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According to Icelandic tradition there are a bunch of nasty spirits that start wandering the land on the 12th of December. Today is the 18th of December, and I missed a few days. But I’ll make up for it with one of my favorites, Hurðaskellir. His name literally means Door Slammer. Old Hurðaskellir is the reason why doors slam shut, especially late at night.

Hurðaskellir is one of the Yule Lads, and he comes down from his mother’s cave on the 18th to harass people and scare naughty children. He is occasionally accompanied by the Yule Cat, a very nasty feline that eats really wicked kids.

So, be extra kind this holiday season… That slamming door you hear tonight might just be Hurðaskellir, coming to scare you in your sleep!

Hurðaskellir painting from The Yule Lads: A Celebration of Iceland’s Christmas Folklore by Brian Pilkington

This time of year is a little odd in our house: My wife, the Sainted Rachey Klabe, is a Christmas traditionalist, and I am a fan of turning convention on its ear. Luckily, she’s been patient this past quarter century, and not found too many reasons to give me the boot. Except on Saint Nikolaus Day, when I guess our footwear is supposed to spend the night on the porch.

My absolute favorite thing about the Holiday season, though, is how people celebrated them in the past. Hyperallergic  has a great collection of Victorian Christmas cards, and as you can probably deduce for yourself, I freaking love them.

The look on this kid’s face says it all: “Glory me, mumsy sure left me the plumpest oranges for DEAR CHRIST A GOAT!!!” Really makes you wonder what kind of vagrant goat problems the Victorian English had to contend with.

And then there’s this little ditty:

WHO WOULD (other than me) give this to anyone? Poor froggies! And this isn’t the only morbid frog card in the collection!

Seriously, do yourself a favor and check out the rest of the cards at Hyperallergic. Definitely worth your hard-earned Holiday time!

I’m hawking my wares again! Just a friendly reminder that my coloring/story book, Grimmleigh’s Beastly Oddities is available on Amazon, and eligible for Prime shipping. I may be biased, but this is the perfect gift for that person in your family that goes bump in the night. Here, for your sampling pleasure, is a sample page:

There is a story attached to this guy, too. It’s called “the Yeti that hates Beaches.” It’s probably the coolest story about a yeti that hates beaches you’ll ever read. And you’ll be supporting an independent artist! ME!

And if you already have purchased this book, you are amazing, and I love you for that.

I have been working pretty diligently on my next coloring book, Grimmleigh’s Classic Monsters. Previously this week I showed off some of the concept sketches for upcoming pages, and today I thought I would show the process from start to finish.

First, I take a picture of the rough pencils from my notebook, and import that into ProCreate on my iPad. Here is the photo:

Now that the reference picture is in place, I get to work doing final pencils, then digital inks. At that point, I set aside the black and white art for the coloring page and backgrounds… But a lot of the time, I like to get into the picture and add some color. Here is video showing that process!

(I uploaded the video in HD, so it might take a minute to convert)