Hybridity- Tim Burton

Tim Burton is a filmmaker, animator and artist with a dark art style that is very well known throughout the art community. This style developed during his childhood since he often felt like an outcast at school and was often lonely. Because of this, Tim Burton would often draw. He usually would draw monsters who were timid to make them more relatable to himself. One of Burton’s biggest supporters was his art teacher who never forced Burton to conform to society’s standards of art. This freedom allowed Burton to grow as an artist. As he grew up he attended to the California institute of Art and later got a job as an animator with Disney. During this time, Burton was very constricted since his style is very different from the company’s and his ideas for films were constantly rejected due to their creepy nature. Eventually, Burton left Disney and began to make his own films without being restricted.


When it comes Burton's art style, tends to do whatever he feels whether it is animating, drawing,or film making Some common themes in Tim Burton’s art were simplicity with his drawings usually only consisting of the subjects and a white background. Along with this, Burton’s drawings contain a myriad of strokes like lines and whirlwinds that add to the chaotic and creepy vibe to the characters. Burton also uses a variety of utensils like crayons, paints and markers. Burton usually gains inspiration from the people around him. He tends to fill his art with social commentaries like the economy, hierarchy, self image and conformity. This is done to show life in different perspectives.


One of his movies, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber on Fleet Street, entails a barber’s return to his hometown after being banished by a corrupt judge who was only after his wife. When having heard of his wife’s apparent suicide, he vows revenge on the judge and begins to slit peoples throats out of rage, which Ms. Lovett then uses to make meat pies. The two main parts of the movie I enjoyed artistically were the intro and the beach scene.

The Intro:
 
 At the beginning,I loved the animated rain next to the blurry painted background. I personally felt that the rain contrasted with background which brought more focus to it. Along with this, I liked the general movement of the buildings, the informal balance in the scene and the perspective of some buildings being bigger than others and the black on the fronts that give the viewer the feeling of the building being right in front of them. Later on, there is this mix of 3D and 2D which I feel was a good thing because helped put emphasis on the 2D blood and added variety and motion to other parts like the meat grinder. Lastly, I love the scene with the blood pouring into the sewer. I love the 2D blurry background of the sewers and the very realistic water. This, like the 2D and 3D animated parts earlier creates emphasis on the water flowing and less on the background which I really enjoy looking at.

By the Sea:
 
 For the most part I enjoy this scene for the backgrounds. I felt when watching this that the main characters and the background are two separate things. Unlike Burton’s drawings that usually have a plain white background, the background are a little more lively and pleasing to the eye. I also believe these backgrounds are generally fake and were created, especially the scene leading to this with the tree. I like this because of the contrast it brings to the characters from such a bright lovely background.

In conclusion, I have learned that hybridity is a form of art that takes many simple art forms and brings it together to create one piece of art. Since the world today is much different than the way it was back then, I believe contemporary artists take an idea or subject and use hybridity to better express it our to make it more complex and bring greater meaning. I think I will stay digital when it comes to my art, but I think I might add some video or photos I shoot on my phone in my art if anything I come across sparks an idea for art in my head. In these cases I am thinking of collaging those videos into my animations or renders using photoshop. It isn’t really hybridity related, but the beginning part of the opening credits of Sweeney Todd really caught my eye. It makes me want to use real life photos for backgrounds and explore and include 2D animation in my art.

Sources:
http://hardziej.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/burton_cover_by_patryk_hardziej_4.jpg
https://the-artifice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/359fn7r-578x289.jpg
https://the-artifice.com/art-tim-burton/