Folk-Inspired Illustrations Tell the Tales of Murders (and Beyond)

The Bloody Gar­den­er (mur­der ballad) 

Have you ever heard a mur­der bal­lad? It’s a song that nar­rates, as the name sug­gests, a mur­der. Grue­some, yes, but it’s a long musi­cal tra­di­tion. Mur­der bal­lads pre­date stan­dard music nota­tion and date back to the Mid­dle Ages; 17th cen­tu­ry Europe saw them print­ed and sold on broad­sheets. Artist and illus­tra­tor Katy Horan imag­ined two of these clas­sic tunes called The Dread­ful Wind and Rain and The Bloody Gar­den­er. In each image, she uses her folk-inspired style and expert use of inky tones to pro­duce a moody scene that’s dark yet not grue­some. This same aes­thet­ic is present beyond the mur­der bal­lads, from her Lit­er­ary Witch­es to char­ac­ters from the likes of clas­sic literature.

Katy has recent­ly reopened her online shop with prints, cards, and orig­i­nal works of art. Check it out and look for updates on her Insta­gram!

The Dread­ful Wind and Rain (mur­der ballad) 

Katy Horan creates beautifully dark folk-inspired illustrations that often focus on classic literature.

Cin­derel­la

She has recently re-opened her online shop, and it includes prints, cards, and original art.

Por­trait of Lucy West­en­ra from Bram Stok­er’s Drac­u­la. (As a Hal­loween card!)