My First Blog Post! (Alice in Wonderland)
hello and welcome !!! If you are reading this, I am very grateful for your interest in my creations! Here's a sneak peek behind the Alice in Wonderland spot illustration I did last fall (almost a year ago now!).
This was an assignment for my class at SAIC, a course in children's book illustration. The instructor had us create 3 spot illustrations from a selected text: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This was a pleasure for me because i had just read the book in january of 2022 for a fantasy literature class at UIUC.
I learned about Mary Blair, the incredible concept artist from Disney's most iconic period. She contributed to so many projects with them, including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland. Her work has been a huge inspiration for me recently, mostly because of the rich colors, delicious textures, and unique points of view/compositions. I would say my favorite periods of illustration are the 1950s and 1960s. So much happening with composition, bright colors, and flat shapes.
I made sure not to look at any frames from the movie so as not to absentmindedly reference the existing work directly (although it crept into my mind anyway!). There is definitely resemblance to Mary Blair/Disney's Alice: namely her coloring and outfit.
I think what works with this painting is the medium. Acrylic gouache gives the piece a fluffy, opaque texture that goes well with the puffy shapes. I’m glad I omitted most of Alice's facial features and that her hair is a flat pane of wavy blondeness.
This is one of the first paintings I did in gouache and it remains one of my favorites to this day.