Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Wondering about Wonderland

I love the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it's so weird and curious, which is why I decided to enter the Puffin Book Cover competition. I chose the scene where Alice has just seen a White Rabbit running past with a waistcoat on and a pocket watch, and so curiously follows him. I like to use a lot of depth in my work with vanishing points and angles, which is why i decided on this viewpoint. All the patterns and colour on the inside of the rabbit hole look so much much more appealing than the grey sky behind Alice, however also complicated and perhaps confusing like Wonderland is to her. There are characters merged into the background like the Mad Hatter, March Hare and Caterpillar but I have manipulated them to look not so clear, as if they're hiding, waiting to jump out at Alice after curiosity leads her down the rabbit hole. There is a dark side to the story which I have brought across in the way that the tunnel gets darker the further down you go, the two heads at the top are lit from below(or above as the case may be) to give that torch-under-the-chin/Halloween effect and red eyes on white rabbits always seem quite creepy to me. The two heads at the top belong to the Queen of hearts and the Duchess who both take charge at some point.