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DanielKarlsson — The babysitter
Published: 2012-02-28 12:48:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 108156; Favourites: 6466; Downloads: 0
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Acrylic on canvasWho do you leave your kids with?
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Comments: 1554
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Hehe... Thank you!🤗🙏
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If it were not for the intriguing title of this piece, it is possible that I would have passed the thumbnail by and missed out on an eerie and powerful painting. However, thanks to an excellent choice of title, I was drawn in to take a closer look at why such a strung out looking depiction of Donald would be called "The Babysitter"
On closer inspection, it's really the details that bring you in and put you at unease. In stark contrast with the squeaky clean and cell-shaded versions of Donald we are so familiar with, "The Babysitter" is depicted pockmarked and freckled, with deep anxious wrinkles and deep set eyes that make him look as though he hasn't slept for weeks. Unlike the flat depictions of Disney that can dwell comfortably in the realm of the impossible, "The Babysitter" is too palpable, too heavily set in reality for us to dismiss him as fantasy. It does not take much of a stretch of the imagination to picture him showing up at your front door, or perhaps turning in your living room to be faced with his blank eerie stare.
Daniel Karlsson certainly hits all the fear and horror triggers with his depiction of what will never be seen as an innocent cartoon duck ever again.
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Best critique I've read in a long time.
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Thank you very much! The subject matter certainly made it easy for me!
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You're welcome! I look forward to seeing more of your work!
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This will forever change my viewing of Donald and ducks forever. I feel as if I'll see him in my dreams, just staring at me.....and that's it. Just doing that sends chills down my spine.
You have definitely accomplished whatever goal you wanted to achieve with this, and I'm 90% sure that was scaring the crap out us viewers. Your technique is great; you really brought out the absolute hidden darkness that lies in an major icon of our time. If this was Mickey, I'm sure the entire outlook of Disney itself would be different to us. To imagine what kind of..."evil" - I guess is the best word for it - could lie within such heartfelt and lovable characters makes me notice this is concept can be, and sure be, applied to real people.
I fear and hope for your next work, as I can't imagine it topping this. If you do decide to make another Disney character, for the love of whatever deity you believe in (or don't believe in, its cool with me), please heed these words: DON'T. DO. GOOFY. That tall, strange mother f**ker is creepy enough without your great skills.
Good luck in your future endeavors.
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Haha... Thanks! Though, I'd rather do Goofy than Mickey... I mean, eh, paint them. Goofy is the perfect mindless soul that could do the most perverted things without even understanding how evil his actions are, and therefor it's even scarier.
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You should paint Goofy. I absolutely love Disney just because of the traditional 2-d that you don't get to seen too often anymore. I extremely enjoy the treatment of light you used in this "portrait." The fact that his skin seems more human and brings attention to his eyes freaks me out. I kind of makes me watch my back even more! haha.
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Thanks! Be on the lookout then for a potential goofy...
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My, oh, my. What to start with first. This caught my eye, from the eyes. My words cannot compare to what I wish I could say. I'm simply speechless.
The dark texture of the skin and clothes compliment and completely gives the eyes definition. There is symmetry to give it a boost. There is only one problem, and that's I can't find my words to tell you how eye catching this truly is. The background, the skin, and all definition of the texture.
I think I can pull up only a few words.
Simply, Eye Catching.
My oh my, I wish I would say more.
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I agree with the other critique that the title really impacts the originality of this drawing. The beady, light blue eyes and red shading also compliment the eerie look of Donald.
This has forever ruined my childhood, and i guess that is what you have aimed for in this piece. And I think that most viewers will agree with me on this since we have all grown up with him. But this brings a different-and older- side of Donald Duck in which we've never seen before. Your detail for this further explains this point.
Bravo for this, an instant fave in my book e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b… " width="15" height="15" alt="
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Wow, where to start!
The eyes are definitely what draws me in. The muted colors play very well with the theme of this. I am not sure if this is what you intended, but it looks as if Donald's feathers have all fallen out, exposing only his skin. This leads me to believe he really is cracked out, or crazy.
Like others, only a 4 for originality because creepy kid's characters has been done before, but you have done it very, very well.
The simplicity of this, compositionally, works well. If there were anything in the background, or anything else in the foreground, it would detract from the character. I love that I can see the brush strokes. I love the coldness of the shadows, and that even the highlights are just as frigid. The texture is really interesting as well.
This does actually have a high impact, because you really succeeded in making him as frightening as possible. I don't know that it would have the same effect on me if I didn't know who the character was. Well done!
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Haha... Thanks!
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You're welcome
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Though this sort of thing (taking a beloved children's character and transforming it into a creature of horror) has been done before, I think your use of the words "who do you want to leave your children with" add a huge impact to the picture that those other horror versions just don't have. It makes you consider the original Donald Duck and wonder if your version is really so different from the unrepentant violence and anger that the original displayed and if this creepy creature is really so good to show our children. Not to turn this into a crusade against cartoons, since personally I love cartoons. The red shading is very effective along with the piercing blue of the eyes deep-set in the sockets. Also, dulling the normal sailor outfit to a sort of nightmare blue-green was a good touch. I also love the texture of the painted gray background. Amazing work.
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Thanx! That is a very interesting reflection and also a very nice compliment!
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Very creepy indeed. I also love how you dicided to do this with a little kid's show character. Sure, it may ruin our childhoods, but it still deserves a mighty applause.
The main three features of this peice that I think makes it creepy is the way it's colored, the drawing style, and the eyes looking straight at you. Also the pose....very normal yet the fact that it's so normal makes it creepy. The background also captures the creepyness, too.
