There’s no second guessing Tim Burton’s style and design in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, which was released on blu-ray and DVD on June 1st but the film’s striking and memorable visuals didn’t all come from Burton’s mind. Many others, too many to count, shared their talents in bringing this latest spin on Lewis Carroll’s classic tale to life. PopCultureShock was given the opportunity to join in on three virtual round tables with costume designer Colleen Atwood and conceptual artist Dermot Power

First up is Colleen Atwood who has a mile long list of films to her credit including many of Burton’s films and won two Oscars for Memoirs of a Geisha (2006) and Chicago (2002) and has been nominated for several others. She just finished The Rum Diary (2010) based on Hunter S. Thompson’s novel and Johnny Depp’s latest film, The Tourist (2011). She will be teaming up with Depp and Burton again for Dark Shadows (2011).

You’ve worked with Tim Burton multiple times. What has it been like to work with him, and how are his films different to work for than say your next film, The Rum Diary?
Colleen Atwood: Tim is one of a kind, he is really an artist and visually gifted.
The choice of material really determines a lot of design, so in that way, his sensibility would be quite different from that of Bruce Robinson who did The Rum Diary, which is a very gritty journalistic story.

What is the look that you are going for The Rum Diary? What was the inspiration?
CA: The look for The Rum Diary is based on journalistic photos of the time, the budding sixties, contrasting the oil and sugar rich, with the abject poverty of the island.

What is so attractive Burton’s films?
CA: The collaborative process with Tim is a rare gift in the world of film.

How close did you make the costume designs to Tim’s original sketches?
CA: Usually I see the sketches later, as Tim does not just stick a drawing in front of me.

How close do you work with the director?
CA: The director is my first collaborator, even before the actor. For me it is a very close working relationship.

With working with Burton as many times as you have, are there any sort of things that you automatically know to do or to come up with style wise? Or is each film sort of a different beast?
CA: Every film Tim makes is a new experience, there are no givens. I’d say a graphic sense would be the strongest continuum.

Why are (the right) costumes important for a movie?
CA: The right costume determines the character, helps the actor feel who he is, and serves the story.

How much power does the clothing have over the character?
CA: Clothing serves to help create character, along with the writing and acting.

I read somewhere that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp both do sketches of Depp’s characters before filming. I was wondering how their creative process plays into yours?
CA: So far it has been great. With the Hatter, we pretty much all came up with the same vibe.

For these Burton films, but also for movies like Public Enemies, you designed a lot of costumes for Johnny Depp. Does the process get easier if you know an actor?
CA: The level of trust is an important part of collaboration, so I would say that makes it more relaxed, but it also makes it more of a challenge since you always want change it up and come up with new ideas.

When do you know, when a character is finished?
CA: Never.

When you took on the “Alice” project, did you aim to separate the costumes from the Disney animated classic, or did you try to play off the animated movie? Was there a balance that you felt had to be met?
CA: I really didn’t look to the animated version as much as I did to the Tenniel and Carroll illustrations-then I moved on.

How much inspiration did you draw from the original book?
CA: I gave a sort of nod to the young Alice, then departure…oh and the hat…

Which character’s costumes did you find the most challenging to design, and which came most easily?
CA: In Alice, the technical side of Alice’s shrinking and growing were very challenging. Stayne (Crispin Glover) was originally not a real costume, but we couldn’t quite get it right, so we ended up actually making it in order for it to work.

How many dresses did you make for Alice and what have inspired you to create them?
CA: Alice had around 8 looks, and multiples of most of them, so there were around 20 hand-made costumes. The script and idea of Alice as an exploring spirit really inspired me.

What was the inspiration for the red and white world of Alice in Wonderland?
CA: The Red Queen and White Queen were named in the script, so for the Red Kingdom it was the playing card motif and for the White Kingdom the inspiration was more Nordic meets Louis 14

What were the challenges of making costumes for such oddly-shaped characters and CGI?
CA: I love an odd shape, so all the bodies in Alice were wonderful fun for me. The CGI element was interesting because so much of my process is in the actual draping on a body. I swatched all the virtual fabrics, trims and buttons to help in the visual process and give continuity to the world.

