Why Dark-themed creature artwork feels resonating to me
There is more trend of my artwork of leaning into the theme of dark-themed creature works. Not necessarily realistically horror art but you get my point.
"That is really scary drawing you made" "Oh that's... very biblically scary"
And a lot of people were surprised because I used to draw a lot of cute artwork and concept. But I'd like to explore that more in-depth and more philosophically.
There is a stereotype of what scary creatures I draw means that I'm obsessed with how much I want this gory and scary creature exist in real life when it's really not true.
All I wanted is that to creature as it is on my sketchbook.
That's it, really.
As an artist, drawing scary creatures are much more liberating that drawing cute creatures that you'd want to take it home. You can explore different kinds of variations of anatomy and you can make it weird!
There is a bit of frustration how the role of creatures in entertainment media is either a cute companion or a big cool monsters that will eat you. Perfect for action films. But we never ask more: how does this creature really socialize? When it is going on its own, does it have weird unique traits?
Also, it does feel like making creatures for entertainment mean that you have to tick certain boxes/checklists for other people to relate to immediately. Like people had to immediately know is this creature immediately dangerous or cute that it wants to be friends.
To me, that is really limiting. And to say that, as if only certain creatures look can exist within certain boxes or category, or even archetype is very frustrating.
That's why, dark-themed creature art feels like I'm giving a shelter to these creatures who felt like they do not belong to people. Creating them means I'm allowing it to exist forever on my sketchbook. The public doesn't have to like them, but I will allow it to exist while it lasts.
Because I know how it feels to not belong in a group/world that demands so much of you.
I hope you enjoy this spontanous blog post!