Innocence and creepiness

There’s something unsettling about the work of Sacramento artist and cartoonist Michael Bookout. The figures in his illustrations—mostly young maidens—are gaunt, spindly and sullen-looking. Often drafted with hard lines and murky hues, his complicated narratives appear to be steeped in dark emotion, and in some ways, such as a sense for fantasy and combination of innocence and creepiness, are reminiscent of the folk art of Henry Darger.