Nearly three decades ago, folklorist
Alvin Schwartz published
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, the first of three horror anthologies that would go on to become
the single most challenged book series of the 1990s. But most of the
backlash was against not the stories themselves (which were fairly tame), but rather the illustrations of artist
Stephen Gammell. His bizarre, grotesque, nightmarish black-and-white inkscapes suffused every page with an eerie, unsettling menace. Sadly, the series has since been
re-issued with
new illustrations by Brett Helquist, of
A Series of Unfortunate Events fame. Luckily for fans of Gammell's dark vision, copies of the old artwork abound online, including in these three image galleries:
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones. Interested in revisiting the stories themselves? Then don't miss
the virtual re-enactments of YouTube user MoonRaven09, or
the dramatic readings of fellow YouTuber daMeatHook.
posted by Rhaomi
on Oct 29, 2010 -
48 comments
Jon Klassen is an illustrator and designer, with a
blog and a lovely
website full of artwork, including
The Miser (3:53, 2004, made with
Kyle McQueen and Dan Rodrigues),
An Eye for Annai (5:27, 2005,
previously, also made with Dan Rodrigues,
.MOV video link),
an interpretation of
a Mayan folktale (available in full in
Flight vol 4,
previously),
The Adventures of Ship,
a family art project,
visual development and drawings
for sets and props for the movie adaptation of
Coraline (
a couple previous), amongst other bits and bobs. Illustration Mundo had an
interview with Klassen earlier this year.
posted by filthy light thief
on Sep 4, 2009 -
3 comments
