Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland (released in 2019) is one of our biggest art projects we have worked on, taking us 2 years to complete. We started developing the story and look of the characters while we were living in Los Angeles, California. We finally finished the book after moving to the Netherlands.
We've had variations of Alice characters appear on Akumu Ink® merch throughout the years with the Mad Hatter first appearing back in 2011. We premiered the book at Japan Expo in Paris. It got a lot of positive attention even though it was in English.
THE STORY
The book starts with Alice falling down a rabbit hole with the White Rabbit. She stumbles into the Tea Party where she comes across the Mad Hatter and the Harvest Hare. The Harvest Hare tries to help Alice find the White Rabbit. Things go side-ways and Alice gets lost in the woods where she comes across Cheshire Cat. Cheshire introduces Alice to the Caterpillar's collection of random items. From that point Alice ends up meeting the Queen of Bleeding Hearts and destroying Wonderland.
UPDate video
Our first iteration of this storybook (released in 2019) we had Alice wearing a facemask. Facemasks are very popular at anime conventions, and I originally thought this was a fun way to have Alice be more mysterious. But with the unexpected pandemic in 2020, it completely killed the sales of our book. This was heartbreaking, as it had taken us 2 years to create this story, and we had so many happy customers leave us good reviews that we couldn't just let it die. So while working on our new Nightmare Fairytales book, I finally came to the conclusion that we should just redesign Alice's look without the mask and re-release the book. I loved working on this project, and I loved putting images to Aldora's words.
In this Wonderland, The Caterpillar is depicted as a crazed collector. He clutches an unknown number of bottles everywhere he goes, that way the collection is always safe and he can trade wherever he is at. The Caterpillar collects things that have value to him, and to their previous owners. What will Alice have to trade with The Caterpillar?
The clock tree was a fun image to draw. Aldora had this idea of The Harvest Hare living in this huge tree with clocks of all sizes growing out of the branches. Imagine the deafening sound of hundreds of clocks going on and on with no end. There is no space for thoughts when the clocks are near, which is a perfect place for The Harvest Hare to trap Alice. Is Alice safe here? Or is this just another trap?
If you're looking for a cute traditional story of the classic tale, please stop reading. This book strays from the safe path and follows a more sinister route (the way we like it!).
DETAILS:
-Hardcover: 38 pages.
-Size: 25.4cm x 25.4cm (10"x10")
-20 original full-page colour illustrations.
-Self-published.
-Language: English.
-Shipped from Holland.
DISCLAIMER:
This book is NOT recommended for children.
This book contains:
-Cartoon Blood.
-Cartoon Weapons.
-Dead Cartoons x_x
