What are your design and artistic influences? Are there specific artists, movements, books, or online resources that have been pivotal in your development and daily work?

I like to believe I have quite a few that span many disciplines. I respect and admire many contemporary artists work like Sam Weber, James Jean, and Emmanuel Malin to name a few. Artists that blend the digital and traditional processes successfully tend to intrigue me most. I love old time illustrators like Edmund Dulac, Heinrich Kley, Ludwig Holwein, Eyvind Earle, etc and comic artists like Sergio Toppi whose work is breathtaking.

I also think its really important to be inspired by work outside your profession. For instance, I receive a lot of inspiration from architecture, and if I wasn’t an illustrator/ animator I’d probably be an architect. I enjoy the challenge of creating spaces and structures that tell stories with mood like Luis Barragan’s architectural masterpieces in Mexico. I visit websites such as Drawn.ca, Notcot.org and Abduzeedo occasionally, and I certainly scour the web for animated shorts that look interesting e.g shorts from Supinfocom and Gobelins schools in France. Everytime I see work like that, I feel revitalized in my opinion on the importance of unique visuals in cg animation. Finally, I like to read books on mythology, history, fantasy and Wole Soyinka novels for literal inspiration.

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