Björn Griesbach gives us a cool, contemporary take on classic fairy tale characters in his illustration series Modern Grimm.
![Sleeping Beauty (Dornröschen) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sleeping_Beauty.jpg)
Sleeping Beauty (Dornröschen)
Modern Grimm shows the beloved characters we all know, like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, but also adds a few of the lesser known characters from the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Jorinda, of the tale Jorinda and Jorindel, is a young woman who was captured and transformed into a nightingale by a witch shortly before her wedding. She is shown sitting in a bird cage, with several other birds in cages in the background. The Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was tells of a boy who undertakes a variety of scary tasks in order to learn how to shudder. The boy is shown here in a graveyard, reading a book, while a ghostly hand reaches toward him.
The illustrations also have modern aspects added to the scenes: Sleeping Beauty is a girl in a coma, with an oxygen tube in her nose. The Pied Piper is shown as a character on a TV screen being watched by children. Red Riding Hood is shown riding her bike into a forest filled with traffic signs, and the Wolf is shown as a serial killer wearing a wolf mask.
I like how each illustration combines different styles of drawing. The main characters are shown in a more realistic style with shading and depth, while other elements are left “unfinished” — as line drawings filled with flat colour or just outlines. The images also have a mostly desaturated look, but with some bright red details. This style, and the content, reflects the darker tone many of the stories have in their original versions.
![Cinderella (Aschenputtel) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Cinderella.jpg)
Cinderella (Aschenputtel)
![The youth who went forth to learn what fear was (Einer, der auszog das Fürchten zu lernen) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Youth_Fear.jpg)
The youth who went forth to learn what fear was (Einer, der auszog das Fürchten zu lernen)
![Jorinda (Jorinde) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jorinda.jpg)
Jorinda (Jorinde)
![Gretel - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Gretel.jpg)
Gretel
![Witch (Hexe) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Witch.jpg)
Witch (Hexe)
![Red Riding Hood (Rotkäppchen) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Red_Riding_Hood.jpg)
Red Riding Hood (Rotkäppchen)
![Wolf - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Wolf.jpg)
Wolf
![Pied Piper (Rattenfänger) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Pied_Piper.jpg)
Pied Piper (Rattenfänger)
![Devil (Teufel) - Modern Grimm - Illustration by Björn Griesbach](https://blog.myarthaus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Devil.jpg)
Devil (Teufel)