Influences (2.0)

No sketch today, there's a lot going on at the moment. Instead I'm sharing this second take at an influence map I put up on my tumblr a few days ago.

Last week I was asked about my influences, which got me thinking about these influence maps. I did one of these two years ago and dug it up to check out what I felt had changed since. I remember at the time that I really wanted to just put in what I felt had an affect on my work, not to put anything in just to try to look cool. Looking at it again, I clearly threw stuff in there just to look cool, which defeats the point of the exercise.

Anyway, I thought I’d try again, keeping it as simple as possible. These are folks who I feel influence me on a daily basis, at least at the moment. Who knows? This could all change in a month. Maybe it doesn’t even come out in my stuff but their work hangs out there in the back of my mind while I’m drawing. The idea is you get 30 squares and you fill ‘em up with the folks (or books, things, whatever) that you feel influence you. This time around I got 14, compared to the 23 from last time. The bigger the space they take up the bigger the influence. Instead of covering up the drawings with names, I’ve identified the artists at the bottom. It’s probably a giant waste of time, but I think it’s a fun diversion and that it’s important from time to time (but not all the time) to do a little self-reflection.