Best of the Dark Side: 13 Best Dark Art Websites

1. Nicoletta Ceccoli

This Italian illustrator draws sublime pale skinned, dark haired little girls. She often illustrates not-too-macabre children's storybooks. Her portfolio offers over 50 illustrations for you to enjoy. My favorite is "Spidergirl."

http://www.nicolettaceccoli.com/

Nicoletta Ceccoli on Facebook

Nicoletta Ceccoli, on MySpace

Fairy Tales From Nicoletta Ceccoli, at Artonfix

Nicoletta Ceccoli's Illustrated Books, at Amazon

2. Caia Koopman

Fabulous colorful, yet dark-tinged art by a talented artist. She uses acrylic on canvas. Here are wide-eyed girls (I won't say waifs) and dark overtones, all the while colorfully cheerful. A few skulls here and there, but nothing too foreboding. A bit of playfulness and fantasy never hurts.

http://www.caiadesign.com/

Caia Koopman's CafePress Store

Caia Koopman, on Facebook

Caia Koopman Oakley Sunglasses (Huh!)

Caia Koopman at Uncommon Goods

3. Jason Beam Studios

One of the first dark art links on Darklinks, and still as fascinating as the long-ago day I discovered it. Multi-talented digital artist, photographer, illustrator, and web designer with a bit of a taste for the macabre. His limited edition digital art is fabulous, and I'm delighted to have a signed one hanging on my office's north wall. You may also enjoy browsing through his photography gallery.

http://www.jasonbeamstudios.com/

The Art of Jason Beam, on Facebook

4. BioRequiem

The art and photography of Zoetica, co-founder of extremely popular Coilhouse. The gallery features her ink, digital, paintings and commercial illustrations. Be sure to explore the photography section.

http://www.biorequiem.com/

5. Dead Dreamer.com

This artist has done some really interesting commercial art for flyers, band CD covers, T-shirts and more. Different from the other websites I'm featuring today, but I like his work so much, here it is.

http://www.deaddreamer.com/

6. Elizabeth McGrath

Really freaky sculptures and handmade dioramas featuring themes of dead animals and strange creatures. My favorite diorama is Blood-Sucking Siblings Mala and Rhea.

http://www.elizabethmcgrath.com/

Elizabeth McGrath on Facebook

Elizabeth McGrath on MySpace

7. The Art of David Ho

An artist with a love of the grotesque. Besides his gallery of personal artwork (my favorite is the Block series), you can view his commercial work.

http://www.davidho.com/

David Ho on Wikipedia

8. Jenny Bird Art

Jennybird Alcantara's fabulous gallery of art (complete with very unusual frames) and doll sculptures. Galleries here are helpfully sorted by year - I'm glad to see some new offerings for 2010.

http://www.jennybirdart.com/

Jennybird Alcantara on Facebook

9. Stephen Kasner

Not usually the style of artwork I go for (I usually like big-eyed pale waifs like the first couple links above). But something about this extremely dark, morbid art really intrigues me, and thus is one of my favorite dark art links ever. Very talented artist's gallery and display of commercial design work.

http://www.stephenkasner.com/

Stephen Kasner on Facebook

Stephen Kasner: Works 1993-2006, at Amazon

10. Lovely Corpse

Troy's art gallery not only displays interesting artwork (six paintings and some sketches) but it does so in a beautifully designed way. I so wish there were more pieces here to look at.

http://www.lovelycorpse.com/

11. Joachim Luetke

I'm fairly certain you've all seen this wondrous site already. Love the interface, and the stunning artwork. This was one of the first few sites which really blew me away, and I keep coming back to enjoy it time and again.

http://www.luetke.com/

Luetke on MySpace

12. Marion Peck

Fantastic surreal art - a gallery of oil paintings. Her style reminds me of Mark Ryden, except Peck's children are more beautiful, with more soulful, realistic eyes. She paints dead Victorian children, big eyed children holding big-eyed animals, old-fashioned looking portraits of children and animals, cross-eyed nobility, and the occasional disembodied head. There's no overt blood and guts here, no skeletons, no wounds, just an overall sense of foreboding and freakiness. Subtle. I like it. There doesn't seem to have been much added lately, sadly.

http://www.marionpeck.com/

Marion Peck, on Facebook

Marion Peck, on MySpace

Marion Peck, on Twitter

Marion Peck, at Wikipedia

13. Linda Joyce Franks

Hands down one of my favorite dark artists ever. Maybe even #1. Everything here is just gorgeous, with a mystical dark feel to many of them. Her style can be subtly different from image to image, so be sure to browse thoroughly here.

http://www.nimbvs.com/

Linda Joyce Franks, on MySpace

Which of these 13 galleries was your favorite to look through?

-Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net