Saturday, September 23, 2006

Illustration Friday - Phobia


I have an unusual phobia: coulrophobia, or fear of clowns. Seriously, I am coming out in a sweat as I type. I hate them. Clowns are not fun for me. When I was little, I rejected a chocolate icecream from a clown. It takes a lot to make me reject an item of free food, particularly one which is (a) ice-cream and (b) chocolate flavoured. My mother, my sister, my grandmother and my cousins also suffer from this phobia. We are wondering if it is genetic? We are not alone: there is a website called "I hate clowns".

It's actually quite difficult to draw one's phobia; the unfortunate thing is that I felt sick when drawing this week's artwork. I drew a normal man's face from a magazine (a perfectly acceptable looking person) and then coloured him in pencil with clown make-up. Yuk. It really is my worst nightmare.

My friend Tim and I have written a cartoon. In the second episode (still in the pipeworks) there is going to be an evil clown, called "Knuckles" for short. He's a nasty specimen (see below).

The final clown image I did was a horrible image which I then distorted using Photoshop.

25 comments:

David O'Connell said...

Snap! Your clown is particularly creepy. Hope you're feeling better now.

Aku said...

salute that you managed your fear by drawing your 'fear'. i may not be able to do it :-)

Liz Jones said...

Alll right!!!!!
Great image.
I just posted an updated phobia image with exactly the same thing-- but I didn't know that it had a name! I think there are a lot of people who feel that way. Esp. since StevenKing's "It".
*shiver*

Michelle Lana said...

aah...i'm so scared of clowns...great work!

Fernanda Guedes said...

All clowns look very creepy to me, so I think your phobia is fair enough.

Nancy Murphree Davis said...

I don't like clowns either, I can't imagine hanging a picture of one in my house.

I was freaked out when I did my post for this week too.

Designing Fairy said...

nice illo. I didn't know there is a phobia name for fearing clowns. Bad experience at the circus?

Tiger Mouse said...

Funnily enough, there isn't a specific bad experience associated with my phobia - it's just that I hate that creepy white makeup and the red lips and nose. Perhaps it's something to do with the fact that it conceals the clown's expression?

I think clowns are cruel too - they hit each other and squirt each other with water.

Michelle Lana said...

Thanks so much for your message! really deeply appreciated! - Michelle

Bill Z said...

I'm with you! I'm not afraid of them, I just hate them! The feeling you're describing while drawing it, the visceral gut wrenching disgust - it's so powerful, you've got to harness it! Do a series!

String said...

You and others! Something sinister about some clowns...my step-daughter has the same fear of ventriloquist dummies. Good job on the creep factor!

georg said...

I do understand you, when I see your clown - it just shows, that it's a great image.

Amy Zaleski said...

I love how different all three of these are. Nice work! Thanks for your comment on my blog!

° said...

glad u where able to do these cause im sure it had to be difficult to do. i always think of clown faces as kabuki make up gone wrong.

ELLA ELVIANA said...

clowns never fun to me too, but thank God i never have this fear. just ignore them. haha.. great illo.

Kim de Young said...

You managed to draw a very compelling piece despite that it made you ill.

Unknown said...

LOL ... I hate clown too!! nice set of artworks

Jana Bouc said...

Your first clown drawing is really quite special--some deep pathos portrayed in it. I'm with you on clowns. My uncle was a painter and we had these two ghastly sad clown paintings in our house when I was a kid and I was both terrified and confused by them. My kids were terrified of clowns and also all the giant people inside cartoon character costumes at Disneyland and other such places. They'd cower and cry if they came near.

Unknown said...

Eurgh! That top clown is truly disturbing, great stuff. I don't know anyone who actually likes clowns to be honest! They are meant to be fun yet everyone is scared of them.

Francesca said...

I agree, clowns are just creepy. Yours is truly bone chilling! Good stuff! Ciao.

Anonymous said...

I think this is my favourite illustration for this week's topic. I love the texture and the quality of light you've built up. And well done for confronting your phobia in such a personal way!

Maria Pena said...

I think it's pretty brave to draw something that makes you so uncomfortable. I've always found clowns creepy (why do they still exist!??) so I totally get it! cheers, from a fellow Melbournian. xx

Franfou said...

yeah the classic clowns are very scary, a lot more that the ones in Cirque du Soleil who are very funny and so stylised !

Tiger Mouse said...

My Mum didn't even like the clowns she saw in Cirque de Soleil one year. My sister and I went the next year (despite Mum's dire warnings that we would run out screaming) but we were fine - it was a different production!

Anonymous said...

Ohh, gosh I hate clowns!! I didn't even want to look at the pictures, hehe but I wanted to give some feedback. :)

ewww, just ewww! hehehe