CR 075: Gris Grimly on Movies, Monsters, and Marrying Contemporary Art with Classic Texts

The acclaimed illustrator discusses his innovative artwork and his efforts to make literature accessible to young readers.

Photo courtesy of Gris Grimly

For more than 20 years, Gris Grimly’s playfully macabre images have attracted legions of loyal fans. He has illustrated picture books, produced and directed music videos and short films, exhibited his paintings in galleries, and most recently, illustrated tarot cards based on Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

But it was his graphic adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein that he says changed the way he views his work. “This company approached me, wanting to make it into a curriculum for seventh and eighth grade students,” Grimly says. “I agreed to it, never realizing that this book that they use as part of their curriculum ended up getting circulated by the thousands across all these schools. All these seventh and eighth graders are now reading my version of Frankenstein, and those images are impacting them. I get letters from teachers all the time saying some of their students have difficulty reading these Victorian texts, and they know it’s my ar…