Alice in Wonderland by Arthur Rackham - 10 - Off with her head!

Arthur Rackham has worked with various illustrations in books such as fairy tales ranging from Alice in Wonder, Peter Pan and Lord of the rings. His technique has an almost mighty appearance in regards to colour and tone. The colour scale uses mostly greys and light shades and assists in bringing out the linear work making the artwork seem rather dark and sketchy. The process he uses is unique to him and has been compared to photographic work. Rackham started the process by sketching out what he wanted then placing over the shapes and details, afterwards the process would be about adding ink line art. How much effort and attention to detail that he did shows how experimenting with techniques can make development work an art form. He even continued this experimental streak when he went on to make out cuts of figures and stories. Closely resembling shadow figures, this different style change happened after the war and it seems much more simplistic, perhaps he didn't wish to have the gritty style associated with his work any more. As he illustrated stories targeted for children and his old art may inspire negative emotions that isn't ideal after a war.

One thing that can be easily noted is how much detail and texture that gets placed into the illustrations overall; they’re all incredibly attention drawing, every section making its own detailed pattern, like articles of clothing or wood. This all together makes the art have less of an area of focus as many art pieces tend to do. After looking at this I would like to try and spend more time on my own drawings seeing what fits best and try giving each section its own pattern with attention to detail as Arthur Rackham has achieved in his art.