Abigail Larson: Weaver of Gothic Dreams

In the shadowy realm where fairytales twist into nightmares, Abigail Larson conjures art that haunts and enchants. A Hugo Award-winning illustrator, Larson’s mixed-media creations—blending pencil, ink, watercolor, and digital finesse—evoke the gothic splendor of Victorian crypts and moonlit ruins. Her work, steeped in the macabre and romantic, feels like a page torn from a Brothers Grimm tale or an Edgar Allan Poe fever dream, making her a perfect muse for Gothic Dust Diaries’ dark heart.

Born and raised in Virginia, Larson’s fascination with the strange began early, fueled by gothic horror like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Poe’s melancholic verses. As a child, she dreamed of opera or circus stardom, but stage fright led her to illustration, where her vivid imagination found its voice. She honed her craft at Virginia Commonwealth University’s acclaimed art school (2006–2010), studying not just drawing but literature and history, which enriched her storytelling. Her influences—masters like Arthur Rackham, Edward Gorey, and Tim Burton—shine through in her angular, dynamic figures and moody palettes of crimson, mossy green, and ashen beige.

Larson’s art is a dance of contrasts: whimsical yet sinister, delicate yet bold. Her exaggerated proportions and flowing linework create characters—vampires, ghosts, and Victorian maidens—that seem to step from haunted storybooks. She often centers women, weaving femininity into tales of mystery, as seen in her covers for Mexican Gothic (2022) and The Dark Wood Tarot (2020). Her process is meticulous: sketches on Canson paper, inked with precision, washed in watercolor, and finished digitally for depth. This blend of traditional and modern techniques gives her work a timeless, otherworldly texture, perfect for GDD’s love of the archaic and eerie.

Her portfolio spans comics, tarot decks, and children’s books, with credits for DC Comics, Dark Horse, Netflix Animation (Blue Eye Samurai, 2023), and Disney Books. Notable works include her illustrated The Cats of Ulthar (2016, H.P. Lovecraft) and covers for Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens (2020). In 2016, she clinched the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist, cementing her place in dark fantasy. Her art book Crimson (2021), praised by Mike Mignola, showcases her gothic vision, while her upcoming graphic novel retelling classic fairytales promises more shadowy delights. Larson’s art has graced galleries from New York to Paris, her first show at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum (2009) marking her as a gothic luminary.

What sets Larson apart is her storytelling. “The heart of illustration is telling a story through art,” she says, a philosophy that resonates with GDD’s mission to unearth the strange and beautiful. Her work challenges perceptions of fear and beauty, inviting viewers into a world where skeletons waltz and ravens whisper secrets. Now based in Turin, Italy, Larson continues to weave her gothic tapestries, inspiring those who, like us, find comfort in the dark. Explore her creations at abigaillarson.com and lose yourself in her wicked, wonderful world.

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Abigail Larson

Benjamin Lacombe

Giotto di Bondone