Hello everyone! Today I have a major update. It’s been a little secret between my patrons and I that I’m ready to reveal to the public. The past year, I got into designing monster stickers and launched an alternate Etsy shop. The stickers are going to be available here and Etsy. My ultimate goal is to make a collection, launch a collector’s book, and have really fun mystery boxes with stickers, spooky art, and other fun stuff.
Give a Cold Welcome to these Demons from the Cozy Void
I have summoned 4 monsters from the void, and a few mushroom-themed friends from this year’s Funguary art challenge. Some of these monsters come to me spontaneously from the my imagination, and others come from research into symbolism or particular subjects; like the Funugary mushroom figures are all inspired by specific mushrooms and I will post a page about the challenge later (although that’s all up on Patreon already). I hope you find these gothic, cool and fun at the same time!
The black & white stickers are all pencil drawings, carefully scanned, and enchanted with a holographic or glitter effect that brings them to life. Some are a glitter, some holographic, and some will have other effects as I experiment in the future.
If you’re interested in these monster stickers and dark artwork, I would love it if you joined the Cozy Void. Just sign up to my newsletter or update your info by re-entering it and make sure to check off you want to see dark art.
Why monster stickers?
Simply put, creature art is what inspired me to become an artist in the first place. When I was a little kid, I loved drawing dinosaurs, dragons, unicorns, anything with wings, then fanart for Pokemon, Neopets, and the like. I never played Magic the Gathering, but I loved the artwork on the cards. I still my trading card collections today.
I wanted to get back to doing art like that, but randomly sprinkling dragon paintings in all my “fine art” work doesn’t suffice and I had no interest in working as a concept artist full-time. I struggled to find a place to fit this into my usual art practice, so this dark graveyard of childhood ideas never really gets to flourish into a ghastly haunted house like it deserves. I really feel like this is an untapped part of my creativity that I am stuck not offering, especially when I think a lot of creature design is recycled and pretty unimaginative.
Why separate my art practice into different themes?
If you’ve been talking with me for the long term, you know I’ve been struggling for years to know what to do with my art identity. Actually, it’s a question I see pop up for many artists, too.
I like to make a lot of different art around a lot of different themes, which is actually a problem as much as a gift. I make everything from happy animal art, portraits, landscapes, to horrifying surreal nightmares and quiet, sad liminal spaces. I always felt like I have to choose one or the other, and that internal conflict for an artist is as stressful as picking a college or a place to live. You solidify with the world what kind of artist you are, or look like you lack any focus.
I’m sure it’s sometimes confusing to people who I really am as an artist. I get people coming here for the stylish traditional cityscapes that are turned off by the nightmare imagery and people who know I work with Umami on dark, absurd animations that go huh? So I’m going to try create some separation between the two & see how that goes… I would find it very funny if, in the end, I just end up here in the middle again.
So this new Etsy shop will have all the “weird stuff”: dark, surreal, absurd, mystical art. The regular Etsy shop will have the “fine art” work: my animal illustrations, the cityscapes and landscapes.