@hellpepperarts.bsky.social
Artist, storyteller and mental health advocate. Commissions open! My IG is @/iWasATeenagePepper They/Them
A stage sits empty while the head of a large organism peaks from above.
You haven’t performed for God today! Change that!
12.08.2025 02:59 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Two people sit in the back of a restaurant next to a rain-soaked window. Something is outside, but no one can see except one person. A silly guy is in the foreground.
“Can’t even enjoy a good dinner, these days.”
08.07.2025 23:47 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A winged child with no face and yellow eyes sits on a stone wall in the forest.
A colossal hand reaches from a hole in the forest.
Nurture Nature or Nature won’t Nurture you.
☁️ 🌞 ☁️
🤚🏻 🖐🏻 ✋🏻
🩸 🩸 🩸
🌲 🕳️ 🌲
#forest #hike #horrorart #horror #monster #art #artist #illustrator #illustration #surrealism #scarystories
Excerpt from my WIP graphic novel, “My Brain Itches!”
#art #artist #illustration #illustrator #comic #graphicnovel #wip #workinprogress #improvclass #memoir
Beasts of the Grey
#scarystories #shortstories #horror #demon #cryptid #creature #spooky #monster #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #horror #nightmare #horrorart #bodyhorror #lol #idk #randomart
Thank you!
12.03.2025 05:14 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
God imagined us wrong, now we imagine god wrong
#psychosis #art #artist #illustrator #poetry #digitalart #surrealism #dreams #horrorart #horror #selfportrait #smile
“I couldn’t explain it…
When I looked with my eyes, the grey bricks stood still, cracks in the walls and covered in stone-dust. But as soon as the camera flashed, and the photo came out, there was… something else.”
(Photos taken in the giant heart at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.)
A suited mans head melds into the house surrounding him. He is becoming one with Suburbia.
The head of a colossal statue sits on a pedestal, bleeding from its too-real eyes.
Two uniformed men stand in front of a huge chained-up kaiju.
History in the Maiming.
#horror #scarystories #demons #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #photography #photoedit #monsters #conceptart #commissionsopen #horrorart
Icon vs artist
13.02.2025 06:19 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
In times of stress,
In times of worry,
When you’re a mess,
When you must hurry…
Hold on to the Love in your heart,
Fight for it, and make some Art.
🌀
#art #love #artist #lover #illustration #peace #illustrator #surrealism #surrealart #dreams
He has Arrived 😍
#scarystories #shortstories #horror #demon #cryptid #creature #spooky #monster #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #ghost #spirits #cursed #haunted #cryptids #photo #photography #nightmare #horrorart #bodyhorror #photoedit #scaryart #creepyart
An artist stands proudly in front of yellow flowers. They are surrounded by translucent colors, hallucinations. A demon clings onto their shirt collar with one hand, barely hanging on.
Put some Pep in your Step!
#selfportrait #photography #nonbinary #queer #artist #art #mixedmedia #author #writer
Cover of work-in-progress graphic novel, “My Brain Itches!” by Pepper Auerbach. An ominous hand reaches out of the back of Peppers head.
Another cover, with Pepper scared and another hand coming out of their head. The title, “My Brain Itches!” is met with the word “SCRATCH!” creepily written around Pepper.
Pepper is crying during a psychotic episode while someone reaches towards them, trying to help.
Pepper falls back into their chair while having a psychotic break, yelling “What’s wrong with me?!” into the air.
“My Brain Itches!” is a graphic novel I have been working on for a while, so I’ll probably be updating BlueSky with info about it. It’s a memoir about a queer kid with schizoaffective disorder and anxiety 🫶🏻
#art #artist #illustration #illustrator #comic #memoir #mentalhealth #graphicnovel
A whaling ship, lost in a fog at sea, encounters mysterious eyes emerging from the depths below.
Eyes on the Water.
#gonefishing #onthwater #horror #horrorart #scifi #scifiart #fantasy #pirates #sailor #sailors #ocean #mystery #photography #illustration #illustrator #art #artist #demonic #demons
A person struggles with a demon residing in their senses, in the form of hair. Cloudy blue skies surround them.
Barber Yaga//Sensory Hell.
