Depiction of Alice as she jumps into the rabbit hole.
“The rabbit hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.” 1
Much like a book, art has the ability for the reader to see what they choose to see. When drawing the image of Alice going down the rabbit hole I wanted to audience to be able dissect the image as they see fit.
The image of Alice is at center stage and that is naturally where most eyes will be directed. I tried to make Alice as small as possible. Someone could say that she looks like she is tucked away in a “cannon ball” shape because she jumped into the narrow hole, However I chose this pose to show innocence and fear.
Alice’s sex and youth are tucked away as she is pictured. During this time period women’s job were to provide for the men. They were seen as small and weak. They worked in the work field but had fewer rights. So my goal was to depict Alice trying to make herself as small as possible, not for the sake of the size of the hole, but to depict how women were viewed in that time frame.
The black lines that start to consume Alice are illustrating that she is plunging into the unknown and the darkness is about to fully consume her. This was another reason that I made Alice as small as possible. The fear of the unknown tends to make individuals uneasy causing them to find comfort within themselves.
Finally, I chose to leave the rabbit at the top of the hole instead of being the first one to jump into it. I chose this placement because I wanted to illustrate how this is all just a dream. The rabbit looks on with a view of curiosity just as the reader does as they turn the pages of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
1) Carroll, Lewis. Alices’s Adventures in Wonderland. 2nd Edition. Ed. Richard Kelly. Canada. 2011. Print.
English 302 