Emily Carr

Emily Carr was a Canadian artist, who's paintings revolved around modernism, post-impressionism, and expressionism.




A lot of Carr's paintings were landscapes, which were very nature oriented. As shown in the picture above, I love her use of totem poles as part of her scenery. It gives it this very native and majestic feel to it in my opinion.




Since Carr painted a lot in the western parts of Canada, she was able to find many different kinds of trees, which came in many different shapes and sizes. The painting above shows some rather exotic looking trees as part of Carr's painted landscapes.

Overall, I personally like warm and calm feel of Carr's works. It really gives off a diverse sense of both nature and imagination. And her use of color and brush strokes gives it this abstracted feeling, which helps make the painting comforting to look at.

Yoshitaka Amano

Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese artist who is known for specializing in painting, printmaking, and sculpting. He often uses his talents to make character designs for various fictional media. He is best known for his works on the anime series, Vampire Hunter D, Gatchaman, and the video game series, Final Fantasy.




A couple of Amano's biggest inspirations in his art work are western comic books and art nouveau. Art noveau is a very old and classic style of art that was most prominent during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The style features many curved lines and various elements representing nature and the environment all blending together. Both of these art styles are present in Amano's character design concepts for the 1972 anime, Gatchaman (picture above).




Another major inspiration to Amano's works is the style of psychedelic art. Psychedelic art is a visualization of "mind manifesting." Amano makes use of this style with a wide array of colors and shapes, creating works that leave an aura of mystery and imagination going on. The above picture is an example of Amano's use of this style. The picture is concept art from Final Fantasy IX.

According to the book, "The Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano" by Hiroshi Unno, that despite Amano having recurring elements in his art style, Amano refused to be bound to just a single style, as he believed that not being restricted to a single style did not mean he had no style at all. As a result, Amano made sure to take into account with every style that he could lay eyes on, so that he could have an idea of every style that existed. This allowed him to get familiar with a large array of very diverse styles, ranging from Arabian Nights to space opera, as well as children's literature to adult pornography.

I personally feel like Amano is a very important artist of the modern society, as he has helped revive old classic techniques and revolutionized many others, creating huge breakthroughs in the art industry. I feel like his works hold a never ending supply of imagination that I really appreciate, as I too enjoy painting in certain similar styles.

Thomas Nozkowski

Thomas Nozkowski is a painter that specializes in the use of solid colors. He puts many layers over each color which gives them this unique solid look. I personally love the use of color as a painter, so some of his works show off an interesting technique. A bit time consuming if you ask me, but still interesting.