October is the month for the books that creak. Here are the gothic novels I come back to every Halloween: ten classics and one modern book that frightens grown-ups more than children. A few of them have found their way onto my prints, and I'll show you which scenes I chose and why.
Everyone remembers Transylvania, but the most frightening chapters of Dracula happen on the Yorkshire coast. Bram Stoker found the name, the shipwreck and the churchyard in one seaside town, and you can still walk every step of it.
Most Halloween decorations come down on the first of November. A gothic gallery wall doesn't have to. Choose dark, atmospheric pictures instead of pumpkins, and the wall that looks right on Halloween night will still look right in March.
A boo basket is a little Halloween gift basket of treats for someone you love, the spooky cousin of an Easter basket. For a reader, the best ones are built around a book. Here is how I would fill one.
Britain is full of phantom black dogs, and Arthur Conan Doyle borrowed the best of them for his most famous Sherlock Holmes story. Here are the legends behind the hound, and the scene I chose for my print. No spoilers for the ending.
Looking for a Halloween caption, a line for a card or something to write in a bookmark? These come straight from the classic gothic novels, word for word, with where to find them.
Every print in my shop is made in the style of a historic way of printing. Here is a plain guide to what those styles are, how each one was made, and how to tell them apart on a gallery wall.
Two of my favourite prints, a Dune sandworm and Narnia's lamp-post in the snow, are made in the style of Japanese colour woodblocks of the 1830s. Here is what that style is and why it still looks so fresh.
If you have ever pictured Dante's Hell, a giant albatross over a frozen sea, or a rider bursting out of the darkness, there is a good chance you were picturing Gustave Doré. My print of the Witch-king at the Gate of Minas Tirith borrows his line.
Twisted trees with faces, a wiry pen line and colour so thin you can see the paper through it. Arthur Rackham's style is instantly recognisable, and it is the look behind my print of the Ghost of Christmas Present.