Barnaby Ward

Barnaby Ward is one of my favourite artists, partially because of the fact that the techniques he works with are those that I am personally comfortable with, so I can hope to be this good in the future. The digital side of things is minimal, which suits me down to the ground. I love how he keeps the emphasis on his linework by using flat colours (often completely unrelated to the subject he has drawn) and how his lines are so sweepy and clean, yet still have a sketchy air about them. His ability to draw attractive women is enviable, and his ability to make a seemingly random premise look beautiful and desirable even more so. His imagination knows know bounds, as can be seen in his book 'sixteen miles to merrick's', and i recommend buying that heartily.
He also does design work, like this poster for Mtv in sweden:



I love everything about this poster, and the choice of typography is really inspiring, especially on that shade of pink. Check his work out at www.somefield.com

Tetsuya Nomura

Tetsuya Nomura is a concept artist, most notably for Squaresoft, now Square-enix on titles like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. His style has evolved over time from simple manga style line art into a distinctive angular style with a huge range of line weights.
He is never without ideas for character designs, and every character he invents is iconic and original in their own right.
Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshitaka Amano have between them changed the face of concept art for videogames. The themes and designs of Nomura's art have been adopted by many other japanese concept artists, and serve as an inspiration in that their distinctive boldness and recurring features of costumes have been emulated by many other japanese games.

Hokusai

Hokusai was the most famous of the ukiyo-e printmakers, with the above print from his 'views of mount fuji' series being beloved around the world. He was extremely prolific, and as well as creating a great many prints, made tons of sketchbooks and instructionary works. He was so skilled as to be able to create smooth gradients using his woodblocks, as you can see from these two examples. He used these gradients often, to build intensity in the picture. His work was often painstakingly drawn and carved, with tiny attention to detail given his medium.
I am always impressed and inspired by his devotion to each picture.
What I learnt from hokusai's work is the importance of building intensity where it is needed, to stir an atmosphere. I also learnt the different ways that colour can play a role in the picture's structure and mood.

John Byrne

John Byrne, along with Marc Sylvestri, is my favourite comic book artist. He has a talent for making really clean line work which never looks imposing, headachey or too complicated despite it's often insane attention to detail. He also was probably the most influential person in making Wolverine as popular as he is today, due to their shared Canadian origins. Byrne's art is never less than perfect, his characters are never ever off model. He really cares about the characters he draws, and his enthusiasm for comics has only been rocked by the corporate world they now exist in. Comics themselves Byrne has many opinions about, which have often landed him in hot water with co-workers, but it is evident in his words and in his work that Byrne really cares about what he does.
I really admire his work because of his consistency and eye for a good pose. His detailed yet clear style is something I really aspire to.

Gabe

Mike Krahulik (a.k.a Gabe) is famously the artist of Penny Arcade, and renowned for his prodigious improvement over the ten years he has drawn it, drawing from sources far and wide, most notably Stephen Silver and early cartoons.
His artwork in Penny Arcade is incredibly expressive and imaginative, the character's faces often exaggerated eccentrically, with Gabe inventing unique solutions to character's visual language. I really admire his work here for the looseness and personality his drawings convey, and the way his art is so lovingly rendered.
He and his partner in PA, Jerry Holkins, often embark on side projects, or small series of comics commissioned by major games publishers. These pages are often an opportunity for Gabe to experiment with different art styles, rarely completely adopting someone else's technique but forging new ways of his own.
Mike Krahulik is one of the artists I most admire, and I've give anything to improve as much in the next decade as he has done in the last one.