this show.

Calvin and Hobbes
Probably my all time favorite books growing up. My favorites were usually the ones where Calvin was lost in a daydream being some kind of superhero or space adventurer, though all the stories and strips of the various books were great and filled with humor and whimsical imagination.

90s Jim Lee
Though hipster nerds will have you believe that the 90s were all terrible and everything was drawn by Rob Liefeld, which often has more to do with snobby complaints about dynamic styling rather then actual justified art critique. But I digress...
While I respect ye good old days of comic art, for me the 90s were what I primarily grew up with when I started reading comic books, and I think Jim Lee was probably the most influential when it comes to what I picture when I hear the words comic book.

Todd Mcfarlane
What I often liked about Mcfarlne was how outside the box he was with visual style. He's the one that started drawing Spidey in all the crazy acrobatic poses. And while there's some debate on whether or not he's the co-creator of Venom, he was the guy who visually brought the character into existence. But it wasn't really till Spawn that I really started to become a fan of his work. The best examples of his warped styling found in characters like Violator.

Greg Capullo
While I was a fan of Mcfarlane's work, what I liked about it Capullo took to a whole new level. I fell in love with his visual style. Every illustration felt alive and dripping with personality. Sorry to say to Todd, but after he took over as the artist for the Spawn series, he made that character his own. Spawn may legally belong to Mcfarlane, but when I think spawn, I picture the Greg Capullo version.

Joe Mad
Joe Mad is another Comic book artist who has a style that I just fell in love with, as his art is just filled to the brim with character, life and a crazy imagination. Joe Mad is the guy I wish I was, as he's done everything with his career that I always daydreamed I could do, not just in art, but also going on to create video games of his own design.

Simon Bisley
I got into Bisley's work through Lobo comics, but I soon became infatuated with his work. I actually can't quite explain what it is in his style that captures me so, but just looking at it always without fail fills me with an urge to want to draw and be creative. There's just something strangely appealing to the almost trashy look of his art, for a lake of a better way of putting it. Though there's a rather perfect blurb from one of his art books that I'll put here that sums things up rather nicely:

"One of the strongest conceptual influences on Bisley's style is the mix of iconography generated by the more contra-cultural trends of the end of the twentieth century. His figures, therefore, have an aggressive and challenging attitude, reinforced by the dominating presence of sadomasochist type paraphernalia. Maybe  because of this, the sensuality of Bisley's women is a combination of libidinous attraction and morbid repulsion, although our voyeuristic side prevails over any outmoded  moralistic thoughts which may arise."