Chekhov’s Shadow (Spoilers! But really good art!)


Dear Insane Children,

You’ve heard of Chekhov’s Gun… 

…a dramatic principle that suggests that details within a story or play will contribute to the overall narrative. This encourages writers to not make false promises in their narrative by including extemporaneous details that will not ultimately pay off by the last act, chapter, or conclusion. (link to quote source)

And if you pay attention to TV and film, you’ll notice that when “a terrible threat to humanity” is proposed (Thano’s Snap for example), at some point, the film has to pay it off… no matter how awful the consequences. And it’s often during the return journey from this darkest of places (the nadir) that our hero proves she’s mastered her hard-earned lessons. 

So you know how we’ve created Shadow Alice – and how she threatens to destroy Wonderland and everything it represents?

Yeah, well, that’s a thing and it’s going to get paid off. And it’s not supposed to be pretty. But you can take some solace in the fact that heroes (almost) always rise from the darkest depths to reclaim their kingdoms. 

In the meantime… 

Shadow Alice is going to have her night. 

And it’s going to be a dark, dark night. 

And the best part? 

You get to PLAY her during this sequence! 

Some truly amazing art from Adam Narozanski for these scenes. You can follow him on Instagram to check out more of his work. We’re really fortunate to have his art included in the Design Bible. And even more fortunate to have YOU supporting Adam and the rest of the Alice: Asylum pre-production team. 

Today is 6/1/2022 in Shanghai. We’re officially OUT of Lockdown after 60+ days (we have some friends who were in lockdown 70+ days!). Yay for that! 

We’re also now around 6 months from the delivery of the finished Design Bible PDF (and related materials, etc). The next 6 months will be filled with lots more great art, design, and project updates. 

From Shanghai with Freedom, 

-American


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