Project 1 - Andrea Oxley

For my first project, I decided I was going to make the decision about what or who I would draw based on an artist who was famously known for drawing the human figure. I explored various artists such as Da Vinci, Degas, Kahlo, etc. but due to the nature of the assignment, I wanted to find an artist that would inspire me and lead me in a more fun, colorful, and abstract direction. With that, I chose Picasso. I explored some of his pieces and asked myself what I was most drawn to in his pieces. I love his line work, the fact that he makes human faces look like masks, and his use of color. With those three concepts on my mind, I took a few days exploring other modern artists. In the next couple days, I was preoccupied with other responsibilities and had forgotten about my project. One night, I found myself watching The Corpse Bride, a film created by Tim Burton. I had seen this movie once before, but I never gave it any thought artistically. Then, a song came on called “Remains of the Day.” In this scene, creatures from the dead danced and sang. Their bodies, in Tim Burton’s classic style were all out of proportion. Bones were flinging and flailing. Their eyes were half the size of their heads. Suddenly, I was thinking about my project again. The proportions were so weird. I asked myself, “I wonder what their skeletons would look like.”

From that point, I went back to the drawing board and pulled up my research about Picasso. I saw so many similarities between his work and Tim Burton’s work. In his characters and his landscapes, Tim Burton famously twists and twirls lines that ought to be straight. He creates abstract, human-like faces that come off as “mask-like” and mysterious. Finally, he uses bright colors in select scenes so intentionally and intelligently. Even though his entire movie contains mostly dead people or dark themes, he makes the bright colors essential to the success of the pieces. I then searched the internet even further to see if Burton had ever made any comments about being inspired by or influenced by Picasso, but I was unable to find any such research. Perhaps, I could be one of the first to come up with a paper on that topic.

After my moment of epiphany, I gained direction for my project. I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas the next day. I have seen this film a million times, but this time I looked at it through an artistic eye. I focused mainly on looking at proportions and visualizing what each character’s skeleton might look like. I narrowed my choice for this project down to the evil trick-or-treaters, Lock, Shock, and Barrel and ultimately decided to draw the witch-like child, Shock. I was fascinated by her triangular body, elongated head, wispy feet, and tiny hands. She also presented an opportunity to integrate some of the color I was talking about earlier. She famously wears a purple hat and dress and has bright blue lining around her mouth and eyes. I think the character is so creative and fun. I absolutely loved researching for this project.

Influences:
Artist - Pablo Picasso
Artist - Tim Burton
Video 1 - The Making of the Nightmare Before Christmas
Video 2 - The World of Tim Burton Exhibition in Shanghai
Video 3 - Song/Film: Remains of the Day from Corpse Bride
Video 4 - Film: The Nightmare Before Christmas