cave spider
he/him | Artist | Nashville
How can you get ahold of me?
For most people, Insta DM or email are your best bets. If you're on Ko-Fi, let's DM! If I gave you my phone number then text me. If I didn't, please don't text me.
What do I do?
I'm primarily an illustrator, graphic designer, and craftsman. I am known for making nature-inspired illustrations, printable stationery, and trippy abstract art. My current big physical craft project is learning to make good craft paper out of recycled fibers and farm waste. I also hope to travel to events around the area to sell physical paintings, handmade stationery, and other cool artworks and creative supplies.
My pride and joy these days is my ko-fi shop, which I opened after departing from my last office job. There's stuff that costs money, but there's also free stuff, so why not check it out? Breaking my leg and getting long covid made me less efficient, and I was no longer cut out for Big Business... So I started a small business, I guess. It's not easier, but I think it's more motivating to dedicate my time to something that I believe in, which is the act of human artistic creation.
I am also the least competent gamer in a full family of #realgamers. I have always been the least competitive one, lol. While my days of standing around and looking at the scenery in Halo multiplayer maps are behind me, I remain enchanted by cozy games and Minecraft. My siblings stream more than I do, so check them out: Stephbabies and SleightofGame.
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What motivates me?
I want to inspire people to be interested in the world around them and to value their own creativity. I hope that my nature art will make people curious about the environment and the life all around us, and I hope that my stationery and other art supplies will help inspire people to make something that only they can make. I also think it's good to be out in my community and to do my part to try to break through the isolation and interpersonal anxiety that haunts me and so many others in our time. Finally, I hope that my trippy art looks dope AF and I hope that I can pay more of the bills as soon as possible so that my roommates have less to stress about.
What do I like?
I like gardening, I like studying the natural environment around me, I like going to local DIY shows, I like making things by hand, I like journaling, I like American History, I like playing piano (for as long as my chronic pain lets me), and I like spending time with my friends. I also like trying to do things that I'm bad at in hopes of being better at failing.
What is my identity?
I think that everyone has something worthwhile to contribute to the world, I am a Chicano, and I get to volunteer as a support professional for a disability self-advocate that I'm friends with. I was a band kid growing up in California, then I majored in music. This explains a lot of things about me, even though I do visual arts now instead of performing arts. I worked in an art gallery, and then a library, and then in finance (as a lackey/inbox wrangler), and now I do graphic design and illustration. However, I am angling for a part time job at a garden store or an independent arts-related store. If you know anybody in the Nasvhille area looking to hire someone to tend to and sell plants or artsy stuff, let me know!
News
2026-02-01
cave posted a poll to tumblr: "we’re making everything for dinner. what do you take responsibility for cutting?"
cave posted a digital study called "roommates" in the "Members Only 2026 Ko-fi Gallery, and it is indeed for monthly members only.
cave posted a teal and copper colored tileable pattern called "cogs & windmills." on tumblr.
2026-02-02
cave posted a digital painting study of a shiny red apple on tumblr.
cave posted "some kind of fucking thing. just practicing rendering style ideas" on tumblr. the thing in question appears to be some kind of fuchsia root vegetable? the rendering style experiment seems to be trying to paint mostly in overlapping square shapes.
2026-02-03
cave posted a digital artwork "stage lights (may i direct your attention)" on tumblr.
a little commentary on the process:
It is a journal page that I blacked out with 6 different colors. I wrote about a topic I felt conflicted over. It's called "stage lights" because you add a filter to a stage light to decide what it doesn't shed a light on. The "(may i direct your attention)" part of the title is sort of meant to represent how we simplify how we represent ourselves by omitting details. This is pretty morally neutral-- most people are not interested in the details of your thinking and your internal conflicts. You have to select a version of yourself to present to them for social ease, to be polite, to make efficient use of the other person's time. But it's never perfect, so when another side of you shows, they tend to be surprised, even though we all have these different sides of ourselves.
I used 6 colors to categorize the sorts of statements I made. Each image of the artwork is split into 6, to show 6 versions of the journal page. For each version, I would select one of the colors, so I could make sure all the rectangles in that color (each representing a sentence categorized into that color's "perspective") stayed visible. I then used a black brush on another layer to black out all the other lines laboriously. It's a digital artwork, so if I used bit of the 'select tool' use for really large swaths, but i think that fits the theme too.
