Sketches in Wonderland!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So, I've been asked to do a wall mural. This is something a bit different for me, as the only wall based painting I've ever done was an image for a comic stall at my university, where in our last year we get to decorate it and sell our work on it during events. Beyond that, I've never particually considered myself a painter. I have the upmost respect for those who paint, to be honest and totally wish I was that good!

Still, I have been requested this and so I will do my upmost. At the very least, I'll be doing the design for it. Whether I paint it or not is still a little up in the air.

Anyway, so the theme I've been asked to work with is Alice in Wonderland, leaning on the Disney-esque side, since the mural is for a child's room (and I don't know about anyone else, but as much as I like the story, other interpretations do have the characters....ah....a little on the unnerving side, at least for a young kid).

At first, it was just a character with some writing, the child's name 'In Wonderland' in a stylised font. So what I started with was the Cheshire Cat, which would be laying on top of the letters of the child's name. I have drawn the Cheshire Cat before (The sketch of which is on my Deviant Art page though, admittedly, this was a good five or so years ago) so I at least had some background in drawing this. Plus it was my favourite Alice character. This was the sketch I came up with:

The Cat would be laying on top of the name of the child, as mentioned, at least in the initial idea. The font itself was to be the kind seen in other Alice in Wonderland interpretations, though I unfortunately couldn't just borrow it from online if it's free or buy use of it - As this is to be hand drawn onto the wall. I'm still working on my typography of that to get it as close as possible, however - I'll have to talk about my attempts on that another time, however.
The next idea I had was the same writing, but rather than the Cat at the top, the White Rabbit would be running at the bottom. The idea for doing the Rabbit came from the fact the child in question likes rabbits, so it made sense that having a Rabbit in the art might be nice for them.

And so, I sketched the White Rabbit:

This is my first time drawing the White Rabbit, but I was rather pleased by the result of the sketch. I think he became my favourite to draw out of the Alice cast, honestly!

There was one thing I left blank in this sketch, and that was the clock. This is because I was thinking that, if there is a time that means something special to them - such as the time the child was born, or example, then I could have the clock hands sit on that time rather than just some random number. Of course, that was just a thought, and it is, ultimately, up to those I'm doing this for. Still, the option to do it is there regardless.

Still, after doing these sketches, I have been asked if I'll be doing a multi-character image, rather than a character and writing. This, too, is an option, though obviously different from the initial idea I was given. It honestly depends on what they feel about the end result of the sketches as to if they would like the actual Mural to be more simplistic with a character and writing, or to have a full blown scene.

I do, however, have an idea of Cheshire in a tree, with Alice sitting below looking like she's about to have a Tea party, with the Rabbit hurrying on in the background. Still, its only an idea and, once I've at least sketched Alice and the Tree, I'll be mocking up a few ideas to see if they like them. Hopefully I'll have a bit of progress on my drawn typography too, so I can give them full scene ideas rather than just character design.

Still, even if there's only these two sketches so far, what do you think? As always, feedback is welcome!

Until next time!

Tara