Langdon majored in English at Dickinson — with a particular interest in the History of the English Language — but began painting, tentatively, on his own before graduating. His strong emotional response to cubists Gris, Braque, and Picasso inspired what a painting instructor later referred to as “a pastiche of cubism.” While that comment discouraged Langdon's painting efforts for a while, the cubist influence never left him. He considers Surrealists Dali and Magritte, and pop artists Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol significant influences, as well. Langdon took drawing and painting courses at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and The Philadelphia College of Art after graduating from Dickinson.