What stories would you like to tell with the clothes?
CA: So many. I love the story “Daughter of Fortune”, spanning the 1800s in North and South America. I love anything that is a great tale.

You have also done films like Public Enemies. How is the experience of working on a film with historical references different than that of something that allows more creativity, like Alice?
CA: I love the experience of examining history that my work gives me.
The gritty reality of John Dillinger’s world is as fascinating to me as the fantastical world of Alice. The human factor of the story is what attracts me.

What movie are you most proud of?
CA: I really don’t have that emotion with my work on a one by one basis. I think that I am very lucky to be able to do the work I have done, and am happy to be creating what I create.

What has been your hardest movie to design for?
CA: Planet of the Apes was physically the most difficult movie of my
career. The challenges were vast, and the day to day running of that sort of film is daunting

Designers are often dressed minimalistic and in black, because they’re ‘full’ of clothing. How are you dressing yourself?
CA: I am fond of black, but try to add a little white around my face.
I wear jeans a lot for work because they are good for a 14-hour day, which is my norm.

Any final thoughts on ALICE IN WONDERLAND?
CA: Alice in Wonderland was a dream project. The collaboration between Tim and Johnny, along with the amazing cast, made bringing such a historic piece to the world of 3D animation, one of my favorite projects for life.

Next we have Dermot Power, a conceptual artist who has worked on films such as V for Vendetta, Batman Begins, and the Bioshock videogame. He worked with Tim Burton to help establish the eerie and wickedly fun atmosphere of Alice in Wonderland. This is a virtual presentation of Dermot’s artwork with moderation by Mindy Johnson of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Dermot Power, David Jessen, VP of DVD Productions at WDHE, and Jim Davy, producer of the Alice in Wonderland Blu-Ray/DVD. I am in the conference via phone and ask a few questions at the end of the conference.

Mindy Johnson: Dermot, talk a little bit about, when you first got the call for this film. And we’re going to shift to a couple of your – one of your first images of Alice. But if you’d like to give us some insight into certainly your work with Tim.

Dermot Power: Yes, I got a call from Tim’s assistant, (Derrick). And I’ve worked with Tim in the past on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and – but there was a big team of concept artists on that, and I never actually met Tim himself, but he knew my work. So he sort of asked his assistant to track the guy who did that type of stuff on the other film down, and he wanted to have a chat. He was quite (led) into the production of “Alice in Wonderland,” and was trying to get the design and look of the film you know to match his vision. It was a dream come true for me, because I’m a big fan of Tim Burton, and to sit there and have a chat with him, and I’m obviously a big fan of “Alice in Wonderland.” In fact, I’ve worked on another “Alice in Wonderland” production about 10 years before. It was a great opportunity.

The bonus was that, while I was having a chat with Tim, he said, “Well, where do you want to work?” And he said, you can work here in the editing, where he was, or from home or – and then he said, “But you know – you know Arthur Rackham?” I’m like, “Yeah, of course.” Arthur Rackham is the 19th century illustrator of “Alice in Wonderland,” and I’m a huge fan of his work. Tim was like well, ‘I bought his studio. So do you want to work in the studio?’ So that was where I ended up working for almost a year. Tim bought (Arthur Racken)’s studio which just happens to be very near where he lives in London and he set up an office there himself. And then I was up in the literally in the attic like the artists in the garrot. Yes, it was great. It was great opportunity.

MJ: Brilliant. I can imagine the inspiration you got from that.

DP: Yes.

MJ: We’re looking at one of the early pieces, (Dermot) if you could explain sort of the construct of this – of Alice, as she is first approaching Wonderland.

