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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.
omg.... i told my dad to NEVER put a big mirror in my room even tho im kinda ok with the tiny ones.... thanks to my frnds i have a very good fear of mirrors now....
Ya, I heard about Bloody Mary from my cousin, and now I get freaked out about doing things 3 times.
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... and dolls.I am 51 yo but my entire life i've hated mirrors and dolls in my bedroom.
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Oh it's not even my reflection that scares me, it's the thought of a demon or something
I have a huge fear of mirrors, there are none in my bedroom and only the bathroom cabinet mirror in my house.
I never look at the wall mirror in the hall when I go to the bathroom during night, because I am afraid I'll see someone else's reflection instead of mine
I never stare at a mirror in dark because the reflection does its own thing.
Me too I fear this every night so I stare at the mirror and if something showed up I can alert my family by screaming.
I had spectraphobia and it just started settling down in the past few weeks so I took the towels off my mirrors...im putting them back up now
I've put kind of wallpaper over it. It looks good. :)
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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!”
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.”
Same... Im scared that if i suddenly open my eyes there will be something crouching on my chest of something
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.
Or maybe you're just a Daoist clone and your main body is trying to contact you.
I haver this same dream and it's HORRIBLE, every time it feels SO real!
Note: this post originally had 49 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
You living alone, and when you check your phone, you have a photo of you, sleeping. At midnight, when someone knocks at your door and you look at the slight opening below the door, there are no feet. You may be woken up by the feeling of someone's touch on your feet while you are sleeping. Goodnight. Happy sleeping. 🤗
When we die. We remain conscious, While our bodies rot Or are burned.
The ones that are the most scary for me are the ones that say the reality I'm living in is in fact, not real, or it's just a dream. The worst part is, there's no way to prove whether your life is just a dream or not
I have one. I kinda leave my body while I'm sleeping. It doesn't happen so often anymore which bothers me a lot. It used to be I was afraid I would die and bot be able to get back in but now I'm more afraid I'll never leave again.
I can't imagine what kind of sleeping dreams the comic author has
You living alone, and when you check your phone, you have a photo of you, sleeping. At midnight, when someone knocks at your door and you look at the slight opening below the door, there are no feet. You may be woken up by the feeling of someone's touch on your feet while you are sleeping. Goodnight. Happy sleeping. 🤗
When we die. We remain conscious, While our bodies rot Or are burned.
The ones that are the most scary for me are the ones that say the reality I'm living in is in fact, not real, or it's just a dream. The worst part is, there's no way to prove whether your life is just a dream or not
I have one. I kinda leave my body while I'm sleeping. It doesn't happen so often anymore which bothers me a lot. It used to be I was afraid I would die and bot be able to get back in but now I'm more afraid I'll never leave again.
I can't imagine what kind of sleeping dreams the comic author has
