During the winter season in Central Europe, it is customary for people to hold Krampusnacht, a weeklong celebration of a more morbid and adult-friendly Chistmas icon, Krampus. Half man and half goat, Krampus has persisted in the folklore of the region for centuries, known for kidnapping children and whipping them with his bundle of sticks.

As National Geographic puts it, “Bearing horns, dark hair, fangs, and a long tongue, the anti-St. Nicholas comes with a chain and bells that he lashes about, along with a bundle of birch sticks meant to swat naughty children. He then hauls the bad kids down to the underworld.”

This piece arose from a desire to create a festive winter piece while leaning on lesser-known folklore in the U.S. Given Krampus’ dark story and dramatic visual interpretations, he served as the perfect subject matter.

In this piece, I also aimed to push my skills further by creating both textures and values simultaneously in lieu of Gustave Doré. To make the piece more compelling, I positioned Krampus to be making direct eye-contact with the viewer as well as reaching for them through the frame of the piece to pull them in. Perhaps they would face a similar fate to the neighbors in the burning house in the distance.