Wrapping up the 2024 Artist Interview Series, we have author and artist Todd Keisling!
Todd is the two-time Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of Devil’s Creek, Scanlines, Cold, Black & Infinite, and most recently, The Sundowner’s Dance, among several others.
A pair of his earlier works were recipients of the University of Kentucky’s Oswald Research & Creativity Prize for Creative Writing (2002 and 2005), and his second novel, The Liminal Man, was an Indie Book Award finalist in Horror & Suspense (2013). He lives in Pennsylvania with his family.
Read on to learn more!
Did you always want to be an artist?
TK: Oh yeah. Making art is something I’ve always done for as long as I can remember. The
mediums have changed over the years, but the desire to create never wanes.
When did you first begin to draw and when did you start drawing horror pieces?
TK: I started drawing at a young age, pre-Kindergarten. The first horror piece I can remember
drawing was the cabin from Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn.
What is your favorite thing about being an artist and what are your favorite mediums to work
with?
TK: Probably the process: beginning with a vision, layering everything so the subject begins to
take shape, and ending with a depiction of what was in my head, but also seeing the many ways
the idea changed and grew along the way. As for mediums, I don’t draw all that much anymore,
and work almost exclusively in a digital space. And then there’s the writing, of course.
Do you do any interior illustrations for the book or movie industry currently?
TK: Occasionally, I’ll create interior illustrations for books, though it has been a while. The last
illustrations I drew were for my novel Devil’s Creek.
If you could work with any author, creator, or movie director, who would it be and what would
be the project?
TK: For author, I’d have to say Clive Barker. I’d love to collaborate on something, or just have
the opportunity to design one of his novels. Rob Sheridan for creator—I’d really just love to
have a sit-down conversation and pick his brain for a few hours. And for movie director, I’ve
gotta go with John Carpenter, specifically to beg for the opportunity to write one of the Sutter
Cane novels from In the Mouth of Madness.
What advice would you give to other artists?
TK: Art is a journey. Don’t be afraid to see where it takes you. If it makes you uncomfortable,
keep going.
Where do you hope to see yourself in five years with regards to your artwork?
TK: I’m a freelance writer and graphic designer, and both pay my bills. So, I suppose I’d like to
still be doing both in five years, though I’d prefer the writing to take preference over the design.
What are some of your favorite pieces or projects that you have done so far?
TK: Visually, I’d have to say the work I did on the last couple of StokerCon Souvenir
Anthologies, the overall designs of Eric LaRocca’s debut Everything the Darkness Eats and The
Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors from Bad Hand Books, and my award-winning design for
Arterial Bloom from Crystal Lake.
What are your thoughts, if any, on the use of A.I. generated art images?
TK: A.I. could be a powerful tool, but until we have legislation in place to ensure that creators
whose work has been used to train the A.I. models are compensated fairly, it will never be a
viable one. As it is today, using generative A.I. is the equivalent of theft, and I can’t condone its
usage.
What is your favorite thing about being in/a part of/or a fan of the Horror industry?
TK: Other than enjoying the horror itself, I’d have to say the camaraderie of fellow fans.
What other services do you offer clients?
TK: I specialize in interior formatting, layout, and design, but I also offer cover art/design, logo
design, and the creation of marketing materials.
What current projects are in the works that you would like to mention?
TK: I just wrapped up the interior work for Laird Barron’s upcoming collection, Not a Speck of
Light, and Zoje Stage’s children’s book, My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast, both coming out later
this year from Bad Hand Books. On the writing front, my next novel, The Sundowner’s Dance,
releases next year from Shortwave Publishing.
Check out some of Todd's work below!
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