A Dog’s Tale

In the early 1980s, Burton was thinking about two things—his childhood dog and his love of classic horror movies like the Frankenstein movies. Based on the novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein is about a scientist who brings a man back from the dead. Burton thought of combining the two ideas—casting the family dog in the role of the creature that is brought back to life.

“The relationship you have with a pet is unconditional,” Burton told Scholastic Art. “And because animals usually don’t live as long, it’s the first death that you . . . that I experienced. That is very powerful.” He sketched a series of drawings of a boy named Victor and his dog, Sparky, who is brought back to life. In the sketch to the right, notice how Sparky’s squat, round body and long snout are exaggerated. He shares many of the scary attributes of his horror-movie inspiration, such as neck bolts and stitches, but he still has a comical look.

Though Burton doesn’t make the puppets himself, he oversees their production. Designers create maquettes, or small sculptures, of the characters based on Burton’s drawings. Constructing these miniatures is painstaking work. They serve as a reference to the artists who create and maintain the puppets.

The puppet Sparky shares many characteristics with Burton’s drawings, such as the small forelegs and droopy nose. The line work and textures on the drawing, including the dark scribbles around the eyes and stitches on the body, also translate to the puppet.

Even the drawing style of the original sketches is replicated in the finished movie still from Frankenweenie. The dark tone and shadows in the film are a reflection of Burton’s use of shading in his drawings. In addition, the movie is in black and white, in keeping with the color scheme of his original art.

How does Burton feel about seeing his drawings come to life? “You’re seeing not just me, but the hand of many artists,” he says. “That’s the cool thing about it—you feel the original drawing and all the other steps of the artists along the way.”