History Main / NightmareFuelColoringBook

* Japanese voice actress [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Kobayashi Yuu Kobayashi]] is ''infamous'' for her drawings, which typically feature black and red scribbles on white paper. For example, [[https://twitter.com/holy_kobayashi/status/339053820808138752 this drawing]] is meant to be of three pigeons, but it's utterly incomprehensible if not downright scary.

-->'''Homer:''' ''(muttering)'' [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood It]] ''[[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood will]]'' [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood be his last birthday if he keeps drawing pictures like this!]]

** In "Bart Gets a Z," a new teacher of Bart's meets with Homer and comments cheerfully on Bart's "wild sense of humor," showing him a drawing of [[RunningGag the standard 'Homer strangling Bart' gag]] labeled "[[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood MY LAST BIRTHDAY]]." In response, Homer mutters, "It ''will'' be his last birthday if he keeps drawing pictures like this!"

** In "The Pookadook," "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII"'s spoof of ''Film/TheBabadook,'' Marge destroys the titular picture book but realizes that Maggie is still scared of it when she draws multiple pictures of the family with the Pookadook lurking in the background.

** PlayedForLaughs in "Coralisa," WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror's spoof of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}.'' The button-eyed "other" versions of Lisa's family (sans the Other Bