Nearly 30 years after the original Frankenweenie, Burton decided to revisit the story using stop-motion animation. (Leah Gallo ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Q&A With Tim Burton
Scholastic Art asked Tim Burton about his drawings, his movies, and what life was like for him in high school.
Scholastic Art: What first inspired you to start drawing?
Tim Burton : Every kid likes to draw. But at a certain age, some kids are told they can’t really draw. I was lucky to have two amazing art teachers. They were supportive, even if you didn’t think you could draw. Only your desire mattered. I liked drawing, but I didn’t think I was very good at it. It helped me to communicate and explore ideas.
SA: Can you talk about the art teachers who inspired you?
TB: I had a great teacher in junior high. There was another in high school who recognized each individual for who they were. She’d look at what kids liked to do and let them explore. If I hadn’t had that, I would’ve thought: “I can’t draw. I’m not good at this.” It’s important to have teachers who inspire you to keep at it.
SA: As a kid, did you win any awards that encouraged you in your art?
TB: I won $10 for a garbage-truck antilittering campaign. It was in Burbank, California, my hometown. My drawing was displayed on garbage trucks for about six weeks. I thought, “All right, yeah. A $10 check, garbage trucks for six weeks. Very good. Not bad.”
SA: Have you always drawn in the same style, with loose, expressive lines?
TB: No, I tried everything. One day I was sketching at a farmers’ market. I was very frustrated about my inability to draw accurately. Then I remembered one of my teachers saying, “Don’t worry about how you should draw it. Just draw it the way you see it.” And in that moment, I thought, “Well, that’s it. I don’t care how good or bad I am. This is how I do it, and that’s it.”
SA: Many of your characters are outsiders. Is that how you see yourself?
TB: Yeah. That’s where Edward Scissorhands came from. I think most kids experience it. In my new movie, Frankenweenie, all the kids are weird. That’s the truth of the matter. You feel like you’re the only weirdo in class, when in fact that’s pretty much how everybody feels.
SA: Which artists influenced you most?
TB: It’s like movies—there are so many inspirations. I remember the first time I saw Van Gogh’s paintings in person, the landscapes. They blew me away. And Matisse. When you see the work of certain artists for real, it’s mind-blowing. My studio is where [British book illustrator] Arthur Rackham once lived and worked. I’m lucky to have certain key things that inspire me.
SA: Have you faced any setbacks?
TB: Oh, yeah. For years I thought, “I’m not that good at animation. Maybe I’ll try illustrating children’s books.” But that door closed. It’s never a smooth path. Many of my projects are 10 years in the making.
SA: Your show at the Museum of Modern Art blurred the line between fine art and filmmaking. How did that come about?
TB: The museum curators came to me to do the show. I felt in good hands because they weren’t presenting me as some great artist. They were presenting a process. The best part was having people who don’t go to museums or art shows say, “Well, I can do that.” And it’s true, they can.
SA: Do you have any advice for aspiring young artists or filmmakers?
TB: It’s best just to have passion. If your passion turns into something that somebody else likes and wants, great. But if it doesn’t, at least you have it. Go with your instincts. If you’re sitting in class and you want to be a filmmaker, go make a film. You can do it. The tools are there.
This article originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of Art. For more from Art, click here.
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by VariousAn incredible collection of four classic Newbery Medal winners, featuring the latest paperback editions with updated covers.
- Number the Stars The story of how one ten-year-old Danish girl's bravery is tested when her best friend is threatened by Nazis in 1943. With an all-new introduction by Lois Lowry.
- Island of the Blue Dolphins Based on a true story, an Indian girl named Karana survives without human company on an island for nearly twenty years. With an all-new introduction by Lois Lowry.
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About the Authors:Lois Lowry won the Newbery Medal in 1990 for Number the Stars and in 1994 forThe Giver.She is known for her versatility and invention as a writer and has written more than thirty books for children and young adults. Her countless honors include the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader's Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at www.loislowry.com.
Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal in 1961 forIsland of the Blue Dolphins.Among his many other literary awards was a Newbery Honor forThe Black Pearland the Hans Christian Anderson Award for his body of work, the highest international award given to an author of children's books. O'Dell wrote twenty six books for children before his death at the age of 91.Island of the Blue Dolphinswas his first. It's been translated into nineteen languages, and, after fifty years, is still read by children around the world. In 1976 the Children's Literature Association namedIsland of the Blue Dolphinsone of the ten best American children's books of the past two hundred years.
Elizabeth George Speare won the Newbery Medal in 1959 forThe Witch of Blackbird Pondand in 1962 forThe Bronze Bow. She also received a Newbery Honor in 1983 forThe Sign of the Beaver, and in 1989 she was presented with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her substantial and enduring contribution to children?s literature. Of her beginnings as a writer working onWitch of Blackbird Pondshe said: "Then one day I stumbled on a true story from New England history with a character who seemed to me an ideal heroine. Though I had my first historical novel almost by accident it soon proved to be an absorbing hobby." She died in 1994.
Linda Sue Park won the Newbery Medal in 2002 forA Single Shard.She has written many other novels, several picture books, and poetry, includingTap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems)and most recentlyA Long Walk to Water,a novel about Sudan based on a true story.She lives in Rochester, New York with her family and is a devoted fan of the New York Mets. Visit her website at www.lspark.com.
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Write About ArtBurton is inspired by illustrator Arthur Rackham. Write a paragraph comparing the two artists’ styles. |
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