Abigail Larson illustrated the lovely Sarah Faire and the House at the End of the World, my review of which is here . Later, when I interviewed the author, Alex Giannini, he talked about working with her. The short version is that Madam Larson is both talented and a pleasure to work with.

Her style is very Victorian Gothic and her subject matter is often macabre. Therefore, I adore her work. And you shall, too. On to the proof!

First, two of the great authors for people who read this site:

Poe Portrait

H. P. Lovecraft

In the next two, I like how the monsters, though they are creepy, are still lovable.

Monster Tea Party

Aidan 2

Asenath

The Bride Ghost

Mourning

When Death appears, He’s usually a skull with my lower mandible. It reminds me of the half masks people used to wear at balls. Which reminds me of ‘Masque of the Red Death’. Somebody commission this woman to do an entire book of Poe stories, please.

Death and the Maiden

Nightmares of the Alchemist’s Wife

Dracula Summoned

Clocks

Santisima Muerte Final Cover

See? You love her, don’t you? I knew you would. You can find more incredible work in her gallery here.

Kate Baylay is an illustrator of delicate, elegant pieces of art. She’s barely out of university and already has impressive work under her belt. There’s a deceptive simplicity in her work that is rather captivating.

Let’s start with a couple book covers.

Baylay opted to have Mrs Danvers on the cover of Rebecca. I love this choice-and not just because she’s my favourite character in that book, really. The portrait of the first Mrs de Winter on the back cover makes it, though.

She has illustrations of multiple fiction pieces, but my favourite, by far is ‘The Black Monk’ by Chekhov.

Illustration of The Black Monk by Chekhov

The next few are from a collection of Russian fairy tales

Aloisha Popovich

Foma and Erema, the Two Brothers

If You Don’t Like it, Don’t Listen

The Fox Physician

The largest collection she’s done thus far, though, is for the Olive Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. here is a selection of those illustrations.

Dorani

Jackal or Tiger

The Comb and the Collar

The Five Wise Words of the Guru

The Silent Princess

The Story of Little King Loc

The Story of Zoulvisia

Visit her website for very high res images of everything in this post and much more.

She also has a blogspot blog. And a tumblr.

You can also purchase some of her work on Society6.