The Jabberwock by John Vernon Lord

Detailed description of the piece

In this piece John Vernon Lord has used vibrant colours, and used the Jabberwock’s green colour to make it the focal point of the piece. The piece uses largely cool tones but he has created balance by scattering warm tones, such as pink and red, throughout the piece. There is not much tonal contrast, the colours are used as a base for the detail, which is added in black line. Very thin black lines have been used for: outlines, to create depth with the distance between the lines, and some crosshatching techniques have been used for shading. The black outlines, along with the lack of shadows in the piece, give it a two-dimensional effect.

The composition of the piece is very full and busy with lots of detail to quickly build up the world that the story is set in. Although the jabberwocky attack is clearly the central narrative in this piece, there are details and hints of the world beyond this scene, particularly with the pink building and birds emerging through the trees. The borders around the background of the piece are very harsh, cutting off the trees around the edge. However, the details in the foreground continue further into the margin, giving the illusion that the world extends further than the confines of the page.

What is engaging you about the piece?

I really like the use of colour in this piece, the vibrant green of the jabberwock immediately catches your attention; additionally, the bright colours add to the dream-like feel of Alice in Wonderland, and make the world he’s created seem very hallucinogenic. Despite this, the colours don’t appear overbearing as the majority cool tones are balanced with small pops of pink and red. I also really like his use of black line in this piece; the neat, precise lines contrast the vibrant colours and compliment them really well. The use of line has allowed him to add in small details, as well as add a sense of depth and dimension to the piece.

The composition is quite busy and overwhelming, but I like this because it captures the bizarre essence of the world he’s portraying. Every time yay look at the piece you discover a new detail that you hadn’t seen before, and it adds to the narrative of the scene. I think that it allows the viewer to build up the world in their head very quickly. The busy composition also adds to the sense of chaos that is being portrayed by the jabberwock attack.