When I first started folding I searched the internet looking at pictures and such I came across Miyajima Noboru's Mammoth
I thought is was a marvelous piece of origami, I have folded it too, and It folds well.
Another amazing piece are Eric Josiel's Creations, I dont understand how he makes his paper animals look so alive.
I admire Satoshi Kamiya's, Akira Yoshizawa's, Robert Lang's, and also Eric Josiel's works, for the most part because of their life-like qualities. Although I do like the complexity of some of their folds.
I admire Hideo's work most. the reason for it is, that it was always fun to do and no stress at all. for some reasons I don't like folding Lang stuff... it happens to often, that I get frustrated, because I don't understand what he's trying to tell. lately I've folded Hideo's squirrel, and it was so relaxing... just folding and finishing... this seldom happens with Lang models :/
I think Kamiya, Lang, and Komatsu each have something unique about them. Lang focuses more on nature than Kamiya whereas Kamiya focuses more on fantasy and myth. Their folding styles are very similar but I feel like Kamiya likes to go overboard on detail. Hideo Komatsu is extraordinarily gifted in origami design. His only problem is that some of the simpler looking models (cat, dog, pony, panda) require a lot of steps and the result is not that great. The models I consider his materpieces (tiger, lion, rabbit, squirrel, fox, owl, giraffe, wolf, sheep, and horse) are simply amazing. Their proportions are nearly correct and they convey emotion. The models that convey a 3D aspect are great (rabbit, hippo, owl, squirrel). Overall I would have to say that Hideo Komatsu's are the most fun to fold, but you have a much greater sense of acheivement if you finish a lang or kamiya model.
Eric Joisel produces some amazing models, but without being able to fold a number of them (due to lack of diagrams), I can't truly appreciate his work. Part of the genius is how you manipulate the paper.
i'm quite impressed by joisel's skills, too. without his masks in my mind i would not believe that the human face could be folded with a natural shape just from a paper square ...