Grimly, Gris

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Grimly, Gris

Personal

Male. Education: Graduated from art college.

Addresses

Office—Los Angeles, CA. Agent—Steven Malk, Writers House, 21 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10010; Peter McHugh, Gotham Group, 9255 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Illustrator, sculptor, painter, author, and filmmaker. Mad Creator Productions (multimedia company), Los Angeles, CA, founder and owner, 1998—. Director of Cannibal Flesh Riot! (independent film), 2006. Also worked as a designer and illustrator at Universal Studios, Los Angeles.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Gris Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhymes, Baby Tattoo Books (Van Nuys, CA), 2003.

Little Jordan Ray's Muddy Spud, Baby Tattoo Books (Van Nuys, CA), 2005.

Gris Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhymes II, Baby Tattoo Books (Van Nuys, CA), 2006.

Creator of limited-edition miniature books, including Helium Head Harold and Norbert the Seal Boy. Creator of "Little Lou Lou's Adventures in Hell" (online comic).

ILLUSTRATOR

Marilyn Singer, Monster Museum, Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2001.

Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Joan Aiken, The Cockatrice Boys, Starscape Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Marilyn Singer, Creature Carnival, Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2004.

Carolyn Crimi, Boris and Bella, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.

Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2004.

Susan Pearson, Grimericks, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 2005.

Laura Leuck, Santa Claws: A Scary Christmas to All, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2006.

Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2007.

Neil Gaiman, The Dangerous Alphabet, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2008.

Kelly DiPucchio, Sipping Spiders through a Straw: Campfire Songs for Monsters, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art. Also illustrator of book covers for HarperCollins and Hyperion Books.

Sidelights

Gris Grimly, a painter, sculptor, and filmmaker known for his macabre yet whimsical creations, is the author and illustrator of a number of highly regarded books for young readers. Grimly, who works primarily in ink and watercolor, has been compared to Tim Burton, Edward Gorey, and Dr. Seuss, the last of whom he cites as an influence. "I would say that my stuff is a lot edgier than Dr. Seuss," Grimly told Jonathan Williams in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, adding, "I have an older audience that is more pre-teen to adults, but [my work] does also appeal to children."

The founder of Mad Creator Productions, a multimedia firm, Grimly noted on his home page that he draws "inspiration from almost anything that surrounds me daily. The most obvious are music, films, fantastical images, live performances …, and, of course, monsters." Grimly discussed his influences further with Kevin Van Natter for the CreatureCorner Web site. Noting that he has "been intrigued by horror films, mainly monsters, since I was a child," Grimly recalled that his "earliest memory was seeing The Fly with Vincent Price. That end scene was something that I have not forgotten to this day."

Grimly worked at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, where he designed characters for themed entertainment. A gallery in nearby Beverly Hills requested that he produce the series of hand-painted miniature books that brought him to the attention of editors at Hyperion Books. In 2001 he provided the illustrations for Marilyn Singer's Monster Museum, a collection of poems about an unusual school field trip. Grimly's "cleverly detailed watercolors … steal the show with hilarious humor and offer careful readers all sorts of visual jokes," a Kirkus Reviews critic noted. In Creature Carnival, another title by Singer, a group of children tour a sideshow filled with attractions from mythology and folklore, including the Cheshire Cat, Pegasus, and Godzilla. Grimly's "illustrations create a gruesome menagerie of characters that are as buffoonish and appealing as they are grotesque," observed Gillian Engberg in Booklist.

A pair of monstrous neighbors learn to overcome their differences in Carolyn Crimi's Boris and Bella, a "bootiful friendship tale," according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. The work follows the exploits of the supremely messy Bella Lagrossi and her equally fastidious counterpart, Boris Kleanitoff. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly praised Grimly's "fiendish visual details," and Booklist contributor Gillian Engberg remarked that the illustrator's art "has a hint of Charles Addams ghoulishness." In Santa Claws: A Scary Christmas to All, written by Laura Leuck, Mack and Zack prepare for St. Nick's visit by hanging up their smelly socks and baking poisonberry pies. Maureen Wade, writing in School Library Journal, complimented Grimly's "quirky, Tim Burtonesque style art."

Grimly has also contributed illustrations to modern versions of classic tales. For a new edition of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio, Grimly created "his own wacky world, which is part Gothic, part Mad magazine," observed New York Times Book Review contributor Sam Swope. In Booklist, Francisca Goldsmith complimented Grimly's "wonderfully ghastly" art in Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness, and Susan Scheps, writing in School Library Journal, commented that his "deliciously malevolent illustrations are the perfect complement to Poe's macabre stories." Grimly drew praise from Horn Book reviewer Claire E. Gross for his "Halloween-hued panel and spot illustrations" in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

In his self-illustrated Gris Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhymes, Grimly presents a number of ghoulish poems, including one featuring a gluttonous Bo Beep. His "efforts mock the wholesome formula" of the Mother Goose rhymes, a Publishers Weekly critic wrote. In another original work, Little Jordan Ray's Muddy Spud, the title character attempts to barter his family's only potato, encountering a mad hare, a griffin, and a grumpy troll along the way. The book "has the feel of Dr. Seuss," remarked Laurel Graeber in the New York Times in a nod to Grimly's artistic inspiration.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 1, 2005, Jonathan Williams, "Grim Outlook at DragonCon," p. 27.

Booklist, April 1, 2004, Gillian Engberg, review of Creature Carnival, p. 1367; October 15, 2004, Francisca Goldsmith, review of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness, p. 405; January 1, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of Boris and Bella, p. 868; September 15, 2007, Jennifer Mattson, review of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, p. 65.

Horn Book, November-December, 2007, Claire E. Gross, review of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, p. 681.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2001, review of Monster Museum, p. 1368; February 15, 2004, review of Creature Carnival, p. 185; August 15, 2004, review of Boris and Bella, p. 804; November 1, 2006, review of Santa Claws: A Scary Christmas to All, p. 1131.

New York Times, May 6, 2005, Laurel Graeber, "A Muddy Spud and How It Grew," p. E29.

New York Times Book Review, November 17, 2002, Sam Swope, "The Subject Was Noses," review of Pinocchio, p. 38.

Prick, January, 2006, "Gris Grimly."

Publishers Weekly, September 24, 2001, review of Monster Museum, p. 43; December 1, 2003, review of Gris Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhymes, p. 56; August 9, 2004, review of Boris and Bella, p. 248; April 4, 2005, review of Little Jordan Ray's Muddy Spud, p. 62; September 25, 2006, review of Santa Claws, p. 71.

Rue Morgue, August, 2007, "Gris Grimly's Cannibal Flesh Riot."

School Library Journal, November, 2001, Kay Bowes, review of Monster Museum, p. 152; December, 2003, Lisa Prolman, review of Gris Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhymes, p. 152; April, 2004, Kathleen Whalin, review of Creature Carnival, p. 142; September, 2004, Donna Cardon, review of Boris and Bella, p. 156; October, 2004, Susan Scheps, review of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness, p. 176; October, 2006, Maureen Wade, review of Santa Claws, p. 97.