Monday, December 7, 2009

Look behind you Alice.

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"Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.
Alice: How do you know I'm mad?
The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn't have come here.
Alice: And how do you know that you're mad?
The Cat: To begin with, a dog's not mad. You grant that?
Alice: I suppose so,
The Cat: Well, then, you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad."

I have always loved loved loved Alice in Wonderland. (along with everyone else, no?) I have a few different versions of the books and am always looking for more in dusty used bookstores. I did a little research and found a list that told me at least 250+ other artists have illustrated Lewis Caroll's Masterpiece. Which felt a little daunting ... with so many artists having already done it, dose the world need any more. . . . yeeeah, probably couldn't hurt... so, then I felt I really wanted to be the two fifty first - ish plus artist. There are worse crowds to run with, no?




A detail of Alice... to better see the texture, bleedily watercolor and unerased Tuscan Red pencil work. Alice's dress has a lot of swirly ink work that didn't show up so well :-)

8 comments:

Katie Elaine said...

I love the chesire cat's spirally tail and his jagged grin. Makes him look so untrustworthy.

I did some searching for illustrations of Alice this weekend. While I found several that I liked, I definitely say there is room for some more Matthew perspectives. :)

(Also, I should probably read the books sometime.)

Kactiguy said...

Alice looks awesome. Nice work.

Kylie said...

J and I are reading the books right now. LOVE your illustration. You seem like the perfect artist to illustrate Alice In Wonderland. Good job! =)

mike said...

i love the way you handled the cat's body- especially the tail! and alice looks great.

virginia critchfield said...

really nice piece of work man.

El Fro said...

Tim Shafer draws too? Amazing! Can I have you autograph a copy of psychonauts?

Unknown said...

Yes I agree with the everyone how you handled the Cat as well! Amazing

matthewART said...

Ah thanks guy!! I'm grinning from ear to ear.