CGAN July 2015 Challenge - Mad Hatter's Tea Party

First!

This challenge was a matter of the heart I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland since I was a little child. Not just the disney version but everything about it, including the wonderful drawings of John Tenniel.
I thought it would be good to have a little book illustration for this in allusion to Tenniel.

So welcome to my Wonderland

WIP 1 - sketches
WIP 2 - first steps into the new style
WIP 3 - what a chaos!

I post the single drawing and the complete one just for a better few






For those who can't read the text
Here's the excerpt from the Mad Tea Party:

'What day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.

Alice considered a little, and then said 'The fourth.'

'Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. 'I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare.

'It was the best butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.

'Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: 'you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.'

The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, 'It was the best butter, you know.'

cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...er-s-tea-party#11666
cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...party?start=20#11808
cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...party?start=30#11818


Hiya,
So, really enjoyed this one.
Gone for a slightly skewed view of wonderland - it may have lost a little bit of its wonder
At Uni, I did a lot of research on Freud and Jung, psychoanalysis and image association... re-read a childhood classic after that and sometimes you can't help but see the subtext.
I still love Alice in Wonderland, maybe even more than when I was younger, you see things in a whole new light.

Hope you guys like as well.

I decided to do a more traditional black and white book type illustration.

WIP_1
WIP_2

Here is the final:


By the way noted that I had 5 hours on the Homepage countdown clock to submit the final, then I set my computer to GMT and the clock now shows 1 hour. So countdown clock can fool you if you rely on it for the amount of time to submit.

First of all, sorry. I didn't quite finish. Almost but not quite. I was having a fight with playing cards and perspective and I got beaten up. I might finally get it right next week after sulking about it over the weekend.


Now, in order of posting….

CherryGraphics:
I think everyone said it in the wip thread, including you. You were aiming for the book illustration style and were immediately on the right track with your line work and as the picture developed you never lost that focus and continued right to the inevitable and successful finish. All the necessary characters are there and their arrangement, which initially seemed disordered and haphazard, became much clearer when they were linked by the twisting tangles of hair which all together create a kind of map for the story, with the blonde strands acting like roads and pathways to connect people and places all around the dominant face of Alice. The final decision to add the paper textures and tones along with the actual text was a delight and exactly what I wanted to see. Collectively all these elements offer a visual insight into the surreal charm of the story and also express your own love for the characters.

Susie1981:
This is easily the most ambitious of the pictures and it started with a very strong drawing of a brilliant idea and composition. Having all the characters as humans in costume, like actors presenting themselves in a performance, is really innovative and makes a refreshing change from the usual anthropomorphized animals that we see far too often in films, animations and pictures, and this also adds a greater depth to the characters, offering an extra layer of abstraction that makes me question and wonder about their respective roles and relationships and how they interact beyond the story. All the poses look comfortable and believable in terms of anatomy and space, and the way the figures and props are arranged is very thoughtful and deliberate, done with such planning and understanding of the personalities that it wasn't surprising to me when you went on to mention psychology. The whole image is a meaningful tableau showing the figures orbiting the central force of the Hatter who has a nice dark and sinister appearance. The one minor crit I would offer is that the uniform green colour is very dominant and powerful in a way that separates the Hatter from his surroundings. Breaking it up by making the hat a slightly different tone, or perhaps using reflected light of a different hue, could help the figure sit more easily among the rest. And yet it still works as it is and all the little details make it really enjoyable to study and ponder over.
It's another successful picture from you and one that shows off your great drawing skills and excellent choices

Kodabble:
I like that you left this as a black and white image. Like Cherry's, it gives it a bookish feel but this time in a traditional print kind of way. Also, like with Susie's pic, it's a decision that demonstrates your strong drawing skills. The linework is varied and bold, describing all manner of different surfaces and contrasting expressions from the bulbous lumpy forms of the Hatter's face to the furry furrows of the cat's brow and evil grin, and then there are the delicate strokes that are pale and almost not there yet still accurately shape the forms of Alice's soft face, giving her the gentle, naive and youthful appearance that we expect. Finally the linear shading of the background creates a contrasting space that allows the whole scene to pop out off the page.
It's a really efficient picture and an impressive use both of your skills and of the time that was available to you. (And I say that as someone who didn't organise their time well enough and didn't meet the deadline!)

Quetzal:
That's an absolutely beautiful drawing. The high viewpoint perspective really pulls you into the picture and the story, and the way all the characters look up at the viewer from their seated positions is really inviting and welcoming. I feel like I can step right into the scene and pour a cup myself, as if I belong there, and that little cake, right on the edge of the table and almost hanging off, is there just for me. "Eat me," it says and I can hear it. The best way to tell any story is to make people empathise and get them involved in some way, and visually that's exactly what you manage in this sketch. There are lots of great tricks on show here from viewpoint to vanishing point to eye contact, then symmetry and gesture, all are used brilliantly and the picture deserves to be completed.

Right then, I've typed all this and I still haven't picked my winner. I still keep changing my mind. Kodabble's effective efficiency? Cherry's successful book? Susie's drawing and ambitious depth? This one? That one? Or maybe? It's too hard.
Ok, make a decision, will you! My winner is …
Cherry, I think.
Yes, Cherry. For two reasons…
1: In all these challenges we often talk about the typical Cherry style even if you don't recognise it yourself. But this picture is not that typical style. You've made an effort to try something a bit different and it worked!
And reason 2 is that final bit, when you put the original text with it to make it look like a double page from a book. This was quite a brave thing to do because if the picture wasn't good enough then this would have exposed any flaws that were there and risked it looking silly. But the picture IS good enough and it looks perfect. And if it's good enough for that then it's good enough to win!

At first: thanks for all these kind words Valence - old storywriter

susie: I really like how you've interpreted the theme with the humans in costumes. It reminds me of a lot of Manga stuff I've seen. ^^ You've put a lot of great details in here!

kodabble: I love the linework of yours! The shading is nice and the characters are really great drawn. Oh I love that cheshire cat... Just the shadows of the background could be a bit more ... detailed I guess.. Anyway - you've got my point.

In this sence

Sorry I haven't been logged in for a while and I don't know if it makes a difference, but I didn't get in to vote in time. If you want to count my vote I vote for Cherry, and that could solve the tie (At least for this challenge).

Anyway there you have my input.