Naughty, Not Nice: A Collection of Creepy Krampus Illustrations

It’s that time of year again, where all of the naughty children must fear the terrible Krampus and being stolen away in his sturdy sack to hell. The Krampus, the “Mirror, Mirror” version of old St. Nick is on the prowl, the Norse-ish entity who doesn’t leave gifts but instead takes kids. Joyeux Noel, non?

Okay, we may be a few days late for Krampusnacht, which typically runs at the beginning of December. However quite a few of our Redbubble artists were good and ready to celebrate the hairy harbinger of holiday doom. From cards, to shirts, to print designs, our artists have embraced the true meaning of Krampus.

First up, we have “Christmas Krampus” by retromancy, celebrating the demonic holiday enforcer with a jaunty Christmas card. Heck, of all of the images in the Krampus collection, this image could almost be considered sweet.

You know, except for the terrified children.

Malc Foy ‘s “Better Be Nice…The Krampus is Coming!!” is the badass/ugly sweater design you never knew you wanted. Maybe Foy’s Krampus is a little less metal than some of the others you might find, he’s still got the right amount of devil-may-care attitude to keep your chest looking festive at the old Christmas party.

“The Christmas Krampus” by Valhalla Holverson is a little more sinister, really selling the shaggy menace of the horned one. The striking red, yellow, and black scheme put me in the mind of Soviet propaganda art (a themed gallery with the Krampus as our bitter military enemy might be great).

Douglas Holgate skews his krampus into the “big lug” territory with his cartoony “Grüß Vom Krampus.” I have to say, I nearly typed “big HARMLESS lug” in the previous sentence but soon realized that those are the faces of screaming children in the basket on his back. So yeah. Not such a  harmless lug after all.

In Tiki2‘s “Krampus Greetings” the Krampus is doing that thing that the Krampus does. Troubling? Sure. But dig those colors and deceptively simple illustrations.

Finally, how would you feel if your school chose the Krampus as your mascot? That seems to be the approach with “Krampusnacht Rampage” by monsterfink, which reconfigures the Krampus as the subject of a logo. As striking as the image is, I can’t imagine what school would want an infernal baby thief as their mascot. Notre Dame, maybe?