Although, there are many other people who have decided to do this style of art with other inocent characters, so that makes 4 stars for originality. I'm sure that's fair. I can't say that it has much impact, considering the colors being so bland. Technique is all this picture is. Also nailed the vision. Also, his fur is like,.....well,...it's like he doesn't even have fur xD So pail. And how the color sinks into his eyes; I love it :'D Good job my friend. Instant fav : ) e.deviantart.net/emoticons/p/p… " width="15" height="16" alt="
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I must say...
that Donald Duck is quit creepy in this one but that's all
this is the maximum i can give this picture.
Why?
Because Donald is only standing there looking at you taking your soul away...
Not that I don't like it it's just kinda empty without a background that gives a big minus.
I am truly sorry if this insults anyone because everyone gets upset for something.
I like it how you make the picture look like it's been painted in a very horror way.
Don't let the duck kill me!!! (Simple but cool in a way)a.deviantart.net/avatars/t/e/t… " alt=" " title="tearplz"/>
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I have to agree about the background... Even if your goal is to have simplicity it could use maybe an ominous aura around Donald or something along the lines of that. Anything more intricate than that would take away from the overall.
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I am curious... What sort of a background would you recommend, ManOfSnakes? I think anything too busy-looking would take away from the impact of his expression. Since it's called "The babysitter," I suppose you could do something that would indicate he's in someone's house but it would still need to be minimal.
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Well that's a though question... it's all up to the artist he has the idea and he knows what to do.
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That's ok... I never set out to do a sophisticated composition. In fact, I tried to keep it as simple as possible. It's more of a portrait-composition and this is how they usually are, therefor the simplicity is(for me at least) justified.
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Of course it's okay!
but maybe have a very creepy background even if you were trying to be as simple as possible.
It will fit the atmosphere!
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The eyes look into the soul but the soul can't look back *rocks back and forth*
Ahem, anyway. This is clearly a very impressive piece of art for several reasons. first is the sheer horror of conception of it, its such a simple idea (lets make Donald CREEPY AS HELL) and it works all too well. Whist "creepifying" well known or generally nice characters is nothing new, this brings a whole new layer to it. Simple, yet it makes me feel unsafe at night.
Secondly the actual Artistry itself is brilliant, I can't put a thing wrong about it. the bubbles and bumps and textures all add to the feel of the piece. the feel that I should probably sacrifice something to it before it summons something. The use of colours just enhance everything about it whilst keeping it familiar enough to instantly recognise.
And thirdly I have nothing more to say other than the eyes have looked and found wanting. they want all of it, and then more.
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I agree, you've hit the nail on the head with your critique.
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*takes a bow* I try my best, glad to have a response from the artist themself!
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overall i think its a great pic, i think it needs just a little more detail near the bow tie so it would look like a collar and a lighter tone along the top curve of the hat. face is dead on and i love how the eyes are sunken in and have this sense of crazed hollowness inside them. but honestly besides those two things i'm adding this to my favorites! i even love the slight texture in the background, makes it look like he's leaning against a wall. two big thumbs up on this one. great job kudos e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s… " width="15" height="15" alt="
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Personally I think the textures are great. The smooth skin make it look like he is featherless, and even crazier. His clothes look super dirty. and that hint of blue in the tie is a very nice dash of color, and balances the composition with the eyes. The beak is basically perfect, the highlights are wonderful, and that orange texture, again, makes the eyes radiate even more.
What strikes me, and what I like about this picture, is that it looks like a human skull with a bill on it. and the eyes are absolutely horrifying. I love it a lot.
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To further enhance your piece, I would do two things:
1/ give this tranced duck a little more texture on his skin.... especially where the specular line runs right down the center of him. This line is a bit to strong, and would look more "real" if it was broken up a little more", less like a 3D character with no texture, and more like he has real skin.
2/ Give him a dark, vortexing or mandala'esque halo... something like a spinning spiral of red and black that fades out as it moves away from his head. The center point of the halo should be just above and between his eyes.
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I agree with number 1, but number 2 would IMO subtract from the art. The art is a psychotic inversion of Donald Duck's normal appearance, but the vortex doesn't replace or foil anything on the original character and would thus distance this image from the image of Donald Duck people have in their heads. Its the dichotomy between this image and the mental one which gives this power.
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Agree 100% with while Donald could use some feathers on his skin number 2 would subtract from the art. In this piece it really show's how the subtle and small things can make a piece really shine.
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I wish DA had a "like" button like facebook, but since they don't is all i can do to express how much i agree with your comment. Thank you for having enough common sense to not try to talk down to others but to enlighten the deviant's critique in a real way.
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I had never seen or even wondered about a Donald Duck being evil. (this is my first critic.) This painting stroke me right away for 2 big reasons. First, the title. This is definitely another way of seeing Disney characters. Like in this picture, Donald Duck is represented as a complete psychotic cartoon character. Its almost shocking.
The second thing that stroke me were the colors used. As for the gray in the background, it really gives a gloomy side to the ambiance inside the painting. His eyes are difinetely something you can't miss either; so scary yet intriguing. As a Donald fan, i fell in love with this evil representation of him.
Great job on him!
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This is deffinatly a picture with punch, when you see it it
immediatly grabs you and whispers a message to you, what
this message is will obviously differ from person to person but
that is what makes art art, and this is deffinatly a good example
of art.
The dark washed-out colours fit the image very well and the
facial details are very realistic for a cartoon character, the
expression that shows almost no emotion makes the picture
even more disturbing then if the expression would be
exaggerated.
overall, it's just a wonderfully disturbing portrayal of a loved
cartoon character that makes you think, very well done e.deviantart.net/emoticons/w/w… " width="15" height="15" alt="
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Very well put. I respect your opinion.
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