Anthony Ortega (he/him)

Hello! My name is Anthony and love creating dark, spooky, or surreal art using pencil, ink, or ballpoint pen. If you like my work, I'm open to commissions. I've created art for book covers, song releases, and tattoos. Here is some of my recent work.

#MÖRKtober Day 26: Dice The Faceless King, usually having a supply of heads on hand, has encouraged those he rules to create a game of "bones"; slashes are carved into skulls (three on top and each temple gets a one or two), and players toss the skulls to try and get the most to land upright.

#MÖRKtober Day 25: Moth There is a gigantic moth whose silk cocoon can give a person enhanced traits. This involves convincing the moth you are a larvae in need of a cocoon. After several days in the cocoon, you break free, evolved with enhanced powers, but looking a bit more like a moth.

#MÖRKtober Day 24: Miasma There is a mushroom that only grows around dead bodies. Atop a tapering stalk with hair-like fibers, it incorporates teeth into the outer edge of its cap. The central dome emits a fetid stench, potent enough to aggressively deter any animal or person that comes close.

#MÖRKtober Day 23: Map While exploring a deep cavern, your group finds a large spherical rock hovering above an open, seemingly bottomless hole. A closer look reveals etchings resembling familiar landmarks and land masses. This appears to be an etched atlas of the sundered land, surrounded by ocean.

#MÖRKtober Day 22: Poison It is rumored that The Two-Headed Basilisks came into possession of a lone fang from one of the two-headed basilisk prophets when discovering the Nameless Scriptures, venom still intact. The venom is still potent, but extraction and storage must be done very carefully.

#MÖRKtober Day 21: Wall You saw it from a distance and approached it to ensure there was no doubt. As you got closer, all uncertainty disappeared; before you was a wall reaching past the clouds and to either side, with no end in sight. Ignoring who built this, or why, there has to be a way around.

#MÖRKtober Day 20: Crab Your group approaches the shore of The Endless Sea, and you find the towering remains of a giant crab washed ashore. It’s clear it’s been there for sometime. Perhaps you could use its left over exoskeleton as a shelter. You may even get lucky and find something useful inside.

If you’ve been curious about my tiny solo journaling experience, A Ghost’s Story, check out this great review by @exeunt.press. I appreciate the thoughtful review and insight he brought to my little project. If you want to try it out yourself, it’s free during the month of October at a0rtega.itch.io

#MÖRKtober Day 19: Demon You may be possessed by an outcast demon driven to undo the Calendar of Nechrubel. These demon allies will guide your body and help you destroy your enemies. But, you are mortal, and possession takes a toll. They may also find another vessel, leaving you lost and broken

#MÖRKtober Day 18: Hollow Wickheads tend to stick with simple lanterns to contain their lit wicks, but sometimes they come across more decorative lanterns, or even carve rudimentary faces out of lanterns for reasons only known to them.

#MÖRKtober Day 17: Bird It landed on your shoulder, The bird with human eyes. Presaging you with stories, preceding your demise.

#MÖRKtober Day 16: Ship Those who brave the Endless Sea find it very difficult to find those who are not only willing to board the ship but are able to find their sea legs. No one has ever returned from the sea to warn about the sea legs that find any ship that makes it past the rocky shore.

If you see this, post a skeleton:

#MÖRKtober Day 15: Fiber Sky nooses. You don't know what's watching you from above, but if you've been judged, then your ascension is your demise.

#MÖRKtober Day 14: Frail Searching through the corpses, you find a small wooden box. Inside the box, within soft cloth is a loosely wrapped, glimmering pixie wing. You can feel energy emanating from it, but it clearly wasn't able to prevent death. You just hope it wasn't the cause of it.

#MÖRKtober Day 13: Relic The Lineage Urn has been used for passing power from a king to their kin. When the king dies, he is cremated and put in the urn. The faces of ancestors replace the carved faces on anniversaries of their death, granting the current king communion with their dead family.

#MÖRKtober Day 12: Pyre There are stories of a tribe that burns their warrior ancestors in perpetual flame, never letting the fires die, believing their ancestors' spirits act as sentries fed by the flames. You were never quite sure, however, if they were keeping others out or keeping something in

Did you know I wrote and illustrated a tiny solo journaling #zine called A Ghost's Story? It's a fun little tribute to my favorite time of the year 🎃 where you only get one-word responses. Those who've played it have really enjoyed it! I'd love for you to check it out 🗣️👻 #illustration #dippen #ink

#MÖRKtober Day 11: Ear There's a fungus that thrives within the ear canal and produces a cap that resembles an ear. Those who succumb to this fungus hear words beyond our realm. There are cults who choose one within their ranks to receive this "blessing", allowing them to repeat these words

#MÖRKtober Day 10: Arrow You don't know what it is or which member of your group it's after, but it's been following you for weeks. You can't seem to kill it, only slow it down from a distance. But you're certain you don't want it catching up to you.

