Available Now: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

My illustrated version of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz is available to purchase on all major book retailer websites! It has been a long time in the making, and I am pretty happy with the finished product.

I would suggest going strait to the source and buying it from Author House. I work for them, and they let me publish this book, so I should probably direct business back to them. There is also an ebook version available, although I can't seem to find a link at this time. I'm make sure to let everyone know when I find it.

I abridged this version myself from the original text in order to squeeze it within the page-count I was allowed. There are 27 illustrations in all, and I think the print quality turned out really nice.

I thought about turning this blog post into an essay on the reasons why Oz is a world on par with Wonderland and Neverland, but I decided to just get the promotional bit out there and save the long-windedness for another day.

I am excited to finally have a book I created in my hands, and I hope other people enjoy it as well.

other places to buy my book:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

The Glass Cat and the Whimsies

In a week or two, my illustrated version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz will be available to purchase. It has been a long time in the making, and I'm glad it is finally done.

So, I'm counting down to its release by illustrating and commenting on some of the lesser known denizens of the Land of Oz.

Next up is a favorite among fans of the later books...

Bungle, the Glass Cat

Bungle is a spun glass ornament brought to life by Dr. Pipt, the Crooked Magician. The batch of the Powder of Life used on Bungle was the same used to bring Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, and the Gump to life in The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904). Bungle is different than the previous, however, as it was given a significant amount of brains. Those brains give Bungle an exaggerated sense of self worth, which make it a terrible servant. It even refuses to catch mice, its sole reason for being created. Its body is completely transparent except for its ruby heart, emerald eyes, and its coveted pink, spherical brains. It is especially proud of its brains and exclaims "you can see them work" to everyone it meets. Bungle represents all the snooty cats you've ever known who live in your house, eat your food, and want nothing else to do with you. It first appeared in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913).

The Whimsies

In The Emerald City of Oz, the Nome King gathers an evil army to invade Oz from across the Deadly Desert. Among the recruits are the Whimsies. They are physically powerful creatures with heads the size of doorknobs. Such a small head means a small amount of brains. In Oz, it seems, brains are almost currency. You can have more or less, and you can gain or lose them rather easily.The Glass Cat above is also an example of this.

Their Whimsies lack of intelligence leads them to believe that wearing hideous papier-mache' heads will make up for their lack of cranial capacity. Instead, they just look silly with their tiny eyes peering out from holes in the chins of their masks. I find it hysterical. We could equate this to current lunkheads driving muscle cars, or to body builders oiling up their pectorals. They think they look awesome. We think they look desperate or ridiculous. Although, just like the Whimsies, we probably won't say it to their faces. 

I have so many more characters to go. Maybe I should do more than two at a time. 

Onward...

King Cleaver and Polychrome

I'm counting down an indefinite number of days until my book is ready to print. So, before I offer up my version of the most popular of the Oz books, I'll keep adding to my collection of Ozian character illustrations.

Next up, in no order whatsoever...



King Cleaver

Utensia is a town full of anthropomorphic kitchen utensils. It is also a town built on a solid foundation of puns. So many puns. I love it, but I can almost hear the distant groans and scoffs from one hundred and three years of readers. King Cleaver and Utensia appears in The Emerald City of Oz (1910). One must be very sharp and to the point if one wishes to rule Utensia. 

Polychrome

Polychrome, daughter of the Rainbow, reminds me of someone. Specifically, the lovely person with whom I share my life. Someone who doesn't just wear color, but is colorful.

Polychrome is accidentally stranded by her father, the Rainbow, in The Road to Oz (1909). The surface world is too cold for her, so she dances to keep warm. It is just an attractive notion to me. The colorful person dancing in a cold world.

Here, I am sending warm feelings to my love on the eve of her birthday.<3 p="">

more to come soon!

The Woggle-bug and Shaggy Man

I don't think I understood fully what I was getting myself into when I decided to illustrate The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for an iPad app that never got made. Oz is a huge place. It is surrounded by dangerous deserts which are surrounded by other fantastical lands. When you illustrate Dorothy, it leads you to illustrate the Scarecrow, the Woodman, the Lion, the Wizard, the Witch, and Kalidahs. These characters are just the beginning. There are twelve sequels to the WWofO written by L. Frank Baum. He read fan letters from children and integrated their ideas into his stories, and it shows. There are some extremely weird denizens of Oz and its neighboring lands. Despite the 1939 film's whimsical elements, it probably sapped some of the insanity out of Oz which could never be put back.

In the books, Dorothy ends up moving to Oz permanently, because fantasy worlds are way better than Kansas. This should be a disclaimer inserted at the end of current editions of the film.

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In this blog entry and a couple to follow, I have drawn up several characters that don't get the recognition they once did when the novels were popular over one hundred years ago. Some are fun, some are slightly disturbing, and all were created in a time when many children had no indoor toilet and played with toys made of lead.

Professor H. M. Woggle-bug, T. E.

As with many academically inclined humans, the Woggle-bug enjoys arbitrary letters before and after his main designation. H.M. stands for "highly magnified", as he is a rather enlarged insect, and T.E. means "thoroughly educated". He dresses like a dandy, and went on to become headmaster of a prestigious Ozian learning institution. This guy debuted in The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904).

The Shaggy Man

The Shaggy Man is a hobo. He wanders around the U.S. with something called "the love magnet" which makes people agreeable to him. Because of the love magnet, Dorothy offers to show him the way through the back roads of Kansas. In 1909, this was a thing that children did.Yes. A little girl and a transient with scraggly hair walk down a road in Kansas and end up in Oz. For those interested, this happens in The Road to Oz.

Believe me, there are many, many more weird inhabitants of Oz, Ix, Ev, etc... and I'll give insight into some of them soon.

“So I believe that dreams—day dreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain-machinery whizzing—are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization.”

                                           L. Frank Baum from the introduction to The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)