My greatest inspiration is John William Waterhouse! Sigh...He is my favourite artist ever, and I was lucky enough to see some of his work in the Tate Gallery; the paintings are so much more incredibly, breath-takingly beautiful than the images you see of his as prints and calenders. The depth and detail in them are simply amazing.

For 'fabulousness', he is followed very closely by Bougereau...along with most of the Pre Raphaelites and many of the illustrators of the early nineteenth century - of course Arthur Rackham, CM Barker, Kaye Neilsen, Dulac, HJ Ford, Ida Rentoul, John Bauer - the list goes on and on!

Modern day master illustrators (or faerie godfathers...) such as Alan Lee and Brian Froud can never be far from any faery/fantasy artist's mind! Their works are inviting, amazing and inspiring and like the artists of the nineteenth century, they have woven their unique stamp into the genre (they are the modern day Arthur Rackhams) and have greatly inspired a new generation of faerie artists.
I think there are people who saw Labyrinth and 'got it' and those who didn't...(Ditto The Dark Crystal) I have many little, and not so little, converts who at the drop of a hat, can now sing all the words to "You remind me of the babe, which babe..." ...(One of my favourite scenes from the movie - hmmm... quite possibly because it features David Bowie in his grey tights! = O )