Amazing Alice in Wonderland Concept Art

I just watched Alice in Wonderland last night and was struck by how cracked out the March Hare looked. Now, I understand that the movie has had classic drug references through-out each rendition, Disney or not, but I never thought they would take it to a literal crack head. It looks like the rabbit was enjoying a little PCP/Amphetamine/LSD cocktail when some asshole, the Mad Hatter, must of stuck him with 500cc's of pure Adrenaline, I mean the dude was off the wall. Needless to say I thought it was the better part of the movie and it got me interested in finding the original concept art behind the characters.

Which brought me to Michael Kutsch, one of the artists themselves, who, along with Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera helped translate Tim Burton's ideas into reality. If you can call it that. In any case this work is off the hook.

Michael Kutsche

"This is the actual drawing which got me the gig on "Alice".
At the time I did it, I wasn't even aware what movie and director it was for"
-Michael Kutsche

Looks like he impressed Burton, cause he ended up doing a bunch more pieces for the movie. I love this one.

While the March Hare stayed relatively close, it looks like they parted a little from the concepts for the Mad Hatter and gave Johnny Depp more of that oh-so sought after "heroin chic" look. I think they made the right choice, while these are great I'm not really digging the paint splatter or the steam-punk glasses.








The Caterpillar also changed a bit from first inception. I like it's evolution especially with such an important character.



These last pieces were done by the illustration dream-team duo, Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera.

The movie did a great job of riding the line between creepy and humorous, Twiddle Dee and Tweedle Dum are great examples of this. The blue veins are a great touch that I wish had made it into the movie.




Did you know that the story of Alice in Wonderland may have been based around the new mathematical principals of the time? Check out the great article at the New York Times by Melanie Bayley.