DP: So that shot I actually one of the very first shots I did. What I did was I did a very quick sketch for Tim of what I felt the woods should look like. Have that feel, the feel for them which he really liked. And then I took distance from an edited sequence so I knew exactly where – I mean Alice is just a figure in a green environment. And there was nothing in it. What was important to me was to have – with all the things that I designed is contrasting forms. So you know Alice is running straight into the woods on a straight path and crossing her path is this straight tree and then off that you have these very curved shapes that the trees, twisting trees and twisting ferns. Of course when you work for Tim Burton you attempt to find spires you know and excuses for drawing them everyplace so that was the thinking there. And very dark and lines…menacing out in the field I wanted to go for. In fact I did a much more detailed visual of the same shot and when Tim saw it he was like ‘yes, that’s cool’ but you know we don’t – he didn’t need me to do that. He wanted me to do the quite sort of very impressionistic – I don’t want to say simple, but minimalist illustrations that go to the point and didn’t hide the point of the design and the detail. I think before I had arrived on the firm there was a lot of beautiful t-frames illustrated by some of the guys like (Dillion Cole) and people like that at Sony. And I think the problem with that is their’s is so finished and beautiful it’s a little distracting so Tim asked me to come in and just do these quite minimalist, but strong concepts for the shapes and the things that she’d see in Underland.

MJ: Great. Let’s move to the next image of Alice as she is miniaturized. And can you talk a bit about the combination of incorporating the live action imagery into at artwork.

DP: Yes, sure because the sequences were already edited. So I had kind of the luxury of working on what was going to be the final edited sequences in the film, which is very unusual. Usually that’s because I came in quite late and into the production I had that luxury. So, again it’s quite simply done. The painting of the various elements around her but their very, very carefully placed if you know what I mean. So those dandelion clocks and all these kind of little elements, I tried to place them so that it’s a very kind of pleasing composition. But again very simply done, not, I think what it is when I design I like to leave a lot of creative input to the person next along the line. So I prefer to work to that level and then people can put their details and colors and everything in afterwards. I think next is maybe the Hatter.

MJ: Is the Hatter in the concept piece?

DP: Yes that’s purely a concept, in that it doesn’t, it’s not taken from any other edit or anything. It’s just a moment that Tim was trying to think about that hat which was on top of the may pole, in the scene where the Mad Hatter is trying to…it’s like a symbol of what has happened. I mean that didn’t end up in the film actually. But it was sort of trying to think about scale of the hat to the Hatter and that’s quite a conversational piece. I love drawing it to engage in a dialog, conversation with Tim about what he’s thinking about the scene. Rather than the previous image, which was very directly drawn to guide the animators and people afterwards as to where things should be in the sequence. This is more kind of a discussion piece. I remember Tim had in mind what he wanted for that sequence where the village is being, Mad Hatters village is being burned out, it was very, very tricky to get what he needed because it needed to be quite minimal. And I was trying to, I was looking for symbols to put across what had happened. And the top hat, the Hatter looking under the hat. I don’t know if you see that little skull under there. That would have never had made it in a Disney Alice in Wonderland. Maybe a Tim Burton one but yes, I don’t know what I was thinking there.

MJ: Definitely, let’s move to the next piece. Now you also did some design work on props as well.

DP: Yes very little. I did a couple of different of pieces of props. My role kind of became whatever Tim would throw at me I would solve it. So if he needed me to do a prop I would do the prop. In fact the dodo, what was quite funny was I did another, maybe I should have sent you that. I did another exact visual of the dodo carrying the flamingos in the caddy, croquet caddy, and I completely got it wrong. In that I had it that the pelicans were trying to burst out of the caddy and they were full of energy and they were, and the dodo was like being crushed by the weight of this and he was sweating and it was completely a different take on it. Tim came in and he looked at it and just was, because he doesn’t say an awful lot. And he just went, ohh ahh, like that. I mean it was completely wrong. He just went, no like this, he drew that essentially, I mean I drew that what you’re looking at but he very quickly did a sketch. What’s wonderful about working for a director who can draw is that he can explain himself, he doesn’t need to say anything he can just do a quick sketch.

MJ: Absolutely. We’re now looking of course at the image with the red queen and the flamingo and the croquet match.

DP: It’s more to the left of the flamingo, but the background, it’s just to design all the shapes that would be behind her head. That’s sort of how I like to design. I don’t think there’s any confusion in about what that background is, even if it isn’t full of photographic detail.

MJ: And moving on to the chambers.

DP: Yes, I think Tim wanted the inside of the palace to reflect the crazy kind of shapes and crazy world that you see from outside. And for inspiration I actually had a researcher dig out as many strange and extraordinary buildings as I could, that I tried to do it myself, I love working with researchers because that way when I’m drawing something else they start digging things out. That’s actually very inspired, now I can’t remember the name but we might have to dig that out, it’s a hotel that (Gaudi) did. It has very similar kind of…it’s got that swirling kind of cast ceiling, it’s based on a real thing. I think Tim wanted everything to look really kind of bonkers and it was really nice to find some actual architecture that was almost as bonkers. I mean it’s not exactly it, but its inspired by it. Yes.

