Tim Burton

Timothy William Burton was born on August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. Burbank, although not widely known as Hollywood, is home to many television and film studios including NBC, Warner Brothers and Disney. Burbank in the 1950s was Americas quintessential suburbia. It was a world in which Tim was quite separate from the shiny, happy people around him. He did not find much pleasure in school, nor was he a borrworm. Instead, Tim found pleasure in drawing, painting, and movies. Monster movies were a favorite, including Hammer horror films. One of his favorites was Vincent Price.

Films

Upon graduating High Schol in 1976, Burton enrolled in the California Institute of the Arts. Cal Arts was founded by Disney as a "breeding ground" for new young artists. Burton entered the animation program in his second year, and was drafted by Disney in 1979 to become an animator. Burton's first film was The Fox and the Hound, arguably one of the worst animated films to be produced by Disney. The studio realized that Butrons talent was not being utilized, so they made him a conceptual artist. His first project was The Black Cauldron. However, Tims drawing were not usual Disney fare, and they did not use any of his ideas or artwork.

Tim was set loose on his own projects, which included a poem and artwork that would later become The Nightmare Before Christmas.