Shadoboxxer: Influence Map

Chun-Li: [link]
To me, no other fighting game character will be at her level. Back when Street Fighter 2 first hit, she was the first character I played. She stood out because nobody played her in the arcade I was from because she is a girl. I decided to play as her as soon as I saw her, and I learned how awesome she was. She is what I consider the building block for all tough chicks in my comics and art.

Final Fight: [link]
In the same Arcade that I played Street Fighter in, I played Final Fight the year before. It is one of the games that Pushed me to come up with my own Original characters for a fighting game when I was about 10. One of the best things about the game I learned the Knee Bash. I had used it in a fight along with the Shoulder throw. I used to fight a lot as a kid and the game was a great outlet and even game me ideas on how to defend myself too.

Double Dragon: [link]
Was the first Beat 'em Up game I had ever played. Because of living in the Hood, I liked the idea of people going around and giving back the beatings that people decided to give out on an everyday basis. It kind of empowered my mind and even though I fought well before playing this game, it's concept stuck with me. All with the idea of pushing through one's obstructions to get to your goal. While I was poor as a kid I couldn't afford to play the game, but I sat there and watched it and watched other people play, it also taught me you could head butt people I was an Angry Child.

John Henry: [link]
An American Legend (Tall Tale) by learning about him I learned a lot about how a person can push themselves to their limits and even in defeat gain a victory. There are different versions of this story, some having him Die after beating The Machine, others have him living just long enough to show people what the strength of one man could do. This man helped inspire me to make an Original Character off of him and I'll end up having him in my story later on.

The Shadow: [link]
After seeing the Live Action Movie of the character, I was able to relate to the line "Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? The Shadow Know!" I learned her was a character that dated back to the 30's. He was an Ass Kicker even before Batman was thought of. With his skills to be invisible he had pulled off being a Ninja before being "ninja" was cool. The way the character was with his mask on was different from how he was without it to a degree, and that Red Scarf was what made him great to me.

Jesse Owens: [link]
A man who won 4 gold medals in track and field at the 1936 Olympics, something which wasn't done till the 1984 games. Not only were the were odds against him because of the racism of the time, but also he was going against Hitler's "superior" race at the time. He kicked their asses and Hitler decided not to shake his hand after wining the first time, then after the second time he left the games. He though Jesse shouldn't have been able to compete because of his being being from the jungle and that they were used to being so active and wasn't fair to the more "civil" men of that Era's world. However the people of Germany mobbed him for his autograph and he was Famous there, but when he came back home he was treated like a second class citizen again, even having to take a freight elevator to his own party. The man dealt with a lot of crap in his time but didn't let it get in his way of making a living and being the best person he could be.

Street Fighter: [link]
These games along with all the cross overs from when I first played it back in 92 have stuck with me. The character designs the "non original originality" of them is what really struck me. They had such simple designs but because of their moves and their personalities they became something much more. Just like the basic designs of Final Fight, Street Fighter was supposed to be a Sequel of that game, and so the designs were done by the same team. I love the games because you can almost Feel the attacks and sometimes it's so fast and requires a lot of skill. People throw around the word Button masher with this game from time to time, but they don't know that you can't be good if you button mash. I used to play this game for days on end with my brothers till I ended up becoming the best in the house even beating older people at the game because I was so devoted to it.

Chrono Trigger: [link]
This was the first RPG I played and Opened my eyes to that world. Prior to that I thought everything had to be action. Till I played this and saw the gripping story. I loved how the characters grew as the story moved forward. It also taught me about world building and how you can make one. Just by looking at all the backgrounds it made you wonder what people were cooking, what was in their drawers, or why they were traveling. It also made you think about time and how far reaching small events could be.

Transformers: [link]
Some of my Earliest drawings were of transformers. I'd make my own up and one of my earliest memories from when I was about 4 or 5 was watching the first episode on TV. From that day I was hooked and it had Sparked my Artistic interests even more from the other doodles I had done then. It still sticks with me today. Sometimes I'll just sit and stare at the toys looking at all the details and thinking about the time and energy it must have taken to designs one of them. when I was a kid we couldn't afford them as toys and I got one as a gift from my kindergarden girlfriend (yup liked the girls early) it was Warpath [link] . Then for a while it was a long time before I got my next one Kup [link]
(my friend remembered me talking about this and found me one and gave it to me for my birthday)
and between those times I made my own, and learned how to take a pack of Cigs and turn them into a transformer of my own.

