Keith Thompson has a rare form of imagination, a rushing floodgate of fleshy, organic macabre—formidable, you might say, acting on you like a psychotropic drug bringing on subtle yet terrifying changes in your emotional state. His illustrations are scenes of war, pestilence, violence and decay each rendered with such a loving skill you might be inclined to show it to your parents, that is until you think better of it. I’m gonna call it Creature Punk. Maybe it’ll stick, who knows…
His color palate is gray, ecru, sepia and a sickening jaundice yellow which ultimately makes your reaction all that much deeper but serves to fill his world with a sort of visceral sense of dread: machines as monsters, monsters as humans, animals as creatures, every one of them doing mankind’s dirtiest work.
His website is cool. It opens like a Chinese box, drawing you in with a panel-sliding agility then trapping you there with a completely developed (there’s a backstory for nearly all his pieces) and odd menagerie of creatures and beings who live in his perfectly choreographed tableau. It’s all utterly fascinating. And disturbing. And freaking brilliant.
Thomson’s images are rendered in exquisite detail, from the fantastical to the grotesque littered with weapons and dangerous machinery, all confounding to the point of frustration, each twisted and imaginative, which is why I think his material is so compelling – it has the profound ability to turn you away and draw you in at the same time.
Keith has been working with New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld on several projects, including Leviathan and his brilliantly designed website. Westerfeld’s new book Leviathan, Behemoth, with count ‘em 50 of Thompson’s illustrations, comes out October 5th.
All images used with permission from the artist. If you’re interested in seeing more of Keith’s amazing work, visit his website. You can even purchase prints of these pieces if you’re so inclined. Please do.
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