Saturday, October 10, 2009

25 Various Styles of The Wizard of Oz Illustrations

25 Various Styles of The Wizard of Oz Illustrations, post. (Includes links to artists' pages.)
Some of these are outstanding. There are so many wonderful artists in illustration. Many more than I find in fine art (at least to my taste), oddly.

I've long been fascinated with how many different ways there are of doing one thing.



6 comments:

Ray said...

Interesting how three out of four of these illustrators depict sweet, innocent little Dorothy as some kind of slut or dominatrix.

Have any of those guys actually sat through the original 1939 version of "The Wizard Of Oz" I wonder?

When that first hit movie screens in 1939/40, I was a mere 7 years old and that movie really knocked my socks off. I've been scared of windstorms and fond of cute brunettes ever since. Now that I'm older, though, I realize that of the two, the windstorms are the easiest to deal with.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Hehe, good one, Ray.

"Interesting how three out of four of these illustrators depict sweet, innocent little Dorothy as some kind of slut or dominatrix."

Worse, *none* of the lions look at all cowardly.

But well, I guess that while they think the movie is cool, they are the ones who know what's *really* cool. And it's characters who kick ass, not cute ones or cowardly ones. :-)

steve nash said...

Got to tell you, those pictures you've posted here were among my least favorite. Don't know about the rest of you guys.

Have any of those guys actually sat through the original 1939 version of "The Wizard Of Oz" I wonder?

Some probably have, but luckily a few seem to have avoided that and instead read the book (which is, IMO, far superior).

I was a mere 7 years old and that movie really knocked my socks off.

I hated all the singing and dancing, which was (thankfully) absent from the book. If you like that sort of thing, I can see how you'd have a different take.

Also the lion is not supposed to walk on two legs. He's supposed to actually be a lion (just one lacking in courage).

Worse, *none* of the lions look at all cowardly.

Not so. Just to pick two, those by Julian Totino Tedesco and Jordi Villaverde show cowardly lions. Anyway the lion realizes that he's never in fact been cowardly. People who only know the movie won't be aware of the times on their journey that the lion shows courage. (Courage of course not being an absence of fear but the ability to act even though you're afraid.)

And it's characters who kick ass, not cute ones or cowardly ones. :-)

It does seem that many have made the Tin Man much more of a badass than he was in eithe the book or the movie. In one of them, he kind of reminds me of The Iron Giant...or Trapjaw from He-Man.

My favorites were those by Maurenilson Freire, except the way she draws Dorothy is a bit too cutesy-poo as Mr. Burns would say. And Skottie Young.

Anonymous said...

I'd have to take a look at the book again, and see how old Dorothy is supposed to be. Most of the people seem to have her too young or too old.

One thing I liked better about the book is that it wasn't all a dream like it was in the movie.

Anonymous said...

The pictures depicted look a bit steampunkish, dieselpunkish or cyberpunkish :)))

Aniko said...

Loved these different versions ! So funny when put togeather !