Even more thoughts on astheics.
Since I was look at The Nightmare Before Christmas I thought I would look at what Influenced the style of that film.
From a young age Tim Burton was Hervey influenced by the stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen and Hammer Horror.
When Tim Burton entered into films he was freshly graduated from a character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts when he was hired by Walt Disney Studios to The Fox and the Hound (however he was dissatisfied with the artistic direction of the movie).
In 1981 He made a stop motion film called Vincent.
The first film was a ‘claymation’ tribute to his idol Vincent Price. Although not the most publicised film from the Disney Studios, it’s certainly the most unusual. The combination of bizarre characters and the constantly shifting expressionist backgrounds produced a film that may best be described as ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari meet Ray Harryhausen -Ben Andac (http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/burton.html)
Vincent Concept art.
As we can see Vincent was done in a similar style to that of The Nightmare Before Christmas an then later the Corpse Bride.
This Gothic horror Aesthetic was again reflected in Edward Scissorhands
and then Nightmare Before Christmas.
Edward Scissorhands concept art.
Jack Skellington concept art
In conclusion Tim Burton was infunced by Hammer Horror and Character Animation. Through his frustraton over the The Fox and the Hound made burton create Vincent. the visual first present in Vincent which evolved in to the visual style seen in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Further reading.