The Wanted Vampire – Tim Burton Art

Dark depths. Solid blacks. Spooky turns! Welcome to Tim Burton’s World of HORROR! Tim Burton is an American filmmaker and artist, known for his gothic fantasy and horror productions. Not only is Burton known for being a great director, but also for being an excellent cartoonist. He is known for his German Expressionism, and his famous productions such as Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), etc. (More on Tim Burton Here).

But wait… Why did I start talking about Tim Burton all of a sudden?

Because on October 5, 2022, my 7th-grade art class at Santa Rita Middle School got inspired by Tim Burton’s horror cartoon art, and decided to make our own horrific cartoon characters that we either made up, or that resembled us. But before all that could start, we went through Tim Burton cartooning training!

So did we go to some training camp? NO! I mean we could have but what I mean by training is that we practiced the cartooning style of Tim Burton, so that our drawing could look the most Tim Burtonesque as possible. We were given a set of cartoons to practice drawing (ie. Eyes, Heads, Mouths, etc).

Once we were done with our practice, we had to make a list of key things we were going to include in our final drawing (hairline, eyes, etc), and show a little sketch of how we’d include them in our final. I tried as much as possible to detail my sketches and drawings, and took as much time as needed, as we were given 2 days to practice cartooning. I quite enjoyed sketching little cartoons, as the designs were funny and really creative. Once done, I was given a thumbs up by my art teacher, Mrs. Doerr, to start my rough draft. Since Halloween was coming up, I had an idea of what to make! A Vampire! Just what I wanted to be for Halloween to get some spooks!

I started making it look like me, but a bit cartoony, and vampirish. Sketching it took a long time, and I really loved how it looked! I didn’t believe that I could make it look so maniacal!

Even though it didn’t look as much like a vampire, it was still cool. My art teacher loved my drawing and gave me a go-ahead! I was really excited to make my vampire, which I really hoped would come out well. The only problem was that I was worried I couldn’t redraw the maniac I had made. Next to me sat my friend Jonas, who made a mad scientist for his draft, which came out perfectly on his final. I gathered up some hope, and started sketching out my vampire, which surprisingly turned out well. I even came up with a cool way to make a cape!

Things looked good, but when it was time to sharpie and color, I was nervous. What if I messed up the design? Pushing through, and putting out my best artist, I sharpied my drawing, and hand-picked perfect shades for the vampire. I colored and colored, and finally made what looked like a vampire! (EVEN THOUGH I HAD TO SHARPEN THE COLORED PENCILS I WAS USING A BILLION TIMES, SHRINKING THEM TO TINY INCHES).

The only problem was that I didn’t have a background! Jonas had made a perfect lab background, but mine looked pretty plain. Then, a game-changing idea came to my mind. What if I made a wanted poster for a criminal vampire?! And that’s what I did. Writing WANTED in huge letters on top, I created a criminal mastermind! The #1 PUNK, MANIAC, & SAVAGE!!! I added Halloween-themed cobwebs on the sides, and voila, I was done! It looked just perfect (to me, at least). Drumroll please….

I really had fun seeing the Wanted Vampire come into form. Now, I did mention that we were supposed to make a character of our own, or a cartoon based on ourselves. And let me get this straight: I am not a wanted criminal! I am just a boy who was a vampire for Halloween! I really liked my drawing, and so did my teacher! Mine got put on display with a bunch of other masterpieces other students made, and when I brought mine’s home, my family loved it! Especially my father, who couldn’t believe I made the vampire, and my brother, who kept on teasing me of drawing a wanted criminal that was supposed to be me (WHICH IT IS NOT!)!

Here’s a comparison of the Wanted Vampire (made by me, looks like me), and The Vampire Boy (me on Halloween) (THIS IS WHAT MY BROTHER MEANT):

Other than having so much fun, I learned quite a lot during this art project, such as:

1. To not give up when things look tough
2. To not judge what the end result will come out as
3. To not become nervous if things look hard
4. To not look at somebody else’s work and think that you cannot make something good yourself!
5. AND TO MAKE A TIM BURTON MASTERPIECE

Bonus! :

Here’s a Tim Burton short film for you all to enjoy!

I really enjoyed this art experience, and I hope you liked reading it as much as I did writing it. I also hope that you learned something new from this experience, because I sure did! If you have any questions/comments/feedback for me please comment down below and leave a like on this post. And for more, subscribe to my blog!!

-Kartik Lakhwani