
Sketch-A-Day #209. ©2014 Justin Hillgrove.
“We’re All Mad Here” (Steam Punk Alice in Wonderland). 18″ x 36″ Acrylics on canvas.
CLICK HERE FOR PRINTS
About once a year I like to do a new Alice in Wonderland painting and I decided awhile back that this year I’d like to tackle a steam punk version of the story. “We’re All Mad Here” started out as a REALLY rough sketch on part of an old mailing label during a frenzied moment of inspiration. I spent a couple hours doodling different layouts and then spent the entire next day fleshing out a good, tight sketch (pictured below):
I almost always struggle with what colors to use so I decided to do a rough color study in PhotoShop so I could at least get an idea of what values and colors to use in the painting. (pictured below). I tried a variety of different color schemes like desaturated siennas and browns and then a black, white and red scheme. They all looked okay, but not great. Finally I tried the variation below and felt really good about but I had been staring at it so long that I showed it to a few people first to make sure I hadn’t gone mad.
From there the actual painting on canvas progressed smoothly. Here are some work in progress shots (click on them to make them bigger) and the finished image is at the beginning of this post. I mostly kept to the sketch just deviating on the details. My favorite detail are the tea bags sticking out of the Hatter’s suit pocket. Anyways, hope you like it and thanks for reading…
Sketch-A-Day #200. ©2014 Justin Hillgrove.
Looks like I made it to number 200 – thanks everyone! To celebrate, Sketchbook 1 & 2 is on SALE ($10 each) through the weekend. Also, I’m posting a high-resolution PDF of Sketch #200 for printing and coloring here:
PRINTABLE 8.5 x 11 (Letter Size) SKETCH #200- click here
©2014 Justin Hillgrove. Feel free to download and share. Non-commercial use only. Please do not alter files or remove credits.
Can’t open the PDF’s? Click the icon below and follow the instructions to download Adobe Acrobat Reader.