Gothic

Gothic illustration is characterized by a dark, dramatic, and often eerie aesthetic, and features supernatural or macabre themes, such as ghosts, monsters, and haunted or medieval landscapes. These Shortlisted projects explore the theme across a range of categories from Animation to Advertising, Murals, Publishing and more.


Hermione
Into the Woods

Studying folklore and myths encouraged Hermione to create work based around the topic.

They created this work digitally, using procreate, but wanted to experiment out of their comfort zone, they decided to use more textured brushes and shapes for this piece.


Trevin Wyant
The Governess

Created with a mixture of charcoal and digital illustration, this piece was made in response to an assertion that illustrations need to be more than a portrait.

There is a story to be told in the portrait of The Governess, a caretaker for children. She is there whether you want her to be or not.


Agustin Coll
Brompton Cemetery

This illustration was created as an original pen and pencil drawing inspired by the titular site in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The work is both a map of the place and a character study portraying the cemetery as the Grim Reaper, and sets out to subvert the idea of the burial ground – a site that is often associated with permanency and belonging but here has become nomadic.

Amita Sevellaraja
Ghost Plants

During the pandemic, Amita thought a lot about liminal spaces – uncanny places that exist on the threshold of reality and the complex emotions these places can conjure.

They wanted a balance of darkness and melancholy, as well as nostalgia and whimsy.

Sarah Walsh
Púca/Ghost

Púca/Ghost is an animated gif designed as a development piece for a personal project about haunted locations.

It was animated in Adobe Animate and brought into Photoshop where the colour and textures were added. Sarah wanted to use a minimal colour palette and soft blurs to create a hand-drawn and haunting feel while still being playful.


Zsuzsa
Liminality

This experimental, conceptual silent graphic novel where the figure has a demon as it’s shadow, was created to help understand the psychological liminal space and the transformative powers it has, through illustrating physical and fluid liminal spaces.


Diana O’Brien
Mural in New York Private Residence

Diana was commissioned by her client to transform two rooms in their house into medieval castles and taverns, to transport them to another time and place.

Created over 9 months, Diana used acrylic house paint, and scaffolding. She painted stonework, wood, beams and more – every square inch was covered in both rooms, the ceilings included.


Luis San Vicente
The legend of Mictlán – The place of the dead

These illustrations were born with the idea of transmitting Mexican legends to the new generations.

For Luis it was important to have the identity of Mexican art, but also to have its own style.