Inside my Sketchbook

A catch up with all of my Oz related illustrations this past year. Some of these are super recent so I show no signs of stopping yet!

I've been wanting to draw something from Return to Oz for ages. It's actually my favourite Oz related movie - I can take or leave the Judy Garland movie to be honest, I don't know if that's controversial but it's the book of the Wizard of Oz that captivated me rather than the movie version. I grew up watching Return to Oz and I think it's what gave me such a love of horror as scenes like the Wheelers and Mombi's hallway of decapitated heads both terrified and enthralled me! And as an adult I was so excited when I picked up Baum's books for the first time and realised they were much more in keeping with Return To Oz rather than the overly saccharine MGM movie. I want to draw more from Return to Oz at some point, but here's a start! Princess Mombi and a few of her heads.

After I first read The Wizard of Oz I drew the scene of Dorothy meeting the Scarecrow and it's what catapulted me down this whole art journey I've been on these past two years. My style has developed a lot since then as I was still very much finding my feet back then, and it's a scene I wanted to revisit. I'd love to know which version you prefer! I had to make references to the Scarecrow being Fiyero because this is me drawing it after all!

And I figured I'd draw the following scene where they meet Boq the Tin Man! He was a lot more of a challenge to draw than I realised he'd be, and whilst I originally wanted to do my own take I did end up taking a lot of inspiration from Denslow's original illustrations. Most of the difficulty came because a tin man would obviously be very rigid, whereas my art style is much more fluid and I wanted him to look stuck, not stiff and lifeless.

Drawing Wicked characters is my happy comfort place. I've been playing around with trying to give Fiyero his blue diamond tattoos he has in the books to try and give him back some of his cultural identity that they took away in the musical, but it's difficult not to make them look crap.

I can't believe it took me this long to draw this scene honestly!

This is a really old drawing that I did for Inktober of 2019, and I've been wanting to colour it for ages and finally got around to it last week! It's always really intrigued me with how many story possibilities there are with Fiyero turning into a Scarecrow and how that would effect him, his relationships, and how he interacts with the world around him. But unfortunately no one else seems to care about anything beyond "Gelphie" and I'm not a writer, so I just try and touch on it in my illustrations as best I can.

My Oz Collection

Naturally being me I collect Wicked/Oz stuff and I wanted to share what I have so far. I always feel like Wicked is a show that people kind of look down on because it’s so popular, but I really can’t overstate just how much it means to me and how thankful I am that it came back into my life at just the time I needed it. In fact I feel stupidly giddy with excitement just writing this post and getting to talk about it because I just love it so much!!

It funny now but I actually didn't really like Wicked when it first came out. I liked the soundtrack as a guilty pleasure, but because I was a teenager I had that 'I'm not like other girls' mentality and preferred shows like Les Misérables which I felt took itself more seriously. I finally saw Wicked in London in 2010 and did enjoy it quite a bit but it didn't make my favourites list back then, and I really have no idea what it is about it now that's captivated me since. It's funny how things can re-enter your life and just speak to you in a way that it didn't before. I can still really clearly remember the first time I saw it again back in 2018, the first time I'd been to ANY theatre in about 7 years. I had so many emotions, not just about the show but also reconnecting with something that was once such a huge part of my life for so long. As soon as the show was finished and the actors had taken their final bows I was already calculating when I could go see it again, and I spent the entire four hour journey home fiercely trying to remember every last detail. A few days later I was flicking through an old sketchbook when I happened to come across my original Wicked theatre ticket tucked in there - serendipity. I couldn't help but notice that my two trips were just 7 days shy of being 8 years exactly between them.

