I studied Tim Burton for my first artist study because I love the fact that he is unafraid to take risks, and is unafraid of the judgement or criticism that he may receive. Tim Burton is most well known as being a director and producer in the movie industry, but many fail to realize that many of his movies and ideas come from the art that he creates. His art inspires him to make many of the movies that he is well known for like Frankenweenie, The Nightmare before Christmas, and Corpse Bride, which are all stop motion animation inspired by his art. Tim Burton has directed other movies like Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland, and Sweeny Todd.

I decided to study Tim Burton because of his definite style that he has developed which is even prevalent in the movies that he makes. Burton is known for his dark humor and while many like his work is also a majority of people who do not like the movies and art that he makes. Tim Burton has a central idea of light and dark in his work, which I am really interested in. Not only is he interested in light in dark in colors and contrast but in the light and dark meaning goodness and evil and the light and dark in two complete opposite things. In much of his movies, inspired by his art, a central theme is a character who struggles with their own character as well as being caught between two worlds like in Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, and Alice in Wonderland.

In these sketches from Tim Burton's personal art gallery the inspiration for the movie Nightmare before Christmas is dominant. Burton's style of work has not necessarily influenced the type of work that I create but what I took away from studying him most is his strong ethic. Studying Tim Burton taught me that not everyone is going to agree with me and not everyone is going to like the work I create. He taught me to be fearless in the things that I make and listen to criticism to make my work better but not take it to heart. I learned that making art isn't about pleasing everyone around you but rather making work that you are proud of that made you happy to create.

http://www.timburton.com/

With the second session fo the 10 works in 2 weeks project I faced the same frustrations as the first where I really disliked the time constraints that we had to work on the project. I felt as though I could not concentrate on developing the pieces more because I was pressed for time and the need to try and complete all ten works before the time ran out. However in this session I worked on using elongated pieces of wood for more inspiration in the pieces. Wood has a natural beauty that I want to be dominant in some of the pieces. I also experimented with new materials like oil pastels and water colors on the wood to see if I could create different style of work, still having nature be the theme. 

I enjoyed using the oil pastels on the wood because it was easy to blend and create smooth combinations of color. I also experimented with brighter contrasting colors in a few of the works because I like the idea of having a consistent theme throughout all pieces of work and using different artistic styles of that theme to appeal to a wider audience of viewers. My peers encourage me to work on a larger scale and also try to break from the simplicity of the works that I am creating.

I still struggled to develop a "definite" style type that I can call my own, completely unique to me, because I enjoyed experimenting so much, however, I want to develop work even further, but for me it is hard to do such a task with time constraints and so many projects happening at once. In my next one work two weeks project I want to continue to keep the focus on nature but also incorporate the techniques that I learned in these processes to contribute to a better, larger overall product.

I did not like the time limits we had set for this assignment because I felt as though I could not focus much time or attention on each piece of work as I like to. Many in my opinion feel almost unfinished, however, throughout the course of this work I primarily tried to focus on not being as literal about all the pieces. Over the summer I really liked some of the aspects that were included in my work and I really wanted to carry those over into these 10 works. I like working with mixed media because I feel like it adds more layers to the work. I also added a few new aspects that I played around with at the end of art III, such as thread work and geometric patterns though they are not dominant. I want to keep focusing on the aspects that I like creating the most such as the wax, thread work, and vibrant colors. Based off of the views from others, I feel like I need to continue to explore this work and add more onto it. I think that adding various more layers and trying new techniques would be beneficial to the developing style. 

I earned a lot of support for nature-ish theme prevalent throughout the work, which I would like to continue to work with as well as some more abstract type works. Others suggested to also stay with this theme through the course of the next ten works to develop my own unique style. My next ten will focus more on adding layers to the work and continuing to be less literal about the topics/themes depicted in my work. As my work continues to progress I want to spend more time on each piece developing it to my own standards in order to create something that I am more proud of.

My love for the beach extends far past the sandy beaches, beaming sun, and salty breeze. It surpasses the typical teenage infatuation with the attention from the opposite gender. I love the beach with my entire being. From the surface where waves are constantly breaking, to the deep ocean trenches that scientists have yet to explore, everything about the ocean fascinates me. There’s color, life, and movement throughout the entire ocean and humans aren’t yet able to completely enjoy all the amazing aspects of the sea that we know so little about. It remains a mystery. It’s unknown; everything under the surface contains some little secret.

Over the summer I spent many weeks at the beach with family and friends, enjoying my vacation. The beach is something very close to me so for my summer work that was the main focus. This work is very straightforward and has no underlying meanings. I chose the ocean because I wanted to explore the different sides of it, from the waves to the sunlight shining through the water. This work is based off the same idea however, it is not very technical because I wanted to explore various styles of artwork.