PSA: Same Face Syndrome

March 11, 2022

They say that your brain can’t create faces. Every face you see in your dreams is a face you have seen in real life.

That means those monsters do exist, or at least people that look like their heads have been mutilated.

…

PSA: Same Face Syndrome is, as many artists recognize, when you draw characters or even just heads. It’s always the same face. Each time you draw, it has a slightly different expression. Mouth slightly open now. Then you draw again, you can see its… teeth? I wouldn't call the chitinous legs squirming from the sides of the inside of its mouth, “Teeth”, but I’m not sure what else to call them.

As a cure for Same Face Syndrome, when you notice that everytime you try to draw, a face pops out, even if your just trying to draw landscape or objects, you end up with a face incorporated into the picture. The cure is to not look at it. Calmly stand up, and delete the file or burn the paper, and most importantly, I repeat, DON’T LOOK AT IT! It can sense your fear. If you continue to suffer from Same Face Syndrome. Take a break from drawing. Hopefully the face will find a new host to draw it into the world. Same Face Syndrome. The more you know, the more you’ll wish you didn’t.

…

Artistic tip for the day. When you are sitting there in front of your sketch pad and can’t think of what to draw. Don’t look behind you. Just begin to draw. The progress of getting back into the groove of drawing again will help you past your paralysis. Start with sketching simple things that you’ve been thinking about or have seen today. Avoid reflective surfaces that might display the grotesque image leaning over your shoulder. Just drawing something, anything, will get you closer to drawing than doing nothing. If you still don’t know what to draw, you can start with the alphabet. Its terrible, unblinking stare burrows into the back of your skull, waiting for you to give so much as a glance. Draw a letter, then think of an object or creature that starts with that letter. Then draw the creature or object and incorporate the letter into that picture. You feel its breath on your neck. Cold and frozen, like icy Norse tombs. It smells so bad you can taste it. The flesh in your nostrils burns with the acrid scent of burning hair. So I always say “If you don’t know what to draw. Draw anyway!”

…

Look down at your feet and pick the dark purple book. Yes, the one that looks like it’s written in Cyrillic. Now flip to page 156, though it will be labeled as CLVI in the book.

Now place your hand on the Sigil of the Seven. Yes, it’s the diagram. What else would it be? Come on, no need to hesitate. I promise it’s perfectly safe. Okay, we’ll promise is a strong word. How about, I assure you that it’s safe? Safe is also a strong word. How about, it’s likely that you will survive?

Now don’t look at me like that. I’m only joking. The chance of survival is actually only 5%. Alright, you have your hand on the Sigil of the Seven? Good. Now repeat after me. “My bones! My bones! They took my bones! Took them with the flesh still intact. Stirred them together into a soup. Out from the brew came something new. My bones! My bones! For me, they’ll always be my bones!”

Yes, yes. I know it sounds silly, but just repeat the nursery rhyme. No, start over. You have to keep your hand on the Sigil of the Seven.