I know it's almost a cliché to obsess over Tim Burton, especailly The Nightmare before Christmas and anything with Johnny Depp in (which, lets be frank, includes most of Burton's films), but I really do have a soft spot for him. I'm not a huge fan of his most recent films. That's not to say I won't be forking out to see Alice as soon as humanly possible, but I feel he, along with a lot of other film makers, is relying too heavily on CGI these days.
For me, it really takes away the magic of a fantasy based film. Take Edward Scissorhands, that was amazing, the set was beyond stepford wives, it was a candy coloured nightmare, it really worked and more than that, it looked real. It looked as if somewhere in the US, that town existed and Burton merely copied and pasted it into his studio. Ok, Ok, I am rambling and I am no film critic. In fact I probably know less about film making than your average 20-30 year old, but I know what I like. I'm not Burton bashing in any way, I've just become a little disappointed in a lot of good directors recently.
However...
back in December Dan and I spent an evening wandering around the frozen streets of West London and we found ourselves in Forbidden Planet where I found one of many treasures I am lusting after. The item that made me fall back in love with Burton was contained within. It's a book I haven't been able to find anywhere else (not that I looked terribly hard, but y'know, I tried!). The Art of Tim Burton is a huge hardcover book full of sketches of well known and loved characters from his brilliant mind and I much prefer his sketches to any posters or books I could buy about the films featured. It's a whopping £49.99 but I know I will buy it one day and I will spend hours pouring over it, trying desperately to find the inspiration that could enable me to draw and to love my drawings...
Tim Burton, thank you for darkening my childhood and thank you for helping me to strip my bank account bare :)
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