Ninja Turtles: [link]
I woke up one morning on a Sunday about 6 am as a kid. So I decided to the on the TV and stumbled upon the middle of the first episode of the cartoon and was amazed. The Next weekend I did the same, and watched it from the start. I was hooked. I then learned that they were made up by two guys living in MA and just screwing around drawing funny stuff. From there they moved forward with the idea and did comics and the rest was history. That story helped inspire me to make my own comics when I learned about it.

God Hand: [link]
This game.... just has IT ALL. As a huge fan of fighting games and action movies, this game was what I needed when I started to get bored of the weak fighting games they had made during the PS2 era. I even bought it the first day it came out. I loved how hard it was and how the overall design was Homage to tons of other fighting games/movie/and comics dating back to the 80's and 90's. It's a great way to relax and good type of stress for me. I can feel the intensity of the fights and helps me to see how a fight would play out in comics as well. Great Brain Fuel. If you can get good enough to finish the game then you'll see how great the whole story is.

Edward Hopper: [link]
He was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker.
His paintings of buildings and lone scenes of people spoke to me and reminded me of nights in the city when I would sit out on the roof and look at everything. I liked how he also used his wife in about every painting with a woman and just had her wear different wigs. He's most famous for the Night Hawks painting, but his other works are great as well. Some of his work is what helps to inspire some of my backgrounds too.

Iron Man and War Machine: [link]
I knew about him when I was young. my older brother loves him, but I wasn't into him that much. It wasn't till I saw The War Machine Armor, that I started to collect the books. This is what Did it for me and made comic making a passion for me. I loved how both of the designs of the characters looked and I think most of all I liked Rhodey the best. (the writers needed to get him right and not make him shallow but they messed up every time cause one wanted to make a name for themselves).

Space: [link]
Just... Amazing. Way too much to talk about for this, but I started reading collage level astronomy books as a kid and knew more the most of my teachers for a long period of time. I wanted to to study it further, but being Dyslexic and getting formulas backwards because i mixed up numbers all the time stopped me from getting too far past Algebra 2.

Oh! Great: [link]!_great
Started reading his stuff before I knew anything about the man. I love his high energy style and some of the tough girls he makes. The art is very sexy and an awesome mix of ideas and originality. This guy is crazy

Hirohiko Araki: [link]
This is the guy that does JoJo's Bizarre Adventure [link]
Talk about world building... this guy is a MASTER. He's managed to throw in history into his works along with making a character who's blood line goes over the course of many characters. It even ends up going to the point of the world ending and starting a new like the one episode of Futurerama.
There are over 700 chapters when you put everything together and most people in the US only started with the Third JoJo character. Do yourself a favor and read up and see how far his style has come along with how Technical his battles are. His ideas are the stuff of crazy dreams but with some grounds in reality and science.

Dungeon Fighter Online: [link]
I've been playing this Beat 'em Up MMO for almost a year now. It is pretty much a dream come true. A beat em up arcade style game that you can play online with thousands of people. Crazy bosses, Missions, levels, developing classes and moves. The game is just sweet. I love the art direction and music as well. It's free to play and if you want to support them you can buy in game items as well. I've dropped a few dollars over the year into the game just because I love it so much. It is so Nostalgic to me and I like to play it after having an art block, it relights my fire.

Cars and Mechanics:
The first drawing I remember doing was of a Car. It didn't help that my father had a different car either every month or every year. At one point he owned 6 cars, I ended up following the same direction and have 3 at the same time. I had a 65' AMC Rambler [link] , a 81 Volkswagon Rabbit 4 Speed Fuel Injection (built in PA) [link] and 84' ChevyCelebrity [link]
I even learned a thing or two about working on cars as a kid and learned out of need as I got older too. It can be relaxing to work on a car. Looking at all the parts helps me to imagine machines and other creations for my comics

Kentaro Miura: [link]
The creator of Berserk [link] This guy and his comics are just Insane. The details the settings the expansive epic story lines. This is another one that takes place over the life of the character. It has moving and tragic stories and you never know which way the story will turn. It hints at an even greater story then what is being told. The mental and nightmare fuel that these story provide are something any artist or writer can learn from. I know it has helped me to push my art in ways I've only been playing with so far and i'm sure his influence will be seen more as I grow.


Sorry for such a long post. It's just I have so much in my had running all the time.

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