Brian Froud worked on The Dark Crystal - most of the characters are based on existing designs of his. I always loved his faeries, because they were so otherworldy and not-pretty. Even the pretty ones never looked like you could trust them. Gorgeous stuff.

The troll witches were my favorite. When I went to design a costume for my part in the Dance of Death parade at the Ren Faire, I based her on the idea of a dead troll witch. So I made a mask of a troll witch skull, painted it with magic symbols and hung all kinds of shells and bones and stones from it, and draped myself in black, cobwebby rags and bones. I played castanets. It remains one of my proudest works of art.