"She was as normal as normal could be

and lived all her life in the city

until one cloudy day

her nose ran away

to live in a house by the sea"

"cry" said he

"why?" asked she

"I'm death" said he

"...oh" said she

-Kubi

I had quite a bit of fun trying to illustrate sojushots short story "Hiding"! these particular monsters are supposed to look like mutated memories of people that went from reality to nightmares. I am no good at lettering, so If someone wanted to re-mix sojushots story or a work of their own digitally into this image---I would be ever so grateful!

Included in this compressed folder are:

1. When monsters leave their cages

2. monstrous forethought

3. the pack extended image

4. Daughter's and Vultures: Hangman's Tale #3 unedited

This was my test drawing for my "when mosters leave their cages" ink painting, I think I like the colors more on this one--so prehaps someone can help me out with a story?

my apologies to lynmidnight for turning her beautiful heartfelt story into a little monster

"In the library, there is a book... in the book, there is a sentence... in the sentence, there is a name - my own. If you find it, I am yours."

-lynmidnight

"Tired of being poked, and drowned and prodded with pins,

Monsieur Voodoo set out to find a better group of friends."

"When the monsters tore through the wall, there he stood. 

Cardboard armor. 

Waiting to battle them all."

-I am 1954

"“Raise your hands when we jump, and we’ll lift each other over the puddle.”

-Symbiote

"It was on the tip of my tongue... So I cut it off." -Kubi 

"Some say that in the moments before you die, you can hear the hiss of the three sisters, and of their wicked scissors snipping short your lifeline."

Mary, Mary quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

Poorly, I say

Can’t keep this winter at bay

Even the rosebud seems to know

This compressed file includes

1. Gargoyles

2. Flying

3. The Wings of a Moth

4. Casket

Theserpentthecharmer obviously has a gift with words, and so I was overjoyed when he put some of his short stories in the "Spiderlimbs and Eerie Things" collab. This is the first in a series of four drawings/illustrations for "Daughters and Vultures". Colorists and Letterers---you know what to do!

"I'd ask the hangman to wait, to wait until I found your face in the crowd. "

"I'll never make peace, so don't ever ask it; I'll bury the Hatchet, along with your casket."

-MadisenMusic

I left out the white boxes typical of comic/graphic novels so that letterers can have a bit more freedom with insertion of the lines from Metaphorest's poem. Have free reign! 

"From a distance,

Henrietta Hexagram-Head

looked just like a star.

So, when she fell from a tall tree,

instead of rushing to her aid,

the watching witnesses made wishes on her

(Which never came true)"

This was intended for Henriette Hexagram Head---but maybe someone else can come up with a tiny story for it?

While almost completely useless for this film, I just had to draw out the pack of wolves from theserpentthecharmer's Departure poem/story/film/collab

"If you'd come back to life, you'd find a den of wolves at my door

Asking if that pretty girl is coming around anymore"

She began to wonder if, next time, she could just float in love with someone; she had had enough of falling.

I certainly know what I was thinking when I painted this, but everyones reactions and stories seem so very different that I would be fascinated to see some tiny stories based on this---have at it!

------------------------------------------------------------

truth time: this is actually just a partial shot of the whole image, I can upload the full thing if anyone would be interested in seeing it.

"The men carried the box, and they wore black coats, and they all tried to imagine the box was filled with just air, but it was far too heavy to be anything else."

-theserpentthecharmer

"What if someday the one who is dreaming this dream wakes up and forgets us?"

-ppeppina

"what's the matter?" asked he

...but dead, already, was she.

-Kubi

I intentionally left this one simplistic in the hopes that another inker might get inspired to create background context, or a colorist might feel like they have some more artistic freedom!

And that wonderfully twisty little story is all Kubi's!

"The walls may have ears, but they know when to keep their mouths shut."

"There's a crowd

Inside my head.

I'll let them out

Before I'm dead."

-epocadofim

I was very content with this little drawing when it came out, but it averaged below my usual number of hearts and so was wondering what HR saw that I missed. What do you think I could do to improve this piece? Give me your knowledge and brain thoughts :) I would love to hear them!

Graphic novel approach to tiny stories!

"Last Friday at tea time, Fitz invited a moustache to reside on his face. Unfortunately, the moustache had been born with a very poor sense of direction."

"They say chocolate causes nightmares, so I eat a bar every night before bed, otherwise I dream of you."

"Curiosity killed the cat, the dog and the rest of the family as well."

"Negativity is a scary monster who can grow very big,

so I don't like to feed it."

"You told me everything.

Now I miss your mystery. "

"The ghastly girl fell dreadfully in love with the beastly boy over breakfast, when she first noticed him pouring salt into the sugar bowl."

"Every now and then I consider the very real possibility that someone has just made me up."

Second attempt at the crowd, am obviously very enamored with this concept!

"

There's a crowd

Inside my head.

I'll let them out

Before I'm dead."

"Sometimes I dream that I'm dead, and it's quiet, and I wake to find that I still hate all this sound."

"at nightfall, when the temperature drops, this old house creaks & groans like its cracking its bones & i hear mice running inside the walls."

"we used to perform magic together,

before the incident."

"I lent you my stars with absolute trust,

you used them all up and returned only dust"

"

sometimes, when it rains,

i walk through the cemetery

waiting for you to sprout

back to life."

Sleeping just doesnt seem to happen for me anymore, so it means triple the work for hitrecord!

"Earth and Moon dance so close for so long—they cannot look each other in the eye."

-Symbiote (sorry I am having issues citing your work!)

"Everyone just wants to be liked and accepted. Except for Tim. Tim doesn't give a shit."

please feel free to erase the text and write your own story about this crazy prideful unicorn

"Johnny trips over and bashes his head

And out of the hole his ideas have have fled

And now his boots will no longer tread,

'Cause without the ideas he's nothing but dead."

having trouble sourcing epocadofim :/

And he waited for an awfully long time, watching as shadows grew and pigeons flew, but no one ever came

"I just need some time away

to remember why I stay"

"i want desperately
to press you between the pages
of a book,
and keep you forever."

This is my submission for this months Laika contest, but it works as a tiny story too!

"If I fall to bits

will you scoop me up in a jar

and scatter me amongst the stars?"

"Sometimes it feels like I'm a traveler in my own mind."