Ian Haut (2026, Illustration and Undeclared)
Monsters of Myth, 2022
Ink on paper
 
This is a series of five illustrations of monsters from different backgrounds that I did for an arch class at Brown. Each monster was researched by me or a classmate, and the illustrations reflect both their presence in the imaginations of past storytellers and the fictional roles they held in those stories. The monsters depicted are: the Cockatrice (in the egg and an adult), the Leviathan, Cerberus, and the Banshee.

These drawings are reflective of research into monsters not only as fictional beings, but as symbols of ancient belief and culture. Monsters are our primal fear, and the embodiment of that inclination towards the supernatural that so many of us have. In these drawings, I wanted to not only show monsters as they might look if you were to encounter one in the street, but as they appear in the mind: fantastical and terrifying at the same time -- forces of wonder as much as horror.

From The Witching Hour, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, January 23 - February 26, 2023