MJ: Well speaking of architecture that’s inspiring, looking at the next slide, if you talk a bit about this.

DP: Yes, again this is part of the sequence where she arrives at the palace and then goes on to the moat of heads. The real sort of doing this is to put across some of that sort of Tim Burton gothiness. I didn’t design the palace though. It had already been done, it was more a case of saying, you know if you guys can find an angle, to give you a flavor of these gothic arches and spiral, that would suit what Tim’s looking for. You’ve moved on to the red queen looking down at the floating heads?

MJ: Yes.

DP: Yes. That’s quite an interesting one because I wasn’t familiar with all of the script and everything that was happening. I mean I read the script and forgot some of it but when Alice was jumping across the heads I got it wrong. I thought it was, that she was jumping across giant heads and not that she was tiny. Which was kind of stupid of me to think that. So I kept, this sequence, I kept drawing the heads quite big and then Tim would come in and go, yes they need to be a little smaller. And then I’d keep making them smaller and smaller and smaller and eventually I was like are these supposed to be human sized heads?

MJ: Yes.

DP: Yes, yes, yes, but because he doesn’t say an awful lot it took me redrawing it, and redrawing it, and redrawing it, but that sequence of her looking in the, down on the moat is, I was really pleased because it’s a lock shot it was almost exactly like that in the film. That’s what Ken Ralston’s team did, which was amazing there, it’s really beautiful. The shot where she’s jumping across again that’s a more finished illustration because Tim was going to the San Diego Comic Con and they wanted some artwork to show from the film and so that was a more simple illustration but I kind of tightened up a little bit. That’s why you’re seeing a rare color one. So I think the other one was as well where the queen was looking down on the head. It’s quite important to Tim as well when I’m doing these visuals that I don’t bring it up to a level of detail that’s trying to mimic the film. Because the film, you don’t want to, I mean for my own personal way of designing I don’t see the point in that, I think designers are trying to inspire and help get to the final vision. But I’m not so sure you need ever to pretend that the frame is the final shot, film sequence, a shot from the film. And I think Tim appreciated the fact that I paid a lot of attention to the kind of light and the mist and everything. You don’t look at that and think oh this is a frame from the film. It’s still quite painterly, which I think he really likes.

MJ: Nice. Moving on to a couple of Jabberwocky images.

DP: They’re actually very late Jabberwocky images, because they already had it done. I think Tim gets notions and ideas and he just wants to explore them and he said oh have a go, because I think what happened is at one point the Jabberwocky that ends up in the film is mostly, it’s very similar to a dragon, traditional dragon but it doesn’t fly in the film. There was decision made at some point by Tim that it wouldn’t fly that it would walk through the woods. He was wondering if he needed to change the design completely. So, again, to help him think about it, I’ll just do a couple of drawings. The one on the left is very much based on the Jabberwocky from John Tenniel’s 18th century illustration, from the original book. When I looked at that illustration, I looked at it as if it was a puppet on strings, if you know what I mean? So when you look at that, if you imagine what my thinking with this, it should be hanging there as if the loose head and limbs have been held by strings. That’s the kind of look I was going for. Also, because every dragon has been done, it’s so difficult to come up with a new one. I just thought I wouldn’t do a dragon. I’d just do something completely different. And the one on the right, again, it’s more like a demon or something. I think Tim liked them, but then they went with the original design anyway. So, fun to do, though, great fun to do.

MJ: Last one for your concept pieces, we do have a few slides of some of the final artwork that, as you mentioned, appeared in the film. Can you talk a bit to these?

