Tin Man Part 3

Nick's body arrived at The Emerald City, dangerously close to death. This is where his story intertwines with the Wizard for the first time. You see, the Wizard was not a bad man, but a true coward. He had sealed himself up in his city, deathly afraid of the Witches that surrounded him, in the outlying countries.

Still, when presented with the opportunity to save a life and flex his great mind, he went to work on constructing a new metal body for Nick Chopper. The Wizard had no magic. But he was a "wizard" of machinery. To the primitive people of Oz, the Wizard's great machines all seemed to be magic.

The people saw how great their leader was, Nick lived, and everyone was happy. Except Nick.

More to come!

The Tin Man Part 2

The young girl that Nick loved was named Nimmie Amee. Her family being of high social stature went to the Wicked Witch of the East and asked her to curse Nick's axe. The Witch, liking the idea, agreed. The next morning when Nick went to work, his axe betrayed him, and buried itself deeply in his chest.

Nick's family, desperate to save their dying son, raced his body to the Emerald City, where they were told that the Wizard of Oz could save him.

More later!

Below is the beginning of a commission I did for a friend Chris. It was for his daughter. Honestly, the colour scheme was his idea, not mine. I would have made it darker :P

The Tin Man

First is my favourite The Tin Man of Oz. I know, I should go with Dorothy first, but I've always held a special place in my heart for the Tin Man. Quite ironic really.

His is very tragic. Once upon a time there was a man named Nick Chopper. He came from a long line of "choppers", the woodsman of the eastern country of Oz. He fell in love with a young lass. Sadly, her family believed him to be below their social status.

More later!

Song from Funeral for a Little Girl

I used this NIN song in my latest Oz video. I thought it had a lot of the atmosphere I want to create for my Oz story. A mixture of dark orchestral and a bit of southern twang. Like a gothic western.

Funeral for a Little Girl.

Here is my latest video. I actually have a lot of these done now. I'll be posting them as this blog goes on, but I don't want to just post it all at once. It'd be a lot to take in.

This is a Postcard from Oz. Just a little snapshot of the story.

Legality

I often get asked questions about the legality of what I'm doing. Well, rest assured if I were to ever be published or anything like that, I'm safe. The story of Oz is well over a hundred years old. If you must, go look at Gregory Maguire's book "Wicked" and it's sequels.

Now there are some things I can't do. I can't for instance base my designs off anything from the Wizard of Oz movie. I can base off the book, but all those designs from the movie are copyrighted (as is the music).

You'll notice that my design of the Witch of the West is very different from the old Witch from the movie. The Witch in the movie is green for example. Mine is deathly white. My Witch also only has one eye, as that is what Frank Baum wrote. Now of course I go off and do my own thing with the Witch, but that's for a later post when I delve into how close I stay to Baum's book, and how I stray with each character.

Here's a closer look at the Witch though.

what I'm doing

People often ask me what it is I'm doing. Or why work on a re-imagining of Oz? Well I'm not doing it to get famous or make money, that's for sure.

I'm doing this because it's fun. Really, it's a blast to come up with designs for old beloved characters. Or to really explore the origins of characters that are pretty much blank slates.

I'm not making this a darker Oz because darker is extreme and that's what the kids want these days. I'm not making this for adults only because I want to shock people. That is not what I'm trying to accomplish. The designs and writing are a bit more mature in theme, but that's just how I write and draw. I'm still trying to capture the essence of what Frank Baum first did though. I don't feel like I'm changing the characters souls. I'm just exploring them in a different way then Mr Baum did.

I don't expect to ever get published, or really anything to happen with all of this. But one day I can tell my children my own version of Oz. And hopefully they like it.

This is one of my first Oz videos. All the art is by me. The song is "Room of Angel" from Silent Hill 3.

The is called "The Tin Man's Last Stand".

This is a blog for fans of Oz. Part art blog/part writing blog I guess.

Mainly you'll see a lot of art and sketches being posted; all Oz related. I've been working on a re-imagining of Oz for a long time. Every so often I find the energy to make a video involving some of my writing and my art.