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This Artist Illustrates People’s Deep Dark Fears And Some Of Them Are Unsettling (30 Pics)
Interview With Artist
Fran Krause is a comic writer, illustrator, animator, and educator based in California, who teaches animation at the California Institute of the Arts. Fran needs no introduction to those familiar with the weird and wonderful world of animation, as he worked for various projects on television and a bunch of popular comic series, like James Kochalka’s SuperF*ckers.
But today Fran is best known for his “Deep Dark Fears” project where he puts a creepy, captivating, and insanely funny spin on things people fear the most. Fran gets sent fear submissions from strangers on the internet that he then turns into colorful comics, putting our irrational anxieties into a whole new spotlight.
In 2015, his first book “Deep Dark Fears” became a New York Times bestseller for hardcover graphic novels, followed by a second volume “The Creeps: A Deep Dark Fears Collection” in 2017. So welcome to the internet’s beloved corner of idiosyncratic fears that capture imagination and release the silent demons inside, some of whom are funnier than we tend to think.
More info: DeepDarkFears.com | Twitter | Instagram | FranKrause.tumblr.com
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To find out more about the weird and wonderful world of “Deep Dark Fears,” Bored Panda reached out to the artist behind it, Fran Krause. Fran’s captivating illustrations became an instant hit both online, and in the illustration industry. His first book, “Deep Dark Fears,” premiered as a New York Times bestseller six years ago and his fan base has been constantly growing ever since.
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Part of its popularity probably has to do with the fact that “Deep Dark Fears” genuinely touches people in a way that not much art does these days. Fran said that while working on his comics, he noticed that everyone seems to have fears, which is what makes his work so relatable. “Even people who look totally normal are actually afraid that there are goblins in their attic, or that their food has been secretly poisoned by assassins!”
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Fran also said that “it would be very strange to be alone in your fear. If you've had a strange fear, it's almost impossible to be alone in that fear.” So he guessed that “there are probably millions of people who are afraid that a snake has found its way into their toilet.”
When asked how “Deep Dark Fears” evolved with time, Fran said that he still draws them the same way, “in my sketchbook with a little watercolor kit. I've tried not to repeat myself, so the subject matter wanders around as I look for new subjects.”
He also noticed that the earlier illustrations “were gory, and then they were spooky,” and added: “I've been doing a bunch lately on childhood fears.”
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Eva the Egg 5 years ago
Same... Im scared that if i suddenly open my eyes there will be something crouching on my chest of something
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Jayne Kyra 5 years ago
I was so sick of (and from) meds for my migraines that I decided to get a Daith piercing. I don´t know if it really helped, or if it is a placebo effect, but 2 years later and my migraines are still less frequent than before. (Once every 2-3 weeks, to once every 2-3 months.)
People send their fear submissions to Fran and he receives quite a lot of them, anywhere from one hundred to five hundred, and if it gets onto a big website, he might get a thousand. In that sense, the artist goes through every single book on human fears on a weekly basis.
“I think, if I'm reading someone's fear, and an image pops into my head, I'm more likely to draw it as a comic. I'm looking for things that have a text and a drawn component,” he said. “I like how the text can support the image, or it can do something totally different. I like playing with how they both interact,” Fran concluded.
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ChinmayGhule 5 years ago
Or maybe you're just a Daoist clone and your main body is trying to contact you.
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Petro Roos 5 years ago
I haver this same dream and it's HORRIBLE, every time it feels SO real!
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Janus Sanders 5 years ago
thankfully that's not what happens. imagine how much more painful it would be than it already is! *shudders*
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Petro Roos 5 years ago
I used to thick that of horses. I'd cry - like ugly cry - every time a horse died in a movie, and be angry at everyone who participated in the movie, for killing horses - I couldn't understand why no one was sad that horses are dying.
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Petro Roos 5 years ago
I'm worried I'll swerve the car if I sneeze while driving and cause an enormous accident.
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