Adam Larson

Image 22184183, Corbis

Severed body parts, displaced objects, and muted, hazy color tones conjure up chilling images. These eerie themes recur in the work of illustrator and graphic designer Adam Larson of Shrine Design, and are evident even in his first commissioned and printed illustration, “Everything You Do Is a Little Paperback Joyride.”

“I try to capture intangible moments in life. Moments of thought, illusion, confusion, change— the times during which we are usually so preoccupied trying to figure out what’s going on that we can’t slow down enough to recognize and enjoy the experience,” explains Larson.

Inspired by music, fine art, and everyday life, Larson primarily uses color to evoke a particular mood or reaction. “The colors I choose are usually subtle and somewhat monochromatic,” he says. “Darker, moody pieces usually lean toward browns, dark greens, and blues. I gravitate toward brown; it reels me in.” Other palettes Larson favors are moss green and the more optimistic choice of light blue.

Using Photoshop and Illustrator to alter and combine digital and scanned images into a seamless final picture, Larson’s process is much like traditional cut-and-paste collage. “I find images that work well together and that, when composed properly, begin to tell a story different than the one they told before.”

Larson’s stories have been told in his work for Sony, Dreamworks, Fleetwood Mac, Harper Collins, Random House, and more, with recent illustrations also appearing in Time Out New York, New York Magazine, and Travel and Leisure.

Fonts Let the fear build with Typewriter Oldstyle (scary); SalesLip (weird) is a scab itching to be picked; Xband Rough (fearful) is a nightmare from the Twilight Zone; and you can suggest evidence of a crime with Finger prints Inside (dark). All of these frightfully fun fonts are available at www. fontface.com.

Images Scare yourself silly with these wickedly disturbing search concepts: occult, graveyard, tombstone, hangman’s noose, haunted mansions, dilapidated houses, cadavers, sci-fi , bats, vampires, black cats, ghouls, ghosts, and monsters. Image 22159207, Brand X Pictures.

Classic Inspiration Requisites for a night of hair-raising design inspiration: Amityville Horror, The Birds, The Exorcist, Halloween, Night of the Living Dead, The Omen, The Thing, an extra large bag of popcorn, and a healthy set of lungs. Image 22172187, Brand X Pictures.

PALETTE: Spooky

PALETTE: Combinations