Stephen Gammell is a self taught artist from Demoines, Iowa. His father was an artist and encouraged him to follow in his footsteps. He began as a free lance artist, but has since become exclusively an illustrator for children and young adult books. I am sure you already know who he is, however, you probably do not know him by name. Everyone has encountered Alfred Schwartz's "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" series at some point in their lives. Although the stories are sub par, and hardly frightening, everyone who has seen the books remembers the haunting, grotesque and absolutely fascinating black and white charcoal pictures. These images, which still turn your stomach and gave you night mares as a kid are the work of Stephen Gammell.
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His work is just absolutely fascinating to me. I enjoy his lack of color and his messy style. They are very strong illustrations that evoke a strong feeling out of the viewer. I can't get over how creepy they are! I feel like that makes his work very successful. Although his work is usually figurative, it is also very atmospheric. It has a very smokey quality. Atmosphere is something that I try to create in my pieces. The creation of mood in work is something that interests me.
As an avid reader of horror fiction I feel like the strength in this genre of the grotesque and terrifying is the ability to manipulate the reader/viewers emotions. This is done by forming a relationship with the piece and developing the narrative that surrounds it. Having more narrative is something that I haven't considered in my work before, but it seems to be a reoccurring theme in artists I enjoy. This will be especially relevant when I discuss my next artist. This could perhaps be done with something as easy as adding a title. A little clue to the idea, feeling or story that prompted the image.
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