Here is an example of Edward Gorey's
work, who work has had a major influence
on burtons style
Thursday 8 March 2007
burton
Tim Burtons corspe bride
and nightmare before christmas, two examples of his stop motion model work
Reseach project
My biggest intrest in graphic arts is stop-motion animation, and to be more pacific model animation.My favourtive designer/film maker being Tim Burton. I intend to reseach influences in to burtons work that includes illustrators and other animators, for example Aardman animations and edward gorey,
Edward Gorey was born in Chicago and came from a very colourful family. His parents divorced in 1936 when he was 11, then remarried in 1952 when he was 27. One of his step-mothers was Corinna Mura, a cabaret singer who had a brief role in the classic film Casablanca. His father was briefly a journalist, and his maternal great-grandmother, Helen St. John Garvey, was a popular 19th century greeting card writer/artist, whom Gorey claimed to have inherited his talents from.Although he would frequently state that his formal art training was "negligible", Gorey studied art for one semester at the Chicago Art Institute in 1943, eventually becoming a professional illustrator.From 1953 to 1960, he lived in New York City and worked for the Art Department of Doubleday Anchor, illustrating book covers and in some cases adding illustrations to the text. He has illustrated works as diverse as Dracula by Bram Stoker, The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. In later years he illustrated many children's books by John Bellairs, as well as books in several series begun by Bellairs and continued by other authors after his death.I am very intrigued by Edward Gorey’s sinister illustrations as it’s the kind of style which inspires my own work. The settings and style of Gorey's work have caused many people to assume he was British, in fact, he never visited England, and he almost never travelled. In later years, he lived year-round in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, where he wrote and directed numerous evening-length entertainments, often featuring his own papier-mâché puppets, in an ensemble known as La Theatricule Stoique.Gorey was noted for his fondness for ballet which for many years, he religiously attended all performances of the New York City Ballet. Particularly ‘Cats’, which he also had many as pets and both figure prominently in his work.Gorey was also an unashamed pop culture junkie, avidly following soap operas and TV comedies like Petticoat Junction and Cheers, and he had particular affection for dark genre series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Batman: The Animated Series, and The X-Files; he once told an interviewer that he so enjoyed the Batman series that it was influencing the visual style of one of his upcoming books.Gorey treated TV commercials as an art form in themselves, even taping his favourites for later study. But Gorey was especially fond of movies, and for a time he did regular and very waspish reviews for the Soho Weekly.Although Gorey's books were popular with children, he did not associate with children much and had no particular fondness for them. Gorey never married, professed to have little interest in romance, and never discussed any specific romantic relationships in interviews.Gorey is typically described as an illustrator, but this merely scratches the surface. His combination of words and pictures has led some to classify him as having been a cartoonist, while others regard him primarily as a writer who drew, or an artist who wroteHis endless formal experimentations, creating books that were wordless, books that were literally matchbox-sized, pop-up books, books entirely populated by inanimate objects, etc. - complicates matters still further, not to mention the thorny issue of whether his books are best classed as literature for children or for adults. As Gorey told interviewer Richard Dyer: "Ideally, if anything were any good, it would be indescribable."Gorey's influence is readily apparent in the work of many artists working in many different mediums. In 1999, Edward Gorey designed the front and rear cover art for his long time friend Clif Hanger, the founder/lyricist/vocalist for the now 25 year old Punk Rock band The Freeze. Gorey also co-wrote with Clif Hanger the lyrics to one of the band's songs titled "ALIEN HEADS". Cartoonists such as Dame Darcy and Tony Millionaire tell dark, whimsical tales with plenty of Gorey-esque visual flourishes; Hollywood's Tim Burton's directorial style owes much to Gorey and various musical acts have displayed influence. For example, the Nine Inch Nails music video for the song "The Perfect Drug" was designed specifically to look like a Gorey book, with familiar Gorey elements including oversize urns, topiary plants, and glum, pale characters in full Victorian costume. Also, Caitlín R. Kiernan has published a short story titled "A Story for Edward Gorey" (Tales of Pain and Wonder, 2000) which features Gorey's black doll.The PBS series Mystery! features Gorey's animation over the familiar theme music.In the last few decades of his life, Gorey merchandise became quite popular, with stuffed dolls, cups, stickers, posters, and other items available at malls around the USA.The collectable card game Gloom uses artwork inspired by Goreys' style.A more direct link to Gorey's influence on the music world is evident in The Gorey End, an album recorded in 2003 by the Tiger Lillies and the Kronos Quartet. This album was a collaboration with Gorey, who liked previous work by The Tiger Lillies so much that he sent them a large box of his unpublished work, which were then adapted and turned into songs. Gorey died before hearing the finished album.
Edward Gorey was born in Chicago and came from a very colourful family. His parents divorced in 1936 when he was 11, then remarried in 1952 when he was 27. One of his step-mothers was Corinna Mura, a cabaret singer who had a brief role in the classic film Casablanca. His father was briefly a journalist, and his maternal great-grandmother, Helen St. John Garvey, was a popular 19th century greeting card writer/artist, whom Gorey claimed to have inherited his talents from.Although he would frequently state that his formal art training was "negligible", Gorey studied art for one semester at the Chicago Art Institute in 1943, eventually becoming a professional illustrator.From 1953 to 1960, he lived in New York City and worked for the Art Department of Doubleday Anchor, illustrating book covers and in some cases adding illustrations to the text. He has illustrated works as diverse as Dracula by Bram Stoker, The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. In later years he illustrated many children's books by John Bellairs, as well as books in several series begun by Bellairs and continued by other authors after his death.I am very intrigued by Edward Gorey’s sinister illustrations as it’s the kind of style which inspires my own work. The settings and style of Gorey's work have caused many people to assume he was British, in fact, he never visited England, and he almost never travelled. In later years, he lived year-round in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, where he wrote and directed numerous evening-length entertainments, often featuring his own papier-mâché puppets, in an ensemble known as La Theatricule Stoique.Gorey was noted for his fondness for ballet which for many years, he religiously attended all performances of the New York City Ballet. Particularly ‘Cats’, which he also had many as pets and both figure prominently in his work.Gorey was also an unashamed pop culture junkie, avidly following soap operas and TV comedies like Petticoat Junction and Cheers, and he had particular affection for dark genre series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Batman: The Animated Series, and The X-Files; he once told an interviewer that he so enjoyed the Batman series that it was influencing the visual style of one of his upcoming books.Gorey treated TV commercials as an art form in themselves, even taping his favourites for later study. But Gorey was especially fond of movies, and for a time he did regular and very waspish reviews for the Soho Weekly.Although Gorey's books were popular with children, he did not associate with children much and had no particular fondness for them. Gorey never married, professed to have little interest in romance, and never discussed any specific romantic relationships in interviews.Gorey is typically described as an illustrator, but this merely scratches the surface. His combination of words and pictures has led some to classify him as having been a cartoonist, while others regard him primarily as a writer who drew, or an artist who wroteHis endless formal experimentations, creating books that were wordless, books that were literally matchbox-sized, pop-up books, books entirely populated by inanimate objects, etc. - complicates matters still further, not to mention the thorny issue of whether his books are best classed as literature for children or for adults. As Gorey told interviewer Richard Dyer: "Ideally, if anything were any good, it would be indescribable."Gorey's influence is readily apparent in the work of many artists working in many different mediums. In 1999, Edward Gorey designed the front and rear cover art for his long time friend Clif Hanger, the founder/lyricist/vocalist for the now 25 year old Punk Rock band The Freeze. Gorey also co-wrote with Clif Hanger the lyrics to one of the band's songs titled "ALIEN HEADS". Cartoonists such as Dame Darcy and Tony Millionaire tell dark, whimsical tales with plenty of Gorey-esque visual flourishes; Hollywood's Tim Burton's directorial style owes much to Gorey and various musical acts have displayed influence. For example, the Nine Inch Nails music video for the song "The Perfect Drug" was designed specifically to look like a Gorey book, with familiar Gorey elements including oversize urns, topiary plants, and glum, pale characters in full Victorian costume. Also, Caitlín R. Kiernan has published a short story titled "A Story for Edward Gorey" (Tales of Pain and Wonder, 2000) which features Gorey's black doll.The PBS series Mystery! features Gorey's animation over the familiar theme music.In the last few decades of his life, Gorey merchandise became quite popular, with stuffed dolls, cups, stickers, posters, and other items available at malls around the USA.The collectable card game Gloom uses artwork inspired by Goreys' style.A more direct link to Gorey's influence on the music world is evident in The Gorey End, an album recorded in 2003 by the Tiger Lillies and the Kronos Quartet. This album was a collaboration with Gorey, who liked previous work by The Tiger Lillies so much that he sent them a large box of his unpublished work, which were then adapted and turned into songs. Gorey died before hearing the finished album.
Monday 11 December 2006
Chris Ware
One other successful method of to communicate a narrative is though Graphic novels. With Chris Ware being one of the greatest story tellers and cartoonests living today. Ware's art is largely influenced by 20th century american aesthetics in cartooning and graphic design.Although i am not a huge fan in the look of his artwork as his work has a very precise and geometrical look and layout and appears to be computer generated, but in fact Ware works almost exclusively with olds fashioned drawing tools such as paper and pencil, rulers and T-squares. I may not be a huge fan of the look of his work but i can not argue with the flow of the narrative in his work through his panel structures and i believe he is a master of composition. And see him as inspiration for storyboarding my own work. Ware was inspired by fellow american cartoonist Frank King, born in 1883 who is most famous for the comic strip "gasoline alley" published in November 1918. When looking at King's work you can tell he influenced Ware in his layout and flow of the story, he also was a master draftsman who had laser precision drawing.
You can read more on both artists at
Kyle Cooper and Pablo Ferro are todays great title designers with Ferro being the least known of the title designers, born in Cuba he moved to New York as a teen. He has been reating title sequences since Saul Bass's era, and is still making titles today, with "Napoleon Dynamite" spring to mind as his most recent piece of work.
While Kyle Cooper is seen as the best Title designer since Saul Bass, he formed Prologue films in 2003. With his work on title sequence for the film "se7en" making his made name global. Ferro and Kyle Cooper both master using multiple images within one frame (Cooper using twenty four per frame in the title sequence for se7en). Both Artists are also fond of using hand drawn lettering in their work. Another great title designer is Stephen Frankfurt read about him at
www.frankwbaker.com/opening_credits/
Read more at
www.digitalcontentproducer.com/mag/video_titles_throughout_time/
While Kyle Cooper is seen as the best Title designer since Saul Bass, he formed Prologue films in 2003. With his work on title sequence for the film "se7en" making his made name global. Ferro and Kyle Cooper both master using multiple images within one frame (Cooper using twenty four per frame in the title sequence for se7en). Both Artists are also fond of using hand drawn lettering in their work. Another great title designer is Stephen Frankfurt read about him at
www.frankwbaker.com/opening_credits/
Read more at
www.digitalcontentproducer.com/mag/video_titles_throughout_time/
Saul Bass
Saul Bass was the father of title sequences and is viewed as the industry's pioneer. Bass's most remarkable work came though his collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock.
One of the best examples of Bass communicating a narrative is his graphic composition in movement for Hitchcock's "North by North West" here parallel lines enter from the right, while another set of lines enter vertically across the screen from above and below, the set of lines then intersect froming a grid. This coupled with the musical score function as a prologue to the movie, setting the tone and establish the mood for the film to follow.
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