Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)

A sledding dog is covered in ice after spending the night in the open air with his musher at the polar base of Val-Cenis, as they ready for the next stage of the 12th edition of “La Grande Odyssee” sledding race across the Alps on January 17, 2016 in Val Cenis Lanslevillard. (Photo by Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP Photo)

Chisanga Mwila dressed as Ariel from The Little Mermaid on Cullercoats beach, Newcastle on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 ahead of the 2023 live-action remake of the film as part of an awareness campaign from sustainable toilet paper company Oceans highlighting the negative impact of marine pollution on the British coastline. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Human wax figures to build scenes depicting traditional life in a new museum are seen in Basra, Iraq on June 12, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Aty/Reuters)

In the forests of Viiksimo in Finland, in October 2023, a popular spot for watching wolves and bears, a crow has a rival at its lunch spot. (Photo by Valtteri Mulkahainen/Caters News Agency)

In this Wednesday, September 17, 2014 photo, the sun shines over a field of sunflowers in Walkill, N.Y. (Photo by John DeSanto/AP Photo/Times Herlad-Record)

Erica Bougard of the U.S. competes in the high jump event of the women's heptathlon during the 15th IAAF World Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing, China, August 22, 2015. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Mystical Forest. Tracey Jennings photographed this seven-gill shark in a kelp forest just off the shore of Simon's Town near Cape Town, South Africa. You don't need to travel far from cities to visit Narnia. This 7 gill shark was photographed in a kelp forest just off the shore of Simonstown near Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Tracey Jennings/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)