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Toy Mickey Analysis Initial Reaction I like the Toy Mickey artwork. When I first saw the artwork it brought a smile to my face. It brought me back to Saturday morning cartoons when Mickey was not so hidden; because nowadays Disney seems to promote hidden Mickeys and it was nice to see an artwork that was all about Mickey. Description On first glance, the artwork seems to captivate you in its simplicity. If you have not seen Mickey before, this artwork is in my opinion, one of Mickeys best portraits. It shows Mickey in all his classic glory.
He is faced sideways, slightly looking up, with his hands in his pockets and his long thin tail behind him. His trademark black round ears seem to be at a 45 degree angle atop his round head. His oblong eyes atop his oblong nose with its elongated black tip, together with his mouth half open seem to convey a smile. His body formed a shadow that seemed to take a shape of a cactus or a rocket. The peach flesh colored background seemed to be the perfect backdrop to prominently showcase Mickeys actual form and his shadow. Formal Analysis Colours.
The artist used a dull palette for both the background and the actual portrait. However, he made sure that the background would complement and enhanced the portrait in both form and shadow. Also, the colour of the background seemed to be layered; it seemed to be a mixture of a pastel color peach, laden with black to exude the desire effect. This darkened effect is also used in Mickeys shorts, shoes and face. His actually body, though painted in black seem to have a rustic feel to it rather than the shiny black that is usually associate to a picture of Mickey.
The artist seemed to layer and touched Mickeys body with flesh colored paint in strategic places to give off that rustic impression. Tones. The similarities of the darkened layered effect of the background and the actual subject projects a very narrow tonal range. I believed that this is intentional as the artist wanted all parts of his artwork to complement rather than to contrast each other. The only contrast that I seemed to have gotten from this artwork is when the artist placed Mickey sideways so that the subject could have a prominent shadow which implied the use of a very bright light when all the colours of the artwork is layered to produce a darkened or dull effect.
Use of Media. As I was only using an art print as basis to view this artwork, I can only surmise what was used to paint this piece. The artist seem to use oil paint, each colour was seemed to be applied thinly, but since it is layered to produce a dull effect the paint strokes becomes thick because of the mixture of colours. The brushstrokes seem to be clean, using one direction strokes; this is particularly obvious in the painting of the background and shadow.
I got the impression that the painting and the drawing of Mickey himself is done slowly with few strokes done deliberately as the shapes of the different parts of Mickeys body is clean and well placed. I am amazed that with cartoon subject such as Mickey, usually the image that comes to mind is a hurried drawing of the character, however; this painting seemed to depict a certain amount of deliberation from the artists point of view. Composition. I was particularly drawn to Mickeys body on how all of the parts seem to be rounded, and curved in shape but seem to form geometric angles. These angles are clearly evident from the shadow that they formed.
I amazed at how the artist was enable to picture all the rounded shapes of the body with the angles of the shadow. This contrast was what enabled me to focus on Mickey as a portrait, which I believe is the focal point of the art work. The dullness of the palette wants to convey a calm mood. However, a calm mood can also be conveyed in other tones such as pastels without the layered darkened effect; I believed that the artist wanted a more pronounce emotion than just calm and stillness thus the use of the effect.
I believed that he wants to create a more melancholic mood, one that enables a viewer to not only be at peace but also to be able to reminisce. Interpretation I want to reiterate how the simplicity of the art work draws me to investigate further how the art work is done. The artwork impressed me with was how as still as Mickey is in this piece I got a sense that Mickey is in engage in some activity with someone, and that his simple half open mouth convey a smile, and his hand in his pocket convey a stance. Again, back to simplicity; these two simple actions conveyed probably numerous scenarios in a viewers mind. My own scenario is Mickey is talking to someone. He seemed to be engaged in a pleasant conversation with someone.
I like to imagine that that someone is a child with Mickey explaining some things to him or may be Mickey is just attentively listening to a child telling his or her story. However, moving beyond constructing scenarios within the artwork I believe the real object of the artwork is to elicit memories from the viewers. I for one had this reaction to this artwork; going back to my premise, I smiled when I saw the art work because flashbacks start pouring in my mind. My Saturday morning cartoons goes beyond seating in front of the television. I remember playing with my friends, having no worries (i. e.
school work), just enjoying the simple things in life. I am grateful that an artwork has enabled me to reminisce that part of my life because as I grew older I seem to have lost the ability to do so; it is nice to know that an artwork such as Toy Mickey is out there to remind me of it. Although, I had to admit Mickey is not my favorite cartoon character; Mickey is more of a symbol for me rather than a character that I enjoyed watching. Wayne Thiebaud seemed to have known Mickeys status as a symbol for many people young or old alike and use it to his advantage in creating this artwork. And if I would have described the artwork to anyone, saying that it is a Mickey portrait would not suffice for Thiebaud's usage of dull colors implies more than that. Evaluation In summary, Wayne Thiebaud artwork in its simplicity and used of a darkened layer colours and tones is effective in conveying a message of melancholic mood.
However, because of using Mickey as a subject that melancholic mood has an added dimension of reminiscing ones childhood. Many would think to add more colors and light to it because the cartoon subject demands it, but doing so would just negate the effect that the artist wants to portray. Link to the art print: web
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