5 Illustrators That Influenced Jorsh Peña

Mexican illustrator Jorsh Peña shares the illustrators old and new who inspired him so they can inspire you

Jorsh Peña (@jorshpena) is a Mexican illustrator with 10 years of editorial and motion graphics experience. His influences have helped him create a personal brand, distinguish his work from others, and work all over the world, between personal passions and work with global brands, like Cartoon Network, Kinder, Samsung, Snapchat, Alaska Airlines, and Old Navy.

Below, Jorsh shares 5 influences that inspired him and will no doubt inspire you too.

Hieronymus Bosch

The way Hieronymus Bosch turns his vision of the everyday into the conceptually extraordinary was invaluable to Jorsh. Everything in his work has elements. All his works share elements taken from the predictable to create highly detailed compositions with deep messages.

Craig McCracken

Jorsh intensely watched a lot of cartoons when he was younger. It was there, without even knowing it, that he began to interiorize his own style. He remembers two series that really stuck with him for their visual style: The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends.

Both creations of the animator Craig McCracken captivated Jorsh for his command of monochromatic palettes and the way he highlighted key elements with characteristic straight lines and his folk style.

Tim Biskup

The lowbrow movement, also known as pop surrealism, had a big impact on Jorsh. Tim Biskup is the artist who stands out most. His control of geometry and the surreal became the cornerstone that Jorsh needed to enter the world of illustration and art.

Saul Bass

Saul Bass’ iconic posters for films like Vertigo and The Shining were a starting point for his own projects and an example of how a relatively simple image can powerfully capture the essence of an entire film.

Luigi Serafini

The Codex Seraphinianus is one of Jorsh’s go-to reference points. This book overflows with surrealism while paying tribute to the unknown. Peña describes the collection as "an encyclopaedia from another planet."

Find Jorsh Peña’s work and see how his work carries the stamp of all these artists on his Instagram.

He also teaches the Domestika course Isometric Vector Illustrations from Scratch that shares the tools for bringing your imagination to life through vectors.

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