How The Alice Journal Was Made, Part 2 - Illustrations

Writing the manuscript for The Alice Journal went smoothly, but the illustrations… did not.

At first, I thought creating illustrations for the book would be fun, but I soon realized it was a daunting task.

That was because I had high expectations for book illustrations. I loved the beautiful illustrations of my favorite books—Alice, Narnia, and Paddington, to name a few. So I wanted to create something cool, and this idea paralyzed me.

I soon realized I don’t have the skill of these great illustrators. I sought some art courses. One that helped me most was Adolfo Serra's children's book illustration course. Like synchronicity, he used Alice in Wonderland as an example and taught me the most important lesson—to explore like a child. So I began creating various styles of Alice’s illustrations with pencils, pens, markers, and watercolor just for fun. But I didn’t care for any of them until…

One drawing of Alice jumping into the rabbit hole—jumped out. That was how I felt.

It was a comic-style illustration after all. I liked the movement and the style, which was a little different from my usual dot-eyed characters. This drawing showed me the direction I was seeking. I wanted my Alice to be dreamy and convey the feeling of Wonderland. 

After more trial and error to finalize the digital images, I completed all 30 Alice images.

This experience taught me two things. I have to accept who I am. I can’t be anyone else but me. And when we have a task in front of us, we can do it if we dig deep enough.

These illustrations I created for The Alice Journal are a reminder for me.