#itchybrain #itch #horror #horrorart #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #commissionsopen #demonic #demon #originalcharacter #scifi #fantasy
#dreams #nightmares #pendrawing #drawing #horror #art #artist #illustrator #illustration #letsgetcreative #notes #mentalhealth
19.01.2025 14:00 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0#dreams #nightmares #pendrawing #drawing #horror #art #artist #illustrator #illustration #letsgetcreative #notes #mentalhealth
19.01.2025 14:00 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The sky is not made specifically for me :( but it has occurred miraculously for all of us :)
19.01.2025 13:54 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Some original characters I drew with pen that have come to me in dreams ✍️
19.01.2025 13:51 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A man lies in bed, attempting to sleep, while a moth flies overhead. A crucifix hangs above his head.
The man gets out of bed in the morning.
The man eats cereal for breakfast while it rains outside. He stares at a picture of his wife, his spoon dragging along the side of the bowl. A bug crawls near a hanging ornament that says “Bless This Mess.”
The man gets back in bed, bugs and demons crawling over him as he waits for sleep again.
There is no mundane, there is only reality.
#horrorart #horror #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #depression #queerartist
Mister Mouthful.
#nosleep #horror #demon #cryptid #creature #spooky #monster #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #photo #photography #nightmare #bodyhorror #photoedit #scaryart #creepyart #historicalfiction
Pepper being bored of jumpscares in a horror movie: “But as a fan, I feel I should critique even the films I enjoy. It can be queerphobic, sexist, ableist, and for people like me, people with psychosis, the only (mis)representation available.”
Norman Bates (played by famously queer actor Anthony Perkins) at the top of the page: “Most movies get it wrong, they act like we’re the monsters but we are usually the victims.” Image of a lobotomy, image of Sonya Massey, image of a man being fired, image of a person being called schizo/freak: “Victims of institutions, police, job discrimination, bullying and more.”
More realistic cartoonish image of Pepper: “But we are more than just victims. Not are we villains. We are humans, and worthy of respect.”
“So, to people like me: I say make your own representation. Share your story and break the stigma.”
14.01.2025 14:48 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Pepper, a young kid, sits looking at a horror movie on their overheating laptop computer: “I have seen many monsters in my life. I can’t remember if I saw them in movies first… or in the shadows of my room.”
Pepper, experiencing hallucinations in a theater: “Beings from my dreams and nightmares come forward in my day-to-day life, and usually have a lot to say. When you see these characters as often as I do, it changes how you think about horror. Because I experience things, scary things…”
Pepper rolls an iris like Sisyphus rolling the boulder up a hill: “…Things that nobody else can experience. Sights, sounds and voices… it can often weigh me down.”
Pepper reading Clive Barkers, “Thief of Always”: “Yet still, I love the horror genre. It allows us to explore our emotions, including fear, in a safe environment.” (Pointing to a monster from The Thing, 1982) “Plus, look how cool this is! Wow, I hope they make a prequel! …Oops sorry..”
Hi, I’m Pepper :) I am a queer artist/writer (for hire), mental health advocate, and avid horror fan. I hope you enjoy the illustrations you see here! Take care of yourself 🫶🏻
14.01.2025 14:48 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A woman with one large, drooling mouth protruding from her face in place of eyes and a nose. She sits in her favorite chair, waiting.
Mother Mouthful.
#scarystories #shortstories #horror #demon #cryptid #creature #spooky #monster #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #ghost #spirit #possessed #cursed #haunted #analoghorror #photography #photoedit #horrorart #creepyart #scaryart
A man stares at his technology on the Subway, and Serpents of Blue Light slither out.
A man stares at his phone in the dark of his bedroom; a Serpent of Blue Light slithers out, ready to bite.
The man can not sleep, and will soon pick up his phone again to consume (or be consumed by) the Serpent of Blue Light.
The Journey to an Absence of Sleep.
#psychosis #hallucinations #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #surrealism #depression #anxiety #horrorart #horror #graphicnovel #queer #queerartist #transartist #strangeart
Pepper and their hallucinations walking on a beach.
Beach Episode! Pepper, Cabby and Azzy experiencing (sur)Reality.
#art #psychosis #horror #beachday #artist #demons #graphicnovel #characterdesign #originalcharacter
Colossus of Kentucky.
29.05.2024 13:12 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Hi, Bluesky. It’s been a while.
29.05.2024 13:11 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
I am deeper than oceans,
And lighter than air.
I keep you up thinking,
Even though you’re half aware.
You may remember seeing me,
But I was never really there.
And whenever you have me,
I’m gone like a blink to a stare.
💤
#surreal #art #illustration #dream #nightmare #horror #magic
