Alice Through the Looking-Glass

The nineteenth book in the Robert Ingpen Illustrated Classics series is Alice Through the Looking-Glass, with illustrations that the artist created on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Robert Ingpen is the only Australian illustrator to receive the highest award in children’s literature, the Andersen Medal. He works incredibly productively: the artist already has over a hundred children’s books to his name, and a significant portion of them are recognised classics — large, demanding works that require not only imagination and skill but also a deep understanding of historical realities, everyday objects, and culture of past times. Ingpen immerses himself deeply in the text he illustrates. For example, when drawing Treasure Island and needing to depict Long John Silver, he specifically consulted with an orthopedic surgeon to discuss how a person with an amputated limb might lead as active a life as described by Stevenson.

Before starting work on a new book, Ingpen makes a kind of storyboard: he estimates the length of the text, plans the number of spreads the future book will have, and sketches out illustrations. Then he begins to draw. He always works first on large-format paper with pencil, and then colours the images in watercolour, drawing out the finest details.