Here's a fabulous article by Daniel Zalewski for The New Yorker on director Guillermo del Toro's creative genius as an artist and filmmaker, especially in the creation of monsters and original fantastic creatures. The short film above gives a peek into del Toro's amazing sketch books which became the source of his creatures in films like Pan's Labyrinth and the Hell Boy I and II.
Here's a bit about del Toro's unusual childhood from the article:
"Del Toro was a playfully morbid child. One of his first toys, which he still owns, was a plush werewolf that he sewed together with the help of a great-aunt. In a tape recording made when he was five, he can be heard requesting a Christmas present of a mandrake root, for the purpose of black magic. His mother, Guadalupe, an amateur poet who read tarot cards, was charmed; his father, Federico, a businessman whom del Toro describes, fondly, as “the most unimaginative person on earth,” was confounded. Confounding his father became a lifelong project."
I love looking into artist's sketchbooks, to admire the creative process, which even in rudimentary sketches can be so beautiful (unlike writing which is usually a page with some really horrendous sentences scribbled out). Awhile back on JoMA we featured a number of artist sketchbooks and I thought here might be a good time to mention them: "The Fairy Tale Sketch Books of Alan Lee, Ian McCaig, Charles Vess, and Terri Windling" and "Traveling the Wilds" by Oliver Hunter.
