Sydney Karlson

Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Sydney has been an art nerd since she was first able to hold a pencil. Illustrating in good ol’ fashioned graphite, her work is for those with an inclination for the dark, the mysterious, and most importantly: the weird! The tactile feeling of pencil on paper is grounding and powerful, serving as a conduit to conjure gothic horrors and beautifully dark beasts. Alongside Sydney’s visual art, she enjoys using the written word to draw out creatures from unseen worlds, both to delight and to spook unsuspecting viewers. Using the skills she cultivated during her time at Sheridan College, Sydney aspires to pursue a career in the tattoo industry and creature design, and to couple her love of visual and written storytelling.

Cryptids of North America

This creature compendium catalogues a selection of cryptids found across North America: enigmatic beings of folklore from past and present. Each page features a short biography and a creepy cryptid, illustrated with a mix of water-soluble graphite and graphite pencil. Utilizing the phenomena of pareidolia (seeing faces or other patterns in ambiguous images) as the basis for the book’s creature designs, each drawing was born from a randomized blot. Like cloud watching with water-soluble graphite, these beasts were rendered to life from a purely subconscious place.

Tatt Attack!

This collection of tattoo designs, featuring imagery ranging from beasts and bugs to flames and feathers, showcases varied methodologies, all rooted in dark fantasy. Take a peek!

Carnacki: The Ghost-Finder

This sinister selection of high-contrast illustrations features monster moments from William Hope Hodgson’s collection of ghost stories, Carnacki: The Ghost-Finder. Providing a hazy sensory experience through graphite mediums, this series aims to inject Hodgson’s classic haunts with a newfound sense of unease.