What I got from the inspiration

So my inspiration seems a little scattered. If you don't understand where it comes from:

1. Illustration by Arthur Rakham. He was amazing! More specifically, he drew fantasy. Pen, ink and gouache. His scenes are spooky and creepy sometimes. The way that he draws trees, all spindly and curvy is really interesting. The colours he uses are earthy, because his images are of nature. He uses a lot of brown and black. He illustrated an edition of Alice of Wonderland and the animals are very detailed and playful.

2. "Gormenghast" by Mervyn Peake. A fantasy novel about a small kingdom enclosed in a castle where no one leaves the walls of the castle. Each person is born to a role, whether a kitchen boy or the future duke, and they stay in that role no matter what they want. The main character is Steerpike, a kitchen boy who is beaten and wants a better life so he schemes and flatters his way to power. He drives the current duke mad (the duke starts to believe he is an owl) and locks up two noblewomen after taking their power. Anyways, it's a gothic fantasy novel that was made into a Masterpeice theatre movie and has a lot of interesting gothic visuals, such as the wild girl, the castle itself, the room of cats...

3. Ruby Gloom is a kid's cartoon in the gothic style. It takes a housefull of odd characters, like "Poe" the raven, a ghost, a bat, a black cat, etc. and creates kid friendly stories about them. What I like is that it takes something scary and makes it friendly. There's an edge to it. It isn't the teletubbies.

4. Rudyard Kipling was an author and illustrator of "The Jungle Book." The way he drew animals were very decorative. (Black ink, mostly). It was sketchy. It was exotic. His short stories are really creative.

5. Tim Burton has an amazingly distinct style. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" entertains me as much now as it did when I was 7. It's attractive yet dark. It's heart warming but not sickeningly sweet.

6. Edward Gorey was an illustrator who also mixed cute and creepy. His images are bold. I really like the detail he put into his work.

7. "Alice in Wonderland". This story is messed up but it's entertaining. I want to design a story that also follows a journey into the unknown. (And you learn all about the bog at the same time).

What do they all have in common? They are fantasy and use gothic motifs.

I think kids can handle stories that are a little scary.

Why did I choose this aesthetic? I love anything gothic and fantasy, so it makes me more engaged in the project. I like it because it's emotional. It can give me the shivers. Fear is a powerful emotion. I'm not saying I'm going to frighten little kids because I still want them to want to go to the bog. I think a little suspense will make them more interested. I also think a happy ending contrasted with a harrowing story will create a greater impact. So my book is going to have illustrations that show the bog as being mysterious and unusual.