Ill have to check out their work, I have not heard of either!
Lovecraft I get not having heard of. Lots of folks have no idea who H.P. Lovecraft was.
But you seriously have not heard of Jack Kirby? Maybe under his real name, Jacob Kurtzberg? or his nickname, King Kirby? Sorry for the shocked reaction, but I have never met an artist before who did not know his work, and I know a ton of artists from all over the world. It's as surprising to me as an artist not knowing Warhol (and Kirby is more universally loved). And especially in the herb community it's a surprise to hear an artist who does not know him. His art has been adapted for album covers (and acid blotters) since the 60s.
According to my visual artist friends, Kirby is one of the three or four most influential pop artists of the 20th Century. He designed:
Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the original X-Men, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, the original Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, Thor, Magneto, Nick Fury, Doctor Doom, the Inhumans, Black Panther (just about everything Stan Lee wrote, except Spider-man, was designed and drawn by Kirby, and except Wolverine and Spider-man, just about every Marvel character in movies). At DC comics, he designed the New Gods, Kobra, Atlas, Deep Six, and Sandman, just to name a few.
According to Wikipedia, Jack created over 300 comic book characters (he is widely considered the greatest and most influential comic book artist of all time) -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Characters_created_by_Jack_Kirby.
And that is just his comic book legacy. He also did animation, posters, and government propaganda work during WWII. There is a Jack Kirby award and a Jack Kirby hall of fame.
Have fun checking out his work. You are in for a treat. Some good places to start are the Jack Kirby museum -
http://kirbymuseum.org/ , What If Kirby (
http://www.whatifkirby.com/) or a time article, "Jack Kirby is the Most Important Artist You Might Not Have Heard Of"
http://entertainment.time.com/2013/...important-artist-you-might-not-have-heard-of/