DP: During the designing of some of the inside of the palace, I’ve put in a lot of picture frames and then of course they needed to be filled with something. And Tim was like, ‘well, what are you going to do?’ So I was, ‘oh, I’ll just build scenes and sequences from the original Alice in Wonderland book. So that’s the lion and the unicorn and I think represent – I’m trying to get my history right here, but represents the two sides of the British Empire in the 18th century – 19th century. So it was a great excuse for me to just paint some crazy stuff from the originals books. At that point – I’ve been on the film about eight or nine months and I think Tim trusted me to – you know, he knew I got into his mindset. I knew what he liked, and I think he trusted me to just kind of risk on these things. So because they were just going to be a theme in passing in the frames, they didn’t need a lot of art direction from him. The mural, and the red-green on the Jabberwocky, that was because when I revised the throne room and the sequence where the Mad Hatter walks in through the doors and is being presented to the queen, the walls looked a little bit grey and dark and dank, and I thought, you know. So I suggested to Tim, like, I’m going to get the name wrong, but what’s the castle, that palace in Germany?

MJ: Neuschwanstein?

DP: Yes. That’s the one. There are beautiful murals on the walls in that palace, so I said why don’t we do something like that but have it really, really faded, like it’s been up there for years? And so I did. The way the tone and colors are laid out, (embossed) on those little corners and all these things, don’t really mean anything, except that when they were in the sequence, it balanced all the little colors out. So in the red rooms and the blue rooms, it just adds in the shot where you are. Because they were so faded and scrubbed out, you’re just going to get an impression of something being there, these guys are ancestors – very obviously. They had the heart motif, wherever we could put it in. Because it’s something you’re going to see so quickly in the film, of course you can pause the DVD now, but there’s not a huge amount of detail there, but I think it’s just the right amount for a quick little shot. Towards the end of the film, I just thought I’m going to go mad here. I’ll just draw some really crazy shapes and – you know, in the style that I really love to work in and not try to be imitating (inaudible) painter (that kind of thing), just to see what would happen. And Tim really loved that, so he was like, yes, yes. The crazier the better, which is probably not surprising as well.

MJ: Well, beautiful work. And I want to move on to your extraordinary work in the Oraculum. That was a pretty important prop; an important (McGuffin) in this story. Talk a little bit Dermot, about how this was approached. And not only from a design standpoint but in terms of story.

DP: From the design point theory, I think that a placeholder for the Oraculum with some of the Tenniel illustrations. And a couple of other bits and pieces, again it was one of those things where I was chatting to Tim about it and I just said well if you want me to I’ll bash it and illustrating it I’d love to do it, (I’ll have a go).

I think originally we talked about doing it in a kind of John Tenniel style and part of the problem is doing that as illustrations from a book work in the context of the book and it’s weird when you try to ape that style for another thing like the Oraculum. It didn’t quite work as well. That’s my excuse for very quickly just doing it the way I like to draw. So what I did was I said OK this thing is going to end up being a foot and a half or two feet tall by I don’t know maybe 8-10 feet. It’s going to be huge so. I’m not sure how much time we have. So what I did was I started on the sequences that I knew the camera was definitely going to be on. Obviously where Alice is looking at the Oraculum and the sequence where she’s fighting the Jabberwocky, and the idea was that it should look like an illustrator’s version of events and not an exact copy of it. Because I could have taken the actual green screen sequences and traced the Oraculum illustrations over it but I think Tim wanted it to look like it was an artist impression. And so what I did was I did very detailed illustrations of the main part and then for the left and right, because they would end up in the camera, possibly in the camera I then just illustrated whatever.

And again like the, I just randomly picked scenes from the film or characters from the film and just kind of illustrated them in there in a way that, because the viewer in the cinema, in the theater just wants to get an impression that the Oraculum doesn’t stop at that point that you’re looking at. So it was really enjoyable to do. And then I think late in the process it was decided that maybe we should have a 3D element that you can separate out the different layers of the scene. Which meant that the Oraculum took, I don’t know, 3 times longer to do because I then have to cut out Alice and the Dodo and the mushrooms and then put them on a separate layer and illustrate everything behind her. So there’s layered versions of the Oraculum where you can switch each character off and there’s details in behind. Which was it was great fun to do that. Again this film, project gave me a chance to do every kind of art style that an artist is apt to do. From very chunky paintings and murals to these, I end up doing these very tight line drawings. It was great fun.

