“Nightmare Fuel”

Ink, 8.5x11in., November 2021

This piece quite literally is nightmare fuel. The project was intended for me to gain influence from another artist “pre-digital.” I chose to lean on the works made my Italian illustrator Sergio Toppi. I loved his style and range of subject matter, but when it came time to create my own odd comic I was at a loss. I went to sleep that night and when I woke up I knew the answer had always been right in front of me.

At this time I was struggling with restless sleep and odd dreams, ones never actually nightmares. Not until I saw him, anyways. For months I would catch myself dreaming, most of the time nice, peaceful dreams, but if I looked out the corner of my eye? There he was, an outrageously tall, lanky creature with barely any features: sunken eyes, holes instead of a nose and a terrifying smile I get chills thinking of even now. Every dream I had he was in, never interacting with me, but always watching, its how I knew I was dreaming most of the time.

I thought this weird creature was a permanent fixture of my life, an aggressive reminder that I was only dreaming. So if he was going to stay, I might as well show others, right? While I was drawing this the dreams got worse: he got closer and closer to me every night, almost like he wanted me to get the details just right as the project was coming to an end. And then I finished… and so did the dreams.

I never saw him in another dream again.