Can you spare $15? Then you can help a really great artist *Freakshow6 pay his bills this month and get a nice commissioned art piece too.

He's doing a single character, no background for only $15. He's had some unexpected car trouble and needs your help to make ends meet. I've got my commission ordered and you can get one too.

Go to his journal here [link] and please help him out.

Thanks.

Become a fan of my work on Facebook! Cool, eh?

I feel that, much like the holiday part of it's name comes from, the true meaning of The Nightmare Before Christmas is getting lost in it's blatant commercialism. There are shirts, action figures, bags, night-lights, personal hygiene products, you name it. I'm honestly kind of sick of seeing NBC stuff in the store, but watching the movie again makes me realize what a good story it has. So, it's a lot like Christmas, lost in commercialism but when you go back to the source and forget the merchandise you remember what made it wonderful.

Become a fan of my work on Facebook! Cool, eh?

Which is absolutely awesome!

Think about this the next time you're hesitant to show someone your sketchbook or work. We can't develop on our own, so make contact and be influenced.

I'm inspired by so many artists and I used to be afraid that I shouldn't be because that would be copying, but instead I've learned that everyone is influenced and that it keeps art fresh.

I was reminded of this because of this piece and conversations with it's artist

Here is a list of several artists that influence me, in no particular order and it isn't complete:

Beatrix Potter - [link]
Pauline Baynes - [link]
Martin Handford - [link]
Richard Scary - [link]
Edward Gorey - [link]
Dr. Seuss - [link]
David Macaulay - [link]
Maurice Sendak - [link]
Brian Biggs - [link]
Shel Silverstein - [link]
Quentin Blake - [link]
Maurice Vellekoop - [link]
Megan Hunt - [link]
Charles Adams - [link]
David Beauchard - [link]
Stanislas Barthélémy - [link]
Peter de Sève - [link]
Marc Hemple - [link]
Al Herschfeld - [link]
Dan Piraro - [link]
Matthew Scott - [link]
Luisa Uribe - [link]
Lou Romano - [link]
Paul Rogers - [link]
Sam Bosma - [link]
Jordan Crane - [link]
Eleanor Davis - [link]
Lucy Kinsley - [link]
Katie Beaton - [link]
Kali Ciesemier - [link]
El Grecco - [link]
Johnny Yanok - [link]
Tony DiTerlizzi - [link]
Hank Ketcham - [link]
Susie Ghahremani - [link]
Nate Wragg - [link]
James Gurney - [link]
Shane Glines - [link]
Scott Campbell - [link]
Kevin Cornell - [link]
Cory Godbey - [link]
Brett Helquist - [link]
Peter H. Reynolds - [link]
Mary Blair - [link]
Roy Doty - [link]
Mike Mignola - [link]
Aleks Sennwald - [link]
Barbara Cooney - [link]
Andy Helms - [link]
Pendleton Ward - [link]
Craig McCracken - [link]
Yuri Norstein - [link]
Bill Watterson - [link]


I'm sure there are many other artists that I'm missing but as you can see there are a lot of influences. I encourage you to make your own list.

Become a fan of my work on Facebook! Cool, eh?

8 days! 8 days! The semester is over in 8 DAYS!

... well for a local magazine. I did a full page illustration and two spots for a fancy Sarasota magazine called Converge. You can see the images and more of an explanation here at my blog. [link]