MJ: A lot of great variety. It is the Oraculum that’s being utilized as part of the living menus on the upcoming blue ray release of Alice in Wonderland and so we’re going to kind of stroll through these particular images that are broken down, not only of your drawings Dermot but also the screen imagery of the menus and, David perhaps if you could talk just a bit about how these were integrated and utilized in the set up of the Blu-ray.

David Jessen: Well when you enter the Blu-ray this is our other menu system and in the U. S., Mexico and Canada currently we call it our living menu system. So if you’re BD Live connected what happens is, the very first thing that occurs is that whatever your weather is in your particular climate Dermot was very generous and gracious to design new Oraculum art for us that features whatever that is, either it’s a sunny day, a cloudy day, a rainy day, a snowy day, a clear night, a cloudy night, a rainy night, a snowy night, and the cool thing is that this is new Blue Ray exclusive material that you can get nowhere else. So it’s pretty cool. Also if you not on BD Live connected the fact that you get to see the Oraculum in its entirety. It’s the first opportunity also a person would have to actually see it laid out for them in the menus and have it and own it.

MJ: We’re running edited sequences of these various illustrations, Dermot if you could talk a bit about these

DP: Oh it’s fantastic, I’m just bowled over by what you guys have done, and it’s beautiful. Seeing my drawings come to life like that, it’s just fantastic.

MJ: (David) if you can just talk a little bit about as to how this works. When you turn on your disk.

DJ: So when if you’re BD Live connected and you put your disk in, it’s automatically going to pin your local weather through the BD Live system in the States and in Canada and the U. S. and Mexico and it will load these pieces of art and these little animations that we have done. Like its right here it’s showing that if it’s raining in your climate it’s going to be raining on screen in the Oraculum magically. And it will depend on whatever it is, if it’s sunny you’ll have a beautiful sunny image, if it’s snowing you’ll have some snow. It’s just a magical way to bring your blu-ray disk to life.

MJ: Two more sequence of these and then Dermot in terms of creating this type of art work, did you have to do anything above and beyond just the standard illustrations?

DP: I think what you guys have done its fantastic to see it now real, it’s the first time I’m seeing it. It’s beautifully realized. The rays of the sun coming out, that’s absolutely perfect. It was difficult because you didn’t have a defined boarder and for ink drawings, you know if you do cloudy night for example it can be a little difficult just knowing where to border what you’re doing and things like that. Really it’s just an excuse for me to feel like a traditional book illustrator for a week or so, or a few days. I really enjoyed doing it. But yes it’s great to see it being used so, so beautiful.

MJ: There’s a sequence of the additional art, Oraculum artwork that is also on the DVD menus.

DJ: What’s wonderful is, we at Disney are always trying to find a way to extend the film experience organically and work with the film talent to do that, and I think this is the perfect example of that.

Jim Davy: When we first saw Dermot’s Oraculum art we just thought what a perfect way to have that be the theme for the menus for the whole disk experience.

DP: Yes that’s great, and to have something made drawn for the film which can be the end of its existence and have another life outside of it is kind of a rare opportunity for me. To tell you the truth it’s fantastic.

Ernie Estrella: Concerning the living menus and these seem to be more the norm back when DVDs were being pumped out and they seemingly been scraped recently–sadly I think, (especially with Blu-Ray). What made the decision to go with the more intricate menus and kind of utilize some of the Blu-Ray technology where it seems like it hasn’t been utilized properly I think enough?

DJ: It’s funny that you say that I mean, because at Disney, and I head up creative productions for DVD and Blu-Ray we’ve been, menus have always been integral to the experience. We always try to make menus organic to the entertainment experience so it’s a holistic experience and with living menus we did use them on “Sleeping Beauty.” We then followed up with “Earth” and we had them on “Snow White” so the magic mirror had artificial intelligence so whenever you put your disk in he would say something new to you and he knew what the weather was and were now continuing it with Alice in a different way. So be sure to check out those other disks.

MJ: As (Jim) mentioned Dermot artwork is so compelling that, and such a key part of the story, that.

JD: One thing I should add actually on these menus we forgot to say is that if your BD Live connected not only does it show your current weather in that very first panel with the White Night, but there’s a little banner there and an icon that Dermot created and it shows you tomorrows forecast. And it has a little temperature, Fahrenheit and Celsius and a little icon of what tomorrow’s weather would be. That wasn’t shown there but on the example that will be there on the actual product.

