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Reflections on Madness - and a NEW DRESS!
🕑 Added 2022-01-20 03:26:32 +0000 UTCDear Insane Children,
The schedule suggested we might have a Live Stream this morning but that (obviously) did not happen. Lots going on in Shanghai at the moment - visits to the maternity hospital for regular checks of Baby #2, preparation for Chinese New Year, and lots of behind-the-scenes work at Mysterious. So we'll try to have our next Live Stream on the 27th. Try not to go mad in the meantime!
These two new images come from Joey and depict Alice in her Asylum room in close proximity to her reflected Shadow Self. The original brief for this image suggested it contain action related to the moment of separation between Alice and her Shadow.
Leaving aside the fact that these images might not properly convey that idea... there's another set of problems that I made note of in my response to Joey:
I love the image. But I am unsure about the details. This is supposed to be in her asylum room? Very unlikely that she'd have such a big window - too much glass she could use to harm herself or others. Also unlikely she'd have any sort of "nice" furniture (or any at all) in that room. The same goes for the lantern, snow globe, sheets, etc. All of those would pose a risk - she could use them to harm herself or others. Maybe it doesn't matter.
If we really want this to be set in her asylum room (cell)... then the reflection could be in a smaller window. It could be reflected in a puddle of water. Or in her drinking mug (water). I dunno... kinda difficult to find a reflective surface in this sort of location.
This was in response to the 2nd image on the page. Her reply was the main image (top image above). So the technical issues have been largely solved - like why would there be a giant mirror in a cell at an asylum. This illustration still doesn't do the work I think was originally requested of it... but that's OK. It's a beautiful concept and Alex says there's enough text/imagery in this section of the Design Bible to cover for it not being 100% accurate to the scene.
Omri decided that we needed a new London Dress for the scenes in which we see (adult) Alice adventuring around the streets of London. Not only did she get a new dress here but she's also got some new CRAZY EYES.
Of this new image, Omri says:
we need our own London dress, we can't show off art from Madness as our own so i'm making our own version of that dress and general look- this is WIP.
i think when she goes to kill Radcliff she's really off her nut and lost EVERYTHING. so i want to make sure that she does look insane and that the outfit is even more tattered than before with longer hair- as time passed, but same hairdo/texture
she IS holding a knife to his throat right? not an envelope opener? i want to incoporate that weapon in the design. this london Alice should be similar but not the same as the one in AMR.
Not sure what he's talking about with "art from Madness" but I'm never going to complain about new dresses. And I also like the idea that The Shadow is taking over completely as Alice heads to murder-stab Radcliffe.
If I saw her stalking down a London street with that knife in hand, I would get the eff out of the way!
And we have a new render of the pocket watch in which The Dollmaker has trapped Lizzie.
Of this design, Adam says:
Here is a rendered update of the "Lizzie Pocket Watch"!
I imagined the clasp would cover her during the battle and the dirty, boney fangs would emerge from the holes around it, turning the watch into a weapon.
After the battle the fangs can hide back into the clasp which would open and show Lizzie again so that Alice can talk to her.
Please do share your feedback and ideas regarding this design, I personally really like how it turned out:
So let him know in the comments what you think!
From Shanghai with Love,
-American
Comments
Beautiful !
Saleh Abu-Rashid
Lol. Alice looks like a Vogue model.
Wendy Jaa
If this pocket watch makes it into the game, I'll absolutely be needing one myself.
Sarah McKeegan
I love the art work!! Everything is awesome! I like the first picture where it looks like a mirror melting!!
I injoy of how the style of the art looks and I like the thought that Lizzie is trapped with in the power of the doll marker and that u have to free her from within the torment And also idk if anymore looked close but to me to looks like the spikes would be the inner pain
Greyson Kehm
If we're going to see Alice in the real world walking to take out Radcliffe, might I suggest the Winter Soldier Walk? That would part London's streets like the Red Sea.
While I love the pocket watch, I just want to point out that, because of the eye in the middle, the symbol on the back looks identical to the eight pointed star of Chaos from Warhammer 40k. While I understand this was not intentional, I bring this up because Games Workshop is infamous for viciously guarding their intellectual property. On a separate note, while this artwork if fantastic, I'm thinking that if you want to make an image depicting the moment where Alice separates from her child self, I would propose a scene where Alice is walking away from her child self, abandoning her. Whereas the child self is begging and pleading with Alice to not leave her.
I LOVE the pocketwatch! I'm not sure how it would be done...but I'd love to own one, even if it was just decoration (like the coins)
AniFae Kusanagi
Okay, my thoughts. As regards to the 'reflection' for Alice at the asylum, i used to do Urban exploration in my earlier days, and one establishment i visited was Denbigh Mental Asylum in Wales/UK, and was built in 1844-88 by architect Thomas Fulljames. I imagine the Asylum to be set obviously in a similar period in time, and one thing i noticed about such places was the lack of stimuli in rooms. As American said anything that could be used to harm herself would be removed, and is the same practice today. Second, in victorian periods there was a tendency for those quite reflective clinical/surgical tiles that would adorn corridors and rooms. The window would of most definatly have been barred, but also perhaps frosted, which can result in cabin fever. Maybe Alice could sit on with her knees up on a ledge, with her torso in a straight jacket with her head shaven, but her head is pressed against a letterbox shape widow that is spatted with rain, distorting a reflection that is more insidious in nature? Or perhaps there is a Lightning flash threw a small window, and a shadow is cast upon a wall which could be her reflection? As for the pocket watch, man i think its rather perfect! Its beautiful, ive said it once and i'll say it again, id love to see you guys commision a real one-off pocket watch to show off. And the dress, i completely agree with how the dress should be more tatty and her hair is longer, and same for those eyes with her malintent. She looks extremely sleep deprived and malnurished, and clearly fixated on her goal of murdering Radcliff. Fantastic work as always guys im loving what im seeing!
I love the new Alice drawing and dress. Love the pocket watch too, but my only suggestion is that you make 3D and distribute in depth the components inside it like a real skeleton watch. All the moving parts, including Lizzie, appear essentially flatly on the front surface in this render, and so to my eyes seem a little out of place with the otherwise wonderfully detailed model. I think the feeling of Lizzie being trapped inside would really be conveyed by these changes putting the "Lizzie mechanism" inside the body of the watch with the other components. Loving seeing the great work coming through!
Starting with the easiest part: Love the design of the watch! And the new dress! Period. Nothing more to say here ;) About the issue with the mirror: Does it have to be a mirror? Can't the be literally her shadow? Developing a will of its own? I know that is a bit cliche, could be really creepy though. And it would solve the snow globe issue as well, because anything that produces a round shadow could be interpreted by Alice as a snow globe! Or how about another reflective surface like metal? I don't think this was common practice in the 18something, but her windows could have been shut with metal plates. No sunlight for Alice anymore. No chance to connect to the outside world, but still in touch with her reflection and Wonderland maybe? Otherwise the first picture is definetly an improvement! Good work! :)
Absolutely love the art! You are correct on the lack of items for the asylum. It could be, though, that Alice “sees” a mirror. It doesn’t have to actually be there. That’s my suggestion if you want to still roll with the aesthetic of having one to go ahead with the visual narrative. In that case, she is merely talking to a wall or something and, to her eyes, it seems like a mirror?