Soon after I began listening to Wicked again I downloaded L Frank Baum's original novel to my Kindle. Although I was familiar with the Judy Garland movie the story never grabbed me like it did when reading the book. I feel like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz isn't as popular in Europe as it is in the US which I guess is natural as that's where it's from and partially set. I even struggled to find a physical copy of the book without ordering online, and I guess that's why it’s taken me this long to discover how great the world of Oz is as it actually fits right into my interests - I love old fantasy, my favourite books being stuff like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows, Moomins, Winnie the Pooh, etc. So why wouldn’t I love The Wizard of Oz? I'd always been a real bookworm but hadn’t felt like reading much as it began to feel like a chore, but I devoured the first of Baum’s books and quickly moved on to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked and fell in love with the extra layers to the characters which aren't conveyed in the musical. And it was through all of this that I rediscovered my love of musical theatre, began reading again, and rediscovered my passion for my illustration as it sparked my creativity after a years long dry spell from trying to commercialise my work at art school, and it taught me the importance of drawing for fun which finally helped me to discover an art style I enjoy. And of course I went to New York. Basically everything that makes me happy boils down to Wicked, and I'm so incredibly thankful to it!

My Oz shelf, which always makes me stupid happy to look at.

I'm not really much of a plushie collector, but I had to have these guys. The Scarecrow is my favourite of the three because of Wicked, although I do have a major soft spot for the Cowardly Lion too as I'm such an anxious person. And I've never seen anything of the Time Dragon before so had to snatch him up when I saw it on eBay.

I collect magnets for places I go, and obviously I have to include the different productions of my favourite musical. I only got the London one after I knew I'd be seeing it in New York so I'd have both.

My London mug, which will probably actually get used now since I smashed my Moulin Rouge one 😖

The only Funko Pops I own as I don't really like how the humans look. I don't have anything against the Tin Man he's just stupidly expensive and I'm hoping to eventually thrift one like I did these two.

My programmes and Playbill! I only buy programmes when it's either a new cast or got new publicity photos in it so I don't have one for every visit. And my cup from when I saw it on Broadway! I wasn't even thirsty, I just wanted the cup. They don't do these at London theatres and they're missing a trick because I never buy drinks and I would if they did!

My books! I really love the Barnes & Nobel edition of the first 5 L Frank Baum novels, they did release another with the next 5 books in the series but it's super hard to get hold of. I thrifted my copy of Wicked, and I haven't yet read the others in the series because my favourite characters aren't in them!

It's also got the original WW Denslow illustrations which I could not find in any UK edition of the The Wizard of Oz. I don't know if it's a copyright issue but it annoys me so much because the UK editions are so, so ugly.

My Wicked books from the musical. The Grimmerie is like the bible if you're a Wicked fan, it goes really in depth into the creation of the musical from the writers, costumes, make up, sets, props, actors, everyone. The pop-up compendium tells a really condensed version of the story but it's really beautifully made and is like a work of art itself.

This is the press kit from when Wicked first opened in the UK, and gives some background information on the musical along with a short documentary on the DVD.

This was my one time ordering from the US webstore as I just HAD to have the tapestry throw they released for the 15th Anniversary, and it's still one of my most prized possessions (although something about Glinda always threw me off and I only realized recently that it's because she's missing her standing collar!) I'd love to get this properly put up on the wall someday when I have the space! I also ordered the 15th anniversary brochure hoping it would be specific to the 15th Anniversary cast, but unfortunately not! It's still worth having though as it's quite general and so like an updated expansion of the Grimmerie.

I'm not much a hoodie or track jacket kind of wearer, but I was eyeing this up for ages and it's become one of my most worn things. So much so it's gone a little off colour! I love the details though even down to the cogwheel zip pull.

This is more my style! The Wizard of Oz dress is by Japanese brand Emily Temple Cute and its probably my most worn thing in my wardrobe. If I was a cartoon character with a single outfit, this would be it! I try not to wear my Wicked dress too often as it's made of jersey fabric and so will bobble really easily. It's well made though, super soft and fully lined.

This was my only shirt, but I got another since I took these photos.

My pins and jewellery! I own several of the Wicked pins as I keep losing them so like to keep a little supply going (yeah I do use pin savers, they work on every pin EXCEPT that one!!). The Defy Gravity pin is from New York and lives safely on my shelf. The Wizard of Oz necklace is designed to look like a miniture book and I had custom made from Etsy, and the Wicked one I put together myself.

And I suppose these don't count, but they also really do! These are my key chains that I had made featuring my own artwork of the characters. Wicked has been such a huge inspiration to my artwork and illustration style that it'd be disingenuous not to mention it and show this stuff. Plus I'm proud of it and like showing it off!