For Inktober 2017, an Artist Illustrates the Many Faces of Fear

An artist who has taken up the Inktober challenge has illustrated various phobias.

In October each year, hundreds of thousands of artists participate in the Inktober challenge and attempt to make at least one ink drawing per day. The Inktober challenge was devised by artist Jake Parker in 2009, who hit upon the idea to draw every day of the month to improve his art and also to discipline himself.

Parker then took it online, and the rest is history.

For the 2017 version of the challenge, an artist called Shawn Coss has illustrated several phobias, one for each day. Coss has previously themed his Inktober drawings around mental health issues, among other things.

We’ve picked some of Coss’s creations for you.

Spiders inspire fear – or if not that, reactions ranging from outright disgust to mild aversion – in most of us. Coss commenced this year’s challenge with an illustration of arachnophobia.

Arachnophobia - day 1 of Inktober / FearTober! People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbor spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. If arachnophobics see a spider, they may not enter the general vicinity until they have overcome the panic attack that is often associated with their phobia. Some people scream, cry, have emotional outbursts, experience trouble breathing, sweat, have heart palpitations, or even faint when they come in contact with an area near spiders or their webs. In some extreme cases, even a picture or a realistic drawing of a spider can trigger intense fear. #inktober #feartober #inktoberphobias #shawncossart #jakeparker #creepyart #whatsyourfear #inkart

A post shared by Shawn Coss (@shawncoss) on Oct 1, 2017 at 5:56am PDT

His illustration for claustrophobia captures the essence of what being claustrophobic is like.

Claustrophobia - day 4 of #inktober / #feartober . All month I'm creating art depicting a new phobia. Claustrophobia is the fear of being enclosed in a small space or room and unable to escape.[1] It can be triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, small cars and even tight-necked clothing.[2] It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder, which often results in panic attacks. The onset of claustrophobia has been attributed to many factors, including a reduction in the size of the amygdala, classical conditioning, or a genetic predisposition to fear small spaces. #inktober #feartober #inktoberphobias #shawncossart #jakeparker #creepyart #whatsyourfear #inkart #popeofhell_art #crushed #claustrophobia

A post shared by Shawn Coss (@shawncoss) on Oct 4, 2017 at 8:55am PDT

Among the other phobias, Coss has put up on his Instagram account are nyctophobia (fear of the night), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes).

Nyctophobia - day 6 of #inktober / #feartober . All month I'm creating art depicting a new phobia. Nights and darkness have always been associated with grim thoughts and beliefs. While some people thoroughly enjoy the night lives these days, many others dread the ghastly night darkness. This kind of fear of darkness or night is known as nyctophobia. Nyctophobia (also known as scotophobia, lygophobia or achluophobia) has been derived from Greek word “Nuktos” meaning night or darkness. The intense and irrelevant fear of darkness leads many people to avoid any night routine or dark places completely. This can be a severe interruption in the everyday life of a person. A person having nyctophobia is not scared of finding any unusual or paranormal element in the darkness, but scared of the darkness for no specific reason at all. The fear can be triggered just by a thought or anticipation of being in dark. #inktober #feartober #inktoberphobias #shawncossart #jakeparker #creepyart #whatsyourfear #inkart #popeofhell_art #horrornights #nyctophilia #nyctophobia

A post shared by Shawn Coss (@shawncoss) on Oct 6, 2017 at 9:26am PDT

Ophidiophobia - day 8 of #inktober / #feartober . All month I'm creating art depicting a new phobia. Ophidiophobia or ophiophobia is a particular type of specific phobia, the abnormal fear of snakes. It is sometimes called by a more general term, herpetophobia, fear of reptiles and/or amphibians. The word comes from the Greek words "ophis" (ὄφις) which refers to snake, and "phobia" (φοβία) meaning fear. Care must also be taken to differentiate people who do not like snakes or fear them for their venom or the inherent danger involved. An ophidiophobe not only fears them when in live contact but also dreads to think about them or even see them in video or still pictures. About a third of adult humans are ophidiophobic, making this the most common reported phobia.Scientists have theorised that mammals may have an innate reaction to snakes, which was vital for their survival as it allowed such dangerous threats to be identified immediately.

A post shared by Shawn Coss (@shawncoss) on Oct 7, 2017 at 9:09pm PDT

While most of us are familiar with (or know enough Greek/Latin, thanks to high school science) what arachnophobia and necrophobia are, Coss has illustrated some very unusual fears.

Cherophobia, or aversion to happiness, makes for a rather bizarre case.

Cherophobia - day 21 of #inktober / #feartober . 🕕Amnclothing.com🕕 book release Nov. 1! Aversion to happiness, also called cherophobia or fear of happiness, is an attitude towards happiness in which individuals may deliberately avoid experiences that invoke positive emotions or happiness. #inktober #feartober #inktoberphobias #shawncossart #jakeparker #creepyart #whatsyourfear #inkart #inktober2017 #popeofhell_art #cherophobia

A post shared by Shawn Coss (@shawncoss) on Oct 21, 2017 at 10:01am PDT

Blennophobia - day 26 of #inktober / #feartober . FearTober book launches Nov 1 Blennophobia is the irrational and persistent fear of icky, gooey, and slippery slime that can occur in some people. Slime can be found in nature or can be man-made and are usually transparent, sticky and viscous. This fear could have been triggered by seeing a person getting slimed on television such as in the horror movies where people might be swallowed alive by aliens and opening up the aliens’ belly would reveal the person still whole and covered in thick gooey slime but already lifeless. Some might fear that slime can have an offensive smell or it can have germs in it so they get anxious when they see it. This fear may have also been brought about by fear of ghosts, like people who were born to the time of Ghostbusters who can associate ghosts with slime and Slimer. Some might have accidentally slipped on goo and sustained injury thus this fear develops. On the other hand, snails produce copious amount of slime and people might have experienced eating escargot in restaurants and have found the experience unappealing thus they develop blennophobia. People with this fear get extremely anxious when exposed to slime. They may have palpitations, tremors, shortness of breath or may have nausea and vomiting when they see escargot. Treatment includes avoidance of slime since we do not encounter slimy stuff every day. Medications are rarely needed as well as psychotherapy. #inktober2017 #shawncossart #popeofhell_art #feartober

A post shared by Shawn Coss (@shawncoss) on Oct 26, 2017 at 9:52am PDT

The official Inktober Instagram account curates art drawn as part of the challenge and hashtagged as #Inktober.