On one image (the right side one in the post) you can see each color's version of the journal page, each showing crossed-out lines in one color, resulting in 6 pages of lines. Around the edges of some lines, you can see where I failed to completely cover up all the other colors. On the other image (the left side in the post), you can see just the lines I used to black out the other colors, resulting in piled up scribbles. Trying to represent one part of yourself is messy business, when you look at the back end of it, even if only little cracks show on the front.
2026-02-05
cave posted to tumblr: "jalapeño study!! i grew the pepper myself. it got a little reddened by the sun."
cave added "full res jalapeño study + b&w version" to the "Members Only 2026" gallery on ko-fi, though both members & supporters can take a look.
2026-02-06
cave posted a wip painting that he is doing in grid squares posted on its own as an abstract artwork on tumblr
cave posted a digital painting study called "old tree" in the "Members Only 2026" gallery, and it is indeed visible to members only
cave posted a poll on tumblr: "what neighbors do you typically try to get to know?"
Old News...
2026-01-01
cave posted an art dump to tumblr: "happy1st birthday to the year 2026. random shit dump."
2026-01-13
cave posted art to tumblr: "i was stressed out today and i attempted to draw upon my coping skills. but instead i just wrote a bit about why i need coping skills lol."
2026-01-16
cave posted symbolism art to tumblr: "control your tongue!"
cave posted a digital painting to tumblr. it is of a bear, which stands in front of a barely-legible background that says "what are you making? are any of you making anything?"
cave posted art called "double exposure" to tumblr. it's a digital painting meant to look like a watercolor inspired by film photography.
cave posted a poll to tumblr: "what color is your blog?"
2026-01-17
cave posted a TTS news bulletin covering recent good news in the south, up to mid-january 2026.
2026-01-19
cave submitted a digital painting to tumblr community @@color-palettes: "some trees doodled with colors decided by the january 2026 color palette challenge found on @color-palettes"
cave posted a green and purple tileable pattern called "alien tile" on tumblr.
2026-01-21
cave posted a tileable artwork on tumblr: "inspired by those super complicated tie dye art shirts people post on insta."
2026-01-23
cave posted an early WIP fanart of Omar from The Wire.
cave posted a poll to tumblr to discuss a poem by Gregory Orr.
2026-01-24
cave posted a royal blue and creamy white repeating pattern: "heavenly."
cave posted a set of 3 glittery images: "dizzy."
cave posted a picture of an iridescent glitter pattern in dark, moody colors.
cave posted a set of 2 more glittery images, each depicting pastel colorful glitter on a greyish blue background.
cave posted a digital painting of a dark tennessee-inspired landscape to tumblr. it depicts dark shadows of trees, appearing black against moonlight from the midnight blue sky. the moonlight is reflected off a gravel road. the road is lined with painterly impressions of black-eyed susans. house lights shine from a distant hill, glowing through a drift of fog.
2026-01-25
cave posted a little procreate experiment on tumblr. it is an image of a pseudo-3D shape, appearing to be a shiny, multicolored extruded tube shaped like a geometric flower.
cave posted a collection of 5 collages. they are using the same photos in different combinations, primarily colorized in shades of green, purple, grey, and brown. in the first, a woman with greenish hair is obscured in chaotic shadows, holding up a brown bedsheet. the second focuses on a camera peeking at the moon from behind a curtain, and a cat peeking at an sleeping cat from behind a short wooden wall and some grass. the third appears to be a ghostly cat pieced together from scribble-like shreds of nature photos. the fourth is a surreal scene of three cats sitting in a room with no roof, as a large deconstructed camera hovers over them. the last is a golden and glowing spring obscured by the purple shadow of a dark forest.
cave posted an update on a post from 4.5 years ago, which was back when he first started working on making glitter brushes. the post compares the first set of brushes to his current glitter brush set.
2026-01-26
cave posted a blue, brown, and white tileable pattern to tumblr, called "ornate daydream."
cave posted a piece appreciating the Jukebox the Ghost album, "Live and Let Ghosts." The piece is cut in two so that tumblr users can easily click and zoom in for details. It is a collage of lyrics from the album alongside paintings and drawings inspired by the subjects covered in the album.
cave posted an orange and blue tiling pattern called "Stereo."
2026-01-30
cave posted a drawing of davesprite and hal strider from homestuck taking a walk in the snow and then getting stuck in heavier snow than anticipated.
cave posted an update on the WIP fanart of Omar Little from The Wire.
cave posted a teal and cream-yellow tileable texture: "i really like how delicate this one looks."
cave posted a digital painting of snow collecting on grass.
2026-01-31
cave painted 4 posts depicting practice paintings of slime:
