Artist Analysis: Tim Burton

Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton (born August 25, 1958), an American film director, film producer, writer, poet, and stop motion artist, is known for his dark, macabre, quirky horror and fantasy films. He has directed and produced films such as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Frankenweenie.

This illustration is from one of Burton’s most famous films, The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is an American stop motion musical fantasy film. The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982 but wasn't released as a film until 1993. This is one of my favourite films and I find his work fascinating and curious because his characters are quite unique.

The illustration is of his main character in the film, Jack Skellington, holding a jack-o-lantern. There is a large, bright yellow moon behind Jack’s head, which makes him stand out and become the focal point of the illustration. There is a tall gate to the right, with a strange, purple-black swirly hill behind it. Jack is standing within that area, surrounded by grass and jack-o-lanterns around his feet.

The formal elements used within this illustration are line, tone/form, texture, pattern/shape and colour. There is a range of line being used from smooth to sharp. The lines made to create Jack’s body and suit are very sharp and noticeable, whereas the lines to create grass are more transparent and have very little opacity, which makes the colour and texture of the grass stand out more.

Shape is being used quite a lot in this illustration along with repetition, especially circles; there is the moon, Jack’s head and all of the jack-o-lanterns. The swirly hill is quite an irregular shape which is what makes it more interesting as a piece of artwork. Repetition is being demonstrated with the jack-o-lanterns and the gate/fences.

The colours in this illustration are mostly natural; grass, jack-o-lanterns, skeleton, gate/fences, suit; and the moon is yellow, which is sometimes how the moon may look. Although, there are two parts of the illustration where the colours are quite strange – the swirly hill in purple and most of the sky is black but towards the bottom there is some purple/red/orange.

What I like about this illustration is the composition and especially the character, Jack. I like how he has been dressed in a very formal suit, although he is a skeleton. The build of his body is very long and skinny and his hands are very detailed in bone structure.

For my work, I will use the way that Burton has built his characters body – long, skinny and dead-like.