Sunday, March 31, 2013

"We close our eyes"

2 years ago, I said I might like to revisit this painting. Well I finally did.

(click for larger)

I had the great fortune of being able to give this to Tim Burton this past November. His work, especially his drawings and paintings, have been a big influence on me, so it was a tremendous honor to get to meet him and give him some of my work. I wanted to give him this one because I felt it reflected some of that influence. This piece isn't supposed to necessarily scream "Burton!". I think it shows the influence in terms of theme perhaps, but I wanted it to have my own voice and style behind it. I didn't want to just make a painting of Jack Skeltington or something, because I feel that doesn't show influence. That's just regurgitation. Plus that kinda stuff is a dime a dozen on deviantart.com.  Tim seemed genuinely excited and grateful to get it. Even if he was just blowing smoke, it made me feel pretty damn good to shake his hand and share some of my work with someone whose own work has meant so much to me for so many years. I feel incredibly grateful to say that I have now met my two biggest influences. The other being Chuck Jones, whom I had met when I was 14.

For some more info/insight into the piece itself, check out the original blog post from 2 years ago.