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To find out more about the weird and wonderful world of “Deep Dark Fears,” Bored Panda reached out to the artist behind it, Fran Krause. Fran’s captivating illustrations became an instant hit both online, and in the illustration industry. His first book, “Deep Dark Fears,” premiered as a New York Times bestseller six years ago and his fan base has been constantly growing ever since.
Part of its popularity probably has to do with the fact that “Deep Dark Fears” genuinely touches people in a way that not much art does these days. Fran said that while working on his comics, he noticed that everyone seems to have fears, which is what makes his work so relatable. “Even people who look totally normal are actually afraid that there are goblins in their attic, or that their food has been secretly poisoned by assassins!”
Fran also said that “it would be very strange to be alone in your fear. If you've had a strange fear, it's almost impossible to be alone in that fear.” So he guessed that “there are probably millions of people who are afraid that a snake has found its way into their toilet.”
When asked how “Deep Dark Fears” evolved with time, Fran said that he still draws them the same way, “in my sketchbook with a little watercolor kit. I've tried not to repeat myself, so the subject matter wanders around as I look for new subjects.”
He also noticed that the earlier illustrations “were gory, and then they were spooky,” and added: “I've been doing a bunch lately on childhood fears.”
People send their fear submissions to Fran and he receives quite a lot of them, anywhere from one hundred to five hundred, and if it gets onto a big website, he might get a thousand. In that sense, the artist goes through every single book on human fears on a weekly basis.
“I think, if I'm reading someone's fear, and an image pops into my head, I'm more likely to draw it as a comic. I'm looking for things that have a text and a drawn component,” he said. “I like how the text can support the image, or it can do something totally different. I like playing with how they both interact,” Fran concluded.