DP: It won’t work in the UK.

JD: We’re slowly rolling BD Live out.

DP: Yes, yes, I know, it’s always raining here.

EE: Dermot you were talking about the variety that you’re able to do on this film as far as the different styles your able to do. Maybe you can talk about, was this kind of the biggest draw for you or was it more working with Tim Burton or the ability to work with this kind of range?

DP: To me it’s working with Tim Burton really. The thing is when I started, as often happens in film, it was quite late in the production and Tim asked me to help out visualize, come up with the environments behind the green screen edits. I was meant to be in it for, actually I was due to start another production and I had to cancel it because Tim said oh I just need you for 6 weeks maybe and then it just expanded. So I had no idea when I was starting, the range of work I would end up doing and I think what happens is because I was around Tim, he was downstairs or literally in the attic of the (Rackem) Building, whenever it would occur to him, he had an idea or something to do and we talked about it, I would go ‘OK I’ll just draw it.’ Whatever he would throw at me I would just go ‘oh lets, I’ll have a go, I’ll have a go,’ and it was very casual. So from doing the Oraculum I was like ‘I’ll have a go if you like.’ Because I’ve been working as an illustrator for I don’t know 20 years or something, working in the film industry 15 years, I’ve kind of developed a wide range of styles for different things.

So I’m not intimidated by trying anything and because Tim is an artist he’s not fearful about asking for anything. He can read very quickly whether a design or drawing is working. So it’s not as if a director who is not sure is asking you to do things and then is not sure, he’s sure immediately. Not everything worked but most of the things I was doing he was like, ‘Yes-yes! Just keep going!’ It was really, really enjoyable. But the draw in the first place was just to work with him because I know he’s great fun to be around and to work for and he’s a real visionary. He drags the best out of people. We talked about this before we started that a lot of the kind of motion captured, live action crossovers have been done up in them. But I think Tim used the tools that have been developed, including the skills that have been developed over the last few years at Sony for other productions. He just knows how to get the best out of people and I kind of knew that if I was working around that environment was going to be really creative and really energetic and a bit crazy and hard to predict what was going to happen. And it doesn’t get more fun in life than asked to do what you do and then not being absolutely sure what tomorrows going to bring. It was wonderful.

EE: Because of the range that your able to play with what would you say of all the pieces you did for Alice was the most maybe challenging or time consuming piece that you did.

DP: Well the Oraculum was the most challenging but it needed to work on the screen; it needed to work when you saw it very quickly and if you saw it very closely. We didn’t want it to look modern so it was a bit of a challenge. I work completely digitally–and I have for the last 15 years–but I’ve like 8 or ten years before that when I worked traditionally with paint and ink and everything. So I had to go out and buy nibs and ink and draw a little bit in the real world on real paper to make sure it looked and then scanned it in and make sure it looked correct. Doesn’t have that line wave and everything. So that was technically kind of difficult. I think when you work a long time in the film industry you get used to; it’s all about puzzle solving, about doing what’s appropriate. So I never really thought all this was too difficult. Not really.

EE: On the Oraculum, in the blu-ray menus, did you have input as far as what would be animated?

DP: No, no, (Ken Ralston) was and his team at Sony sort of said can you do some layers, well actually they asked me to, can I send over some layers, but I don’t really work in layers digitally. So no not really, and then of course when it came to the Blu-Ray menu, all the ideas were Jim and his team. I’m right about that, not crediting the wrong people?

JD: Yes we took Dermot’s art for the menus and we saw that in the movie the team there animated certain sections and we thought that would be fun to do the same thing for the menus and animate certain things, clock hands moving, leaves blowing through, some subtle details of animation throughout the menus.

DJ: And of course we had Tim’s input along the way.

DP: Yes it’s great, it’s like here’s a crazy idea, go for it. It’s great. Yes.

You can visit Dermot’s website to see more of his powerful conceptual art. And be sure to check out the Alice in Wonderland blu-ray and my review to see both Colleen’s and Dermot’s work on the film. If you haven’t already, make sure you visit the big Q/A session with AIW’s special effects crew, Ken Ralston and David Schaub. Click Here for that article.