Category: Art

Aslan’s Sweet Voice (or, Hakuna Matata)

A year ago I speculated on how the Netflix version of The Magician’s Nephew would handle Aslan’s creation of the world through his song. When I came upon this illustration, I realized there was another way to handle it. I call it the “Hakuna Matata” method. It’s used in animated musicals a lot, like The …

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The Narnia Art of Stephen Lavis

Somewhere in the late 1970s or early 1980s the British publisher that held the rights to the Chronicles, Williams Collins, Sons & Co., **  decided to update the look of the books to appeal to the current audience of young readers. Up to then they had relied on covers using Pauline Baynes’ original artwork, but …

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The White Witch’s Flag and Ring

  Some months ago I was researching flag design and wondering what sort of flag Jadis would create for Narnia during  the years that she ruled it. I came up with this design. The red sun represents Charn’s, the white star its lone companion, and the dark blue background Charn’s empty sky. The mountains denote …

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Narnia in Stitches

Lampost, Pevensies, and Aslan come together in this free-form stitched piece of textile art by Heidi Rhodes.

Narnia Folklore Style

This illustration, by artist Forrest Burdett, is an art print that mimics a design for a book cover. It includes all the elements but Aslan and Mr. Tumnus, giving the viewer the idea kids defeat the witch, who is glowering on the bottom, on their own. As an artist I like this intentionally naive, folkloric …

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When I said “witch” I didn’t mean a literal witch.

Let’s return to Asian publishing for some more unusual editions of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The left one is from 1969 and published in Hong Kong through a Christian publication company. Clearly the cover artist did not read the book and created a Halloween scenario — with Halloween colors —  based on …

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Wilt thou be mine?

It will be the wedding of the century! Sauron proposes to his ladylove Jadis of Charn, also known as the White Witch, to unite the lands of Narnia and Middle-Earth. I can’t think of a more perfect match. Can you?

The Reconciliation

This painting by Thanawat Techawongwilash was not labeled as being about Narnia in any way… yet it so obviously is, with a humanoid lion, a lampost, and woman in the clothing and hairstyle of the 1950s. The woman is Susan, of course, some years after she lost her family in a train accident and finds …

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