Friday 25 September 2015

Show Your Face on Friday - Matilda as Tim Burton might see her!

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven, followers and friends. Once again it's Friday, my favourite day of the week and time for one of my favourite blogs, 'Show Your Face on Friday' with Kim Dellow. Just in case you don't already know, Kim hosts this 'link-up' where she invites anyone who wants to try their hand at creating portraits of any kind to share what they have been creating. It doesn't matter what style; what medium or what shape or size - all you have to do is make sure that the face is your own work and not created by a template or special stamp. Please click here to find out more about Kim's blog, which is a really great place to be inspired. In November the theme is to be 'in the style of', but I'm sorry, I couldn't wait until then. I had an urge to leave my comfort zone this week - in more ways than one - and try something really new for me! I love the films and animations of Tim Burton. His work embodies the essence of modern Gothic to me and, with Halloween coming up at the end of next month, I've been thinking about the creepy charm of creations like 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and 'Corpse Bride'. I don't like the typical supermarket Halloween offerings of plastic witches' hats, fangs and monsters' heads dripping with fake blood, but I do love the excitement of glowing pumpkin faces in the windows on our little crescent and the giggles of the children trick-or-treating. Tim Burton really explores that need we all have to engage with our fears and dance among the shadows. 'Edward Scissorhands' really captured my imagination, and 'Ed Wood' has to be one of my all-time favourite quirky films! I challenged myself to create a portrait of my daughter Matilda in the style of Tim Burton!


This is the photo I used of Matilda on her way to work last February with a big red, London bus in the background. She is twenty-one now, but she still loves Halloween and dressing up and this year she and her friends are going to a Halloween themed evening at Dickens' World in Rochester, so I'm hoping she won't be too cross with this caricature in the style of Tim! Maybe it will even give her some ideas for her costume.



I think Matilda would agree that one of her best friends is our cat, Daisy, so she has been given the Tim treatment too! I used a 6B pencil, Graphik fine line, Inktense and Pan Pastels to turn my daughter into this spooky creation! I'm now beginning to imagine all kinds of stories around this young lady and her cat. I have scanned the image into my computer so it might possibly appear on a little wooden Halloween house, peeping through a tiny window. I'll let you know what I eventually decide to create using it! Have a great weekend and a lovely creative week and thank you for stopping by Magpieheaven today. I really appreciate your continued support and your company.

20 comments:

  1. This put a big smile on my face - love it, and I am sure your daughter will love it, too. I am looking forward to the blood moon on Monday and hope the weather will be clear. Have a nice weekend, hugs, Valerie

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  2. I think it's fabulous!! and Matilda is beautiful! have a lovely weekend.

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  3. A fabulous sketch Julie Ann! Matilda is a stunning girl, hope she enjoys the Dicken's event, sounds fun! xxx

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  4. Well, you've stopped me in my tracks again. The Burton aesthetic is right up my Halloween street too... with an otherworldliness far preferable to all the purple/orange wackiness! What an exquisite drawing - magnificent use of pencil and colour - I can't wait to see Matilda and Daisy make their way into more artwork. Amazing, Julie Ann. I'm amazed.
    Alison xx

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  5. WOW! What a brilliant sketch! I love the Burtonisation of your daughter. Surely she won't be cross with your cooler than cool vision of her and her pusscat pal. Love the face peeping through the window too. More please :oD

    Hope you had a very happy Birthday this week too Julie Ann. I'm guessing you employed some of your fabulous birthday gifts to make your sketch. Lx

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  6. Really awesome "Tim Burton" style drawing of your daughter!!! It's amazing. The cat, and the moon peaking through the window, really made it very even more special. I don't see how anyone would get a bit testy of this piece. It made me smile. Great job.

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  7. Wow!! It's a lovely sketch Julie! I can understand how you love Tim Burton's world if I see this. The Halloween project is wonderful! I love this.. the green eyes cat too!! xx

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  8. Wow this is wonderful Julie Ann, you daughter will be thrilled at the TB treatment of her and Daisy. Have a fun weekend xx

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  9. Outstanding, unique and awesome Julie Ann, what a fabulous way to immortalise your very beautiful Daughter. Love your inspiration!
    Mo:-) xxx

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  10. Absolutely Fabulous!!! And everything else everyone above has said!! Your art just continues to amaze me dear Julie Ann!! Your daughter is gorgeous and even so is her new caricature!
    Funny note here...we too have a Rochester,NY about 60 min from us! ") At first I thought you meant Mathilda was here in the states! heehee
    hugs & love xoxo

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  11. It's perfect! I love how you adapted Tim Burton's typical "magic" his style provides. It gives so much character to the portrait and helps tell a whole enchanted story! Love it!

    Claudia x

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  12. It just leaves me this incredible sense of awe. Your talent is beyond reason LOL. I am that as the biggest of compliments possible. This is of the highest of standards of illustration and I am being so serious when I say that your art should be illustrating books or even part of your own stories because I do believe there is a market for Matilda and Daisy.
    Julie Ann, I know you are a mother who bursts with pride, as a mother should, about her daughter but I know I am not the only one who has and will declare that your daughter is a beauty. That abundance of hair is what fairytales alone are made of!
    As for Halloween, I am definitely in the Tim Burton category and not what can be found on supermarket shelves. As a child I was too shy to go 'guising (what we called it in Scotland although now it is all about Trick or Treat) but my parents would take me to visit Aunties, etc. I was too shy to even say a party piece!
    I am sure your daughter will have a spectacular Halloween, made all the moreso with this special gift for her.
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  13. What a impressive drawing of your daughter. You really captured Tim Burton's style.

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  14. Love and it is great you are getting in some practice before the theme month LOL! I adore this style and I love those faces! Also, I got my broach yesterday and I LOVE that too. Really am as pleased as punch with it, thank you. I will get the feedback up on your Etsy shop as soon as they will let me :) Thanks for joining in Show Your Face and for the shout out too. Kx

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  15. This is simply marvelous. I love your illustration. xox

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  16. Love this interpretation, Julie! This is a really, really good caricature of both your daughter AND the cat! LOL! I love her eyebrows and the shading around her eyes and I also like the "stubble" that you added to the outline of the kitty. Both really help to convey the spirit of the artist. The details around the window are just perfect.

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  17. I agree with everything that has been said Julie Ann, you have tremendous talent and imagination and your daughter is a beauty. I hope you can give Isaac a similar treatment. Mathilda has a tremendous presence about her, like a film star. You can sense her confidence and that she must draw people to her. I know she is a sweet girl too,

    Lucy x

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  18. Your daughter is so beautiful! I was sure this was a picture of a model...and what fun is your 'tim burton caricature!' love the expression and the kitty...♥

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