Making a Mockery

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Illustrations by Brian Jocks

Ever since reading this story I have been trying to illustrate the Mock Turtle. I've painted him, and drawn him over and over. So, obviously I've got finished pieces in a variety of media. Hope you guys like them.

In the book, Alice and the Gryphon run into him on the beach and he's weeping. He tells them he used to be a real turtle and talks about his school in the ocean. He goes on to teach Alice a dance called the Lobster Quadrille. In this dance, sea creatures dance with lobsters and hurl them into the ocean. I really liked the imagery, so I drew the Mock Turtle with a reluctant dance partner. It looks a little more like a crawfish than a lobster, but I figured that Crawfish Quadrille has a nice ring to it.


At the end of the book, Alice wakes up to the sounds of Cows 'moo'ing and this kinda explains the Mock Turtle's strange cries and his cowishness.

More sketches to come from Wonderland