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)

Katjinga, a Rhodesian ridgeback dog who lives on a 20-acre farm in Germany, adopted an abandoned pot-bellied piglet in August 2009. The tiny black piglet, named Paulinchen, had been so small at birth that her mother likely overlooked it. Katjinga's owner, Roland Adam, found the piglet alone and cold and brought it to his 8-year-old dog. (Photo by Fame Pictures)

Two brown bears bathe in their enclosure at the Wildpark Poing in Poing, Germany, Wednesday, August 8, 2018. (Photo by Lino Mirgeler/Deutsche Presse-Agentur via AP Photo)

American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, and businesswoman Heather Renée Sweet, known professionally as Dita Von Teese looking stunning while advertising new items from her own underwear range in the last decade of January 2023. (Photo by TNI Press Ltd)

Giant panda Yu Ai enjoys fruit “kebabs” at Chongqing Zoo on November 30, 2024 in Chongqing, China. (Photo by Li Hongbo/VCG via Getty Images)

Linda Rooks from Yeovil in Somerset, a hostess at Whipsnade Zoo, wears “Tanga” a 7fy long python as a hat and scarf. (Photo by William Vanderson/Getty Images). 1965

Seth Casteel is an award-winning photographer and the New York Times Best Selling Author of Underwater Dogs. His new book, Underwater Puppies, was published September 16, 2014. Photo: “Underwater Puppies”: Popcicle. (Photo by Seth Casteel)