Comic art inspirationSince my comic is based off of a surreal story I wish to try and take the surrealism a step further. Though the characters are based off of the original Wizard of oz characters I have researched into a number of artists who have developed peculiar designs for their work that acquire to my taste and will help me find a way to make the characters suite the style and genre of my comic much more. I plan to have my comic consist of bright colours and settings but laid out in a somewhat Macabre and sinister manor to help illustrate the fact that Dorothy’s mind has become corrupted and therefore transforming Oz into a more evil land.

Tim BurtonThough Tim Burton is best known for his role as a film producer and animator he is also a surreal artist. Much of his work has a rather peculiar dark look to it, which seems somewhat unnatural. He tends to use a specific cartoon style for characters portrayed in his work usually being made up of plump bodies and extremely thing limbs, in other words many of the characters and landscapes shown in his work are distorted to an extent. A prime example of his style of work is jack Skellington from “A nightmare before Christmas” who is designed with a circular head and chest whilst the rest of his body is made up of extremely elongated arms and legs. Nearly all of his work follows a similar structure, often also being made up of black and white objects that contain one solid colour, trying to illustrate light and happiness against darkness, however the bright colours of his work are usually trumped by the almost twisted dark world that makes up his work. The main reason why I have chosen to look into Tim Burton’s work though is because of the bizarre and shadowy look that makes up his work. I wish for my work to have a similar appearance to it, making readers understand the dark look towards my comic.

American McGeeAmerican McGee was my top artist who inspired me the most. He is best known for the creation of the games American McGee’s Alice and Alice madness returns, both of which tell the tale of lice in wonderland but from a twisted perspective where everything and everyone has been transformed into a nightmarish style. My comic follows a similar path but with the Wizard of Oz instead but to try and figure out how to go about designing both characters and locations for my comic I looked into his work to see what colour’s he uses, how certain objects in his work are laid out and why they have been done in such a way. His work tends to relate to Victorian styled areas and in particular London where be usually mixes real icons of London with abstract and peculiar items. For example when producing concept art for Alice madness returns he illustrated a sequence where Alice enters wonderland by having a street of London gradually become transformed into a mushroom filled forest. He used dark colour’s to represent the slums

of London while using bright colours to represent wonderland but often consisting of reds, purples and browns to show the twisted side of it. His work tends to illustrate a nightmare or how a nightmare looks. He uses cheery characters and colours but then mixes them with blackened surroundings and ferociously dark shady characters.

Mark RydenMark Ryden’s work assisted with the idea of how I can combine childish looking environments and characters with Macabre styled art. His work is Hi-fructose and lowbrow like meaning that it consists of colourful yet twisted imagery often relating to social cults or illustrating disturbing imagery often showing things such as the human body begins gored and shown off in off putting ways. Mark Ryder’s work seems appealing to young viewers but when observed closely reveals that his work is made up of much darker material normally sowing off childish thing to the point where they are no longer charming but creepy and disturbing. His work occasionally has a strong reference to religion also, having most of his art symbolizing things such as the cross, birth of Christ and the devil as well as including symbols that represent religious cults such as Hinduism, Christianity and Jewish cults. Along with this he portrays child related items such as dolls, teddy bears and toys but also mixing them with things such as human anatomy, meat and death. The characters and animals usually have various human looking parts such as eyes, mouths and other facial features but shown on out of proportion and surreal bodies.

George GrieGeorge Grie I researched primarily because of his passion for surreal yet industrial art. George Grie is a digital artist whose work doesn’t consist of disturbing images but rather most unusual imagery as his work is often set in large-scale landscapes such as deserts, oceans and plains. It is usually mixed with items, which don’t seem to belong in these environments but have been modified so that they seem more like the surrounding area rather then what they were originally intended to be in the first place, in other words taking certain concepts such as bridges, buildings and large man made items and placing

them in environments that you wouldn’t usually see them in but however have been modified so that they suit the new area that they are being portrayed in. His work tends to almost journey into the subconscious, looking at things that you would normally see or experience in a dream. Much of George Grie’s work was inspired by artists such as Salvador Dali, Zdzislaw Beksinski and Rene Magritte, artists who look at day to day items but then manage to twist and style them so that they suite a more unnatural and dream like appearance. I chose to study this artist for my comic mainly in order to figure out ways that I can style the environments that the story takes place in. Though the setting is already rather unnatural I wish to make it even more unnatural and more disturbing to viewers.