The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Book
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel Oscar Wilde ever wrote. He wrote a series of short stories, some poetry, essays and dialogues, and a few plays, but the novel is one of his most well known works.
At the time it was written it scandalized the public for what society deemed to be its 'immoral' homoerotic theme. It caused a great deal of outrage against the writer and was in fact used against him at his famous trial in 1985 when he sued a man for libel and he was accused of committing 'acts of gross indecency', which in layman’s terms just means that the author was sentenced to prison for being a homosexual and engaging in homosexual relationships.
Here I have posted a few of the illustrations from the book including the cover, the summary and the 'about the author' flap illustrations.
The book itself is about a young man who, beginning as a complete “innocent” is quickly “corrupted” by the words of a friend. His first step into the spiral of “deadly sin” begins with his wish that a life sized portrait of himself bear the scars brought on by time and life's experiences while he remain young forever and his statement "I would sell my soul for that!".
Oscar Wilde spins this tale of a double life beautifully with his flowery use of dialogue and philosophy of the aesthetes of his time. The tale is a classic and tragic story about 'the masks we wear' and the hypocrisy of the age when it came to queerness.
“If a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Process
The Picture of Dorian Gray is my favourite book, for many reasons, chief among them is Wilde’s wonderful ability to to weave a story using his witticisms and philosophies. Every time I read the book I feel as if I’m hearing him speak.
The process for creating this homage to his novel was a difficult and long one. It was my thesis project for my final year of college. I had decided early on that I would be doing a project that somehow related to Wilde.
Initially my idea was to draw it in a very loose fashion-illustration style, and so I started with a very simple watercolour from my first year of college as a guide. The watercolour was of three victorian gentlemen in suits. I wanted to modernize the fashion, though, so I set to finding design inspiration. the first place I looked was my collection of pictures from runway shows I had saved on my favourite menswear collections. McQueen’s 2009 menswear for fall, which was presented in Milan was one. Jean Paul Gaultier had a Fall 2008 Menswear collection which was also victorian-inspired. Gucci did a coat in 2011 for menswear which I was obsessed with. My absolute favourite one though was Z Zegna’s 2010 collection for spring/summer presented in Milan. You can see that I particularly liked adding stripes to Dorian’s outfits. The one he is wearing in the piano scene was one I liked so much, that even after my detailed concepts, I ended up keeping it through to the final copy of the book and it ended up being the one that Dorian is wearing for his portrait.
For the women’s clothing (though there aren’t many women who make more than one appearance in the story) I took inspiration from Ellie Saab and Zuhair Murad for the decorative flowery outfits I wanted to draw Sybil Vane in.
"Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?"
The Final Illustrations
As you can see, Harry’s outfit colours changed. I wanted him to wear red in the beginning to represent temptation, especially since he is the one that inspired Dorian to pay more attention to his vanity. Basil’s outfits remained a mix of warm greens and brows from the beginning. His colour represented a peaceful and serene spirit. Dorian’s outfits change from white and blue towards purple and blue, to black and blue and finally to red and black to represent his increasing ‘dark path’.
The video is a screen recording of the blurb preview of the book. The project involved a lot of work in terms of both design and illustration.
With this illustrated version of The Picture of Dorian Gray, I decided to take the story and bring it into the new century by approaching the narrative with a fresh take on the characters and design of the novel. I created a total of twenty-nine water colour and ink illustrations (this includes the cover art and the two spot illustrations on the flaps of the book jacket). The illustrations portray the characters in attire that is inspired by modern fashion but influenced by the nineteenth century dandy. For the design of the book itself I mixed a bit of the traditional style of book design using flourishes, and borders for a classic feel. I Still wanted it very much in keeping with the victorian style, I just added my own flare to it.
It was a project wrapped up in a story I am very passionate about and am thoroughly happy to have had the chance to explore and remodel in my own way.
The Final Product
