Graphic Identity for Elegant Lich

When we began Elegant Lich, we knew we wanted — in the long run — to hire an artist to develop a graphic identity for our publication. But to do that, it will require money and time. So, for the moment, I thought I would look for a public-domain image that we could use to get started.

I went to Wikimedia Commons and started off by looking for medieval images of death — I was originally thinking of one of those dancing skeletons. But then I saw — or was reminded of — the Danse Macabre and so I searched for that. And a few images down, I saw La Danse Macabre by Hermann Paul. I knew I had found what I was looking for.

This woodcut from circa 1920 was part of a collection of 20, according to the Library of Congress. In the artist's wikipedia page (referenced above), it says this about the series from which the particular image is drawn:

Hermann-Paul's first major post-war work was a morbid
series of woodcuts in book form, The Dance With Death
(La danse macabre; vingt gravures sur bois). The series
depicts death's passage through the modern world. Men
are seen as isolated and lonely creatures.

According to Wikimedia Commons, the image is in the public domain (Creative Commons) and does not requite attribution.

It's a striking image and, for the moment, it's enough to get started with.