#MÖRKtober Day 9: Flag The Faceless King's strength and dominion is told through the flags brandished by his most violent warriors, elongated by the stitched faces of his supposed enemies and oppressors

#MÖRKtober Day 8: Wail The dark figure peers from under the ragged, filthy hood of its cloak. The deed is done and you've come to collect your bounty. It pulls from its robe a weathered scroll and gently places it in your hand. In a low, wet, guttural tone, it simply says "Worm Wail"

If you’re local to me, come check out some of my artwork at the new 717 Arts Community Center for their Autumn Spirits show. Local artists will have their artwork hanging from Oct 12 to Nov 29, and I’ll be at the opening reception this Sunday from 5pm - 8pm. Hope to see some of you there :)

#MÖRKtober Day 7: Effigy You come across a relief carved into a rocky partition depicting some sort of powerful female entity. Rays emanate from her head, a kingdom on fire behind her, and she holds a severed head in her hand

#MÖRKtober Day 6: Fog When fog claims the land, there are those who seem to think there are obscured figures hovering within the low laying clouds, just far enough out that you cannot tell what they really are. The locals have come to call them "fog dwellers"

#MÖRKtober Day 5: Cape A king with no face wears a cape of faces. Is he simply mad? Do the faces offer guidance? Or perhaps they whisper darkness. The only thing for certain is that he is always making his cape longer...

#MÖRKtober Day 4: Marrow A cult has formed around the discovery of a seemingly endless dripping marrow from a massive skeleton suspended deep within the caverns of a mountain.

#MÖRKtober Day 3: Glyph Imagine having tremendous sorcery at your fingertips, but the source was the severed head you "found" in an abandoned temple.

#MÖRKtober Day 2: Curse Creating a makeshift pouch out of a slain cursed goblin's head might seem resourceful when carrying things found in the cavern you're exploring, but any item stored in the pouch becomes cursed itself, and transfers some mishap upon anyone who removes that item from the pouch

#MÖRKtober Day 1 prompt: Goat Goat Eye Stew anyone? #morktober #inktober #dippen #illustration

Made the smart decision to post this at 1am, so just wanted to share this again because I'm really excited about it.

Happy Oct 1. It's my favorite time of the year, so I wanted to create something to get into the spooky mood. I made a #solojournalingrpg #zine you can print and play. It's called A Ghost's Story; you are a ghost answering a visitor's questions, but you can only use one word! Free at a0rtega.itch.io

A teaser #illustration for something I’m planning to release on Oct 1, free to everyone. I’m excited to share it with you all! #inkart #dippen #spooky #halloween

Practicing with my new dip pens as I prep for #MÖRKtober

The discount code has expired. Less than a week left to pre-order my shirt if you're interested in getting one. Thank you to all who've ordered a shirt and shared it with their networks. I appreciate you all :)

The preorder window for my tshirt closes 9/21 @ noon CST! If you've purchased or shared my posts - THANK YOU! Your support means a lot. Sincerely. Second, for the next few days, you can use the code ANGEL15 at checkout to get 15% off! This code ends @ noon CST on 9/15. rawpaw.ink/products/har...

Saw this in my Facebook memories, and it gave me pause; 10 years ago I was 100% convinced I didn’t have anything to contribute to the art world. But since I picked up my pencils again in 2023, people have purchased my art and commissioned me for their projects. And I am grateful I didn’t give up.

Some light reading while the kids hang out at the local park

- If you see this, post your black and white art! #DarkArt #WeirdArt #HorrorArt #StayStrangeArt

Ordered some stuff from @exeunt.press to start getting inspired for #mörktober (as well as some other personal projects in the near future) and I hope to get to a point where I can warrant getting a wax stamp. And I appreciate the extra fun stuff thrown in! John is good people. Thank you so much!

Just popping in real quick for a friendly reminder that I have an illustration on a tshirt that is available for pre order until September 21st. I never made artwork for clothing, so this was a fun challenge. I'm trying to get to 10 shirts pre-orders and I'm so so close! rawpaw.ink/products/har...

A quickly realized drawing I did for a game jam. The premise is a woman is a planetary miner and you play her current run of trying to capture as many resources from the inside of a gas giant before she gets swallowed by a maelstrom. #illustration #gamejam #ink #art #exoplanet #grayscale

#sketching #shells at the local #park

If you're in the market for a #tshirt, you can check out an #illustration I made based on the concept of #Heaven or #Hell. Shirts are available for pre order over the next six weeks. My goal is to sell 10, so wish me luck! You can order the shirt here: rawpaw.ink/collections/...

Was at a kid’s birthday party today and they had hats you could decorate as take away gifts. My kids were too busy having fun so I tried my hand at a new medium on a new canvas.

Form in the Light #creepy #horror #illustration #monster

👁️ If you see this, post an 👁️ #illustration #eye #darkart #horror #cosmichorror

Working on a personal project; here is the first piece for it called The Form in the Dark. #illustration #creepy #horror #dark #monster

Artist! Quote with your fanart! Evillica

Anyone else sometimes look into the distance and it looks like the world is pulling away from you? #randomthoughts #surreal