iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Nightmare

Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Haunted reflection. #Brightvoid

A green anthro mantis leans against a mirror with his eyes closed, hands pressed against it. His reflection has his eyes open, staring intensely at the viewer with extra eyes floating next to his head and roots reaching in from the right side. A thin red thread ties them together at the neck.

Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

First Peal reference sheet vs his most recent one. Both are cropped versions of the originals; as you can tell by the colour palette in the old one having extras. No spoilers for u. He really hasn't changed all that much appearance wise but boy his story has evolved a lot since then.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Today is my day of birth. I baked some anatomically correct heart shaped cakes and will be having shrooms and chinese food later.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Just a lil something quick with Peal (about 3 hours).

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Anyway, more psychedelic powered art tiles! I might think about selling some of them once I get around to scanning them all properly and figuring out which ones I want to keep.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Photo I took while out adventuring with my dog yesterday. It's this one lone tree in the middle of a large abandoned section of road in the middle of the city.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Ok so I may or may not have made my previous post mid LSD trip and am mostly sober now but I STAND BY WHAT I SAID. Being so keenly aware of having a mouth and teeth for like 10 hours was absolutely cursed, lmao.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Awareness is like 90% mouth. Horrible.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

My order of more shrooms and lsd gummies arrived in fantastic time for me to get absolutely obliterated for my birthday week. I booked vacation time for tomorrow and all of next week so I foresee much drawing in my future. 🍄

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Funny thing about me getting into psychedelics is that Nugget, the deuteragonist of my comic, grows mushrooms in his home. Like a lot of them. So now I have some fun ideas of what to do with that fact. I did consider using cordyceps as a plot point once but I felt like they're a bit too overused.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Something I really appreciate about the more recent Kirby games is that Hal Labs agrees with the fandom that Kirby has stars sparkling in his eyes.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Wow, I've been so out of sorts I completely forgot to post this here. I commissioned this lovely piece of Peal a while back from @8thcreation.bsky.social !

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Went on a rampage yesterday, listening to Hollow Knight music and drawing on black art tiles. HK music is great but it hits divine when you're on shrooms. I probably looked like a crazy person frantically drawing these. The Peal one is probably my favorite of the bunch.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Based on some of the things I saw while on shrooms. All the butterflies were fluttering their wings and it was super pretty.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Just a little update on what's been going on and where I've been. Plus bonus preview of a completed frame from the short comic I've been working on.

I've been trapped in an art block for a while now due to my mental health struggles and nothing in traditonal medicine was helping. If anything it made me feel worse since it seemed like there was nothing that could help me. That is when I discovered the concept of therapeutic psilocybin use and that it has a great deal of scientific evidence for being capable of treating otherwise treatment resistant mental health issues. I've spent my whole life never doing any recreational drugs and never had any interest in it, but at this point I'm willing to do just about anything to claw my way out of this pit.

It was a lot easier to get the shrooms than I ever expected it to be and I tried a small 1g dose over the weekend. According to the dosage guide I used it was supposed to be a mild effect, but wowee that shit hit me like a freight train. There are no words to truly describe how intensely beautiful of an experience it was and I vastly underestimated how much crying there would be. But it was a good kind of crying. I had a vision of tall iridescent mushrooms towering all around me and they told me they were so happy that I had finally arrived and that when this experience was over I should not be sad because they would still be there waiting for me when I was ready to return. It was such a warm and welcoming sensation.

I feel different now, in a way that's hard to explain. More importantly, I've started actually drawing and painting again. I can't remember the last time I've felt this inspired and motivated to do things. It's like being a kid again. So I hope to have new things to show you all soon.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Decided to watch the Backrooms since I was already there anyway and holy shit that banged. One of my new all time fav horror movies for sure. That one scene where it's just standing there in the middle of the brightly lit furniture store is so wonderfully silly and menacing at the same time haha.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Just got out from watching the finale of TADC. The crowd was pretty great and booed the Harry Potter ad, lol. I have some mixed feelings about the episode's pacing. I think it successfully accomplished what Gooseworx was trying to do; but I don't trust the online fandom to be normal about it, lol.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Sesshomaru enjoys grass a very normal amount.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Successfully acquired a ticket for the finale to the Amazing Digital Circus! There weren't a lot of seats left so it looks like they will be completely sold out by the day of. I'll have to skip work that day to go but I can't even remember the last time I've gone out and done something so fuck it.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I think one of the most under emphasized aspects of climate change is the increase of zoonotic disease spread. When I was a kid I literally lived in the forest and never had to worry about ticks in the slightest. Now I live in the city and they're EVERYWHERE. And it will only get worse with time.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Decided to finish up this acrylic painting of monarch butterflies I started a while back. I'm not particularly good at it since I have very little experience with paint, but I find myself enjoying traditional mediums more lately.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

It always surprises me when I get new followers cause I post like 3 new pieces of art a year and spend the rest of the time longing to return to the void.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Been a hot minute since I last posted. Don't really know what to say here other than I thought I was doing better, only to discover I've developed what can only be described as a phobia of friendship. Therapy is not helping and I don't know what to do. So things are slow on the creative front rn.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Found my old tins of pencil crayons and watercolors so I decided to draw a little something with them. Pigments still look great despite being like 20 years old, lol.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Hi, promise I'm not dead just doing a lot of overtime to cover vet bills and I am TIRED. 🪦

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Been a pretty chaotic week getting this little velociraptor settled into his new home, which includes getting him a more expensive playpen because he figured out how to escape the other one. He loves berries and will give me an offended look if I dare offer him dog treats during training.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Had to take Amunet to the vet today. She's going in for emergency surgery and I'm not really sure how it's gonna turn out. The vet bill is gonna be something crazy though so I might have to temporarily open commissions to try and cover some of the costs.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

I don't have him just yet because I need to get a few more things for him first but look at the boy I'm getting! He's a cream shiba inu that I've decided to name Sesshomaru for obvious reasons, lol. He's gonna be a lot of work but I'm looking forward to owning a dog on my terms for the first time!

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

I really tried to work on stuff but I am so tired and sore from this flu that I just can't do it. So have this chart I did a while back for now. Valentine's day is Peal's birthday entirely by accident but ironically fitting given his reputation for crushing hearts. He's very hostile toward advances.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

I have this extremely specific brain curse where every time I see literally anything with Shakra in it my brain just immediately yells SHAKIRA then aggressively plays the "my hips don't lie" song in my head.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I never posted this one here? Vim's design came about as a game of "how do I change everything about her originally being a Grimmchild without losing the vibe of one". And the answer came as inversion: black face white body. She's older than she appears but Peal still treats her like a daughter.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Bug artists that happen to be both trans and ace seems to be a frequent enough phenomenon that I can't help but wonder if there's something to it from a psychological standpoint, lol.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Oh, in regards to the oc boundaries thing, I want it to be known that while you can ship and do nsfw, I will not endorse pairings that aren't canon to prevent any confusion about that. Some people can get a little, uh, overly enthusiastic about ships and I don't need that kind of drama in my life.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

So I wear zip-up hoodies almost religiously all year round and I'm so annoyed at the lack of nicely designed ones that I'm like this 🤏 close to deciding to just take a detour into designing a whole line of clothes for myself once I'm done with my current Peal piece.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

🎨 Share your OC boundaries 🖌️ Is Fanart okay? Hell yeah brother. 💞 Is shipping okay? Yes, but not my sonas. 🖋️ Is Fanfiction ok? I guess? ♊️ Can other’s draw their OC’s with yours? Ye 🙅‍♀️ NSFW? Sure, but not my sonas and please respect the orientations of my ocs. 🤖 AI? A plague upon your house.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I wasn't really expecting much when I ordered this Grimm figure but I'm actually pretty impressed by the quality of it. Got a nice heft to it too. Could probably stab someone with the sharp edges of his cape though.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

This piece is kind of a lot for my skill level and has been sitting as a WIP for ages but I'm gonna try to actually finish it for Peal's upcoming birthday.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Describe your plot in five words or less—if you dare. Brightvoid 🐛🕸️ Devour gods; embrace the void.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Oh, just realized I'm close to 100 followers. Tbh, I'm surprised to have gotten this many at all given I've been mostly dead online and not posting much new art until recently. Not exactly doing great but, on the mend I guess. I'll never be the same but I appreciate those who've stuck around anyway.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Energy levels crashing so here's a lil sneaky peek at some very rough sketches from the next mini comic I'm working on. Behold the ridiculous size difference I have to work with to try and fit Peal and Nugget in one frame, lmao.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Good news: One of my mantis ooths hatched! Bad news: The container wasn't completely closed and there are now hundreds of 1cm bouncy babies in my apartment. Help.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

In making the size differences between my characters somewhat proportional to their real life insect equivalents I've ended up with a recurring side character who's literally the size of Nugget's head. This character is an adult. This poor microorganism of a man, lmao.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Silhouettes are your friend. They are my go to for working out initial character designs and complicated poses. You can also kinda cheat with it because if the silhouette LOOKS right it doesn't really matter if the anatomy isn't technically accurate.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Been on a roll tonight. Gotta stop now though but here's a couple sketches from Rosamund's ref sheet I've been working out. She's the butterfly goddess-queen that Peal serves and she uh... well, he has his hands full when it comes to her.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

I had a really stupid thought while I was at work and needed to doodle it out. So enjoy a little Peal shitpost.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Slowly finishing off the WIPs I've had laying around forever. I guess you can think of this as a bonus piece for the Stargazer mini comic. #Brightvoid #oc #bug #digitalart #illustration #canadianartist

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Dracula has two settings: polite little man and absolute goblin. At least he finally stopped launching himself at the curtains for no reason, lol.

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Reposted by Nightmare

Cinderoid✨ @cindervoidz.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Illustration for @nightmaremantis.bsky.social of his OC Peal! Thank you so much for c0mmissioning me! ✨

Image shows an illustration of an anthro mantis from their waist up. He is wearing a white robe with golden details, and he looks towards the viewer, pointing one of the raptorial claws forward. In the background is golden skies.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

My overall plan with Brightvoid is to get all the actual design work completed this year so that I can be ready to start completing and posting the real comic next year. This includes the architecture. All of the writing is already done now so I know everything that I need to have ready.

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