Baum by Dahm

[Baum by Dahm]

One of the big trees had been partly chopped through, and standing beside it, with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely of tin. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he stood perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all.

Dorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the Scarecrow, while Toto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, which hurt his teeth.

[Baum by Dahm]

Because I’m drawing characters always at the same size, I cut out this little Dorothy to represent One Dorothy Unit of Measurement to stick to. The book and the full-page illustrations will probably be 6 by 9 inches, so figures will fit on the page scaled something like in this mockup. While I’m talking about big-picture ideas, more of those rules I’ve made for myself:

• Illustrations will be either full-bleed landscapes with figures, or small spot illustrations on a blank background.
• Each chapter will have a full-bleed illustration on the left-hand opening page, with text beginning on the right-hand page. More full-bleed illos can show up as situation demands.
• Treatment of space and distance should be abstract and sequential. For example, no matter how far they have traveled from the Emerald City to the next significant location, the Emerald City is visible in the background if possible.
• Illustrations should refer to this text foremost. Any additional context provided by the rest of the canon should not distract from this at all.

[Baum by Dahm]

Scarecrow!

[Baum by Dahm]

Just seeing how it looks in situ

[Baum by Dahm]

She ate a hearty breakfast, and watched a wee Munchkin baby, who played with Toto and pulled his tail and crowed and laughed in a way that greatly amused Dorothy. Toto was a fine curiosity to all the people, for they had never seen a dog before.

[Baum by Dahm]

The hats of the men were blue; the little woman’s hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders. Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds. The men were dressed in blue, of the same shade as their hats, and wore well-polished boots with a deep roll of blue at the tops. The men, Dorothy thought, were about as old as Uncle Henry, for two of them had beards. But the little woman was doubtless much older. Her face was covered with wrinkles, her hair was nearly white, and she walked rather stiffly.

[Baum by Dahm]

Working out distinct shapes and colors for the main characters. Some initial ‘rules’ with respect to character design I am trying to keep in mind:

• Figures will always be drawn/reproduced at the same size, as if looking at photographs of small models taken from the same distance. Dorothy at print size will be under an inch tall. So much of the book is about being small and lost.
• Characters will have clear and distinct shapes and will be almost color-coded. Everybody has to be readable at a small scale. Obsessive color-coding is, too, an important aspect of Oz in the text.
• Dorothy’s motion and agency should be emphasized; the other main characters look still and lumbering beside her. Toto, too.
• Nothing too cleverly re-imagined. I want to compelement and emphasize the text, not bring My Own Spin to it. Do not make the Tin Woodman a cool-looking robot. Avoid this garbage.

It’ll be a little while before I can get into serious labor-intensive drawings for this; moving soon. Hopefully a few more spot illustrations shortly.

[Baum by Dahm]

Dorothy and Toto

[Baum by Dahm]

My name is Evan Dahm and I would like to illustrate and publish an edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was published in 1900 and is now in the public domain. I like it a lot and I think I can illustrate it in a way that works with the story and has a visual character that’s distinct from other interpretations.

Here are some early drawings trying to figure out shapes and colors for the characters.

More art intermittently