iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 14h

New sona for me (so people can stop confusing Peal as one)! -He/It -Unicorn horn is a cordyceps stalk and the sparkles are spores. -While it looks like a mantis, it isn't. -His saliva contains LSD. -Clothes can be changed to whatever; overall keeps a gothic Lisa Frank vampire vibe.

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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 · 21/09/2026

It's actually a redraw of this piece I did back in 2022-2023ish. I wasn't happy with it back then so I always planned to come back to it. I'm much happier with the new one even though the shading is less detailed.

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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

Awareness is like 90% mouth. Horrible.

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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 · 25/05/2026

Sesshomaru enjoys grass a very normal amount.

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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 · 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 · 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 · 16/02/2026

Got more photos of Sesshomaru! The little white patch on his forehead is perfection. 💞 He's coming home next weekend.

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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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Page 7/7. I'm pretty happy with how Nugget looks in this one. The pop of red colour works nicely. Also official main comic title reveal! 🎉I've used a few placeholder titles for it before settling on Brightvoid, which I'm going to try to remember to use it as a tag for all related art going forward.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Page 6/7. Oops world plunged into eternal night. No one's seen the sun in centuries.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Got a little distracted with tweaking Nugget's old ref sheet. It's still not fully accurate to how he looks now but good enough until I remake it, lol. I want to do a few more mini comics this year of him and Peal having short interactions cause they have such a fun dynamic to write. #bug #oc #art

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Page 5/7. I'm not sure I can ever do justice to the dream I had of the earth's oceans getting pulled up into the void but I sure tried my best here. There was no fear in my heart at seeing it, only wonderment and joy. It felt like being in the presence of the divine.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Page 4/7. Nothing quite like chilling out and watching the end of the world. Kind of a funny way for me to ring in the new year, lmao.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Page 3/7. I'm sure the ominous black hole in the sky is nothing to worry about.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Page 1/7 of the lil comic I've been messing around with! Mostly to experiment, so some things turned out better than others. It's based on a dream I had a while back, and is loosely tied to the story Peal is part of. Will also be revealing the title of said main story at the end of this one! #comic

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Blessings upon CSPs toning capabilities. Been working on a short test comic to mess around and figure out what tools and stylistic choices will work best for the actual comic. The backgrounds have been a bit of a challenge since I'm not used to rendering this way but it's pretty fun to play with.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

A dark stranger, playing with the threads of fate. Trying to find a style that lets me do finished colours really fast while still looking presentable.

Digital art of an anthro mantis oc, wearing red and white hanfu style robes and smirking at the viewer. Various black spidery legs sprout from his back and a red spider web is entangled with his upheld hand.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Found an old crunchy sketch and decided to try and spruce it up and finish it. This is, in fact, not Peal but his Very Mysterious™️ doppelganger that won't leave Peal alone and nobody else can see.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

We will not talk about how long it actually took to draw that flower wreath. Stay tuned for a YCH of this sometime tomorrow!

Digital art of Peal, my anthro mantis oc, is sitting on a wreath of red roses.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Lil WIP I'm currently working on. Took me a while to feel well enough to start actually working on art again.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

NEW FRIENDS ACQUIRED. They're a breeding pair of giant American millipedes. Haven't decided what to name them yet but the larger one is quite chill about being grabbed while the little one is like "pls do not". Glad they survived the mail okay.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

When you're on pain medication 5x more powerful than morphine but still too restless to sleep so you work on an embroidery stitching kit instead. I'm stiff as hell but seem to be bouncing back way faster than I could have predicted, lol.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

When you crush it so hard you accidentally do a speed run.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

I've been replaying the OG Hollow Knight to see how the difficulty compares to Silksong and holy shit, I am just crushing it. I am become too powerful.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Woe, Lacenet be upon ye. Also something something Shoujo Kakumei Silksong.

Digital illustration of Hornet holding an unconscious Lace in one arm, appearing to be pulling her needle out of Lace's chest with a delicate flower wrapped around it. A birdcage elevator and field of white roses are in the background.

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Nightmare @nightmaremantis.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

I love him for the same reasons I love Grimm and now Karmelita: fabulous.

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