Food from Books: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe

I'm ashamed to tell you that I read one of the greatest children's book classics, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, just recently for the first time. Ever since I watched the 2005 film version, I wanted to read the book, but somehow I kept putting it off. But when I finally did it... BOOM! It was magical!

I'm pretty sure that I don't need to tell you how great the book is. So, instead, I'll talk about the illustration I did it for my Food from Books project. (Other books I illustrated for this project include Emil and the Detectives, The Wolves of Whilloughby Chase, and Pippi Longstocking.)

Picking a scene to illustrate was easy as, when I think of the book and the film, the scene that Edmund meets the Queen/White Witch and she lures him with the enchanted Turkish delight always comes to my mind. I don't know why. I don't even like Turkish delight! Maybe because Edmund the black sheep of the four siblings is my favourite character (of course after Mr Tumnus).  Or maybe because how C.S. Lewis described the Turkish delight is so enchanting:

"The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle onto the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pound of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious."

Or maybe because luring kids with sweets is the wickedest thing ever!:

"...for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who had once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves."

I chose pale white, blue and grey for the main colour scheme, but used warmer and stronger colours for the central objects (Edmond's green jacket and pink Turkish delight) for contrast.

Through the composition, I wanted to illustrate the way the White Witch gains power over Edmund while he is completely oblivious to what's happening to him. As you can see, I took a literal approach. I positioned the Turkish delight in the centre as the centre of attention and I made the witch completely surround Edmund as if she is encaging him in, or literally taking him under her wing. By the way, Tilda Swinton's White Witch from the 2005 film version is a definite inspiration for my design although my witch looks nothing like her.

Hope I did justice to my favourite scene in the greatest book. Let me know what you think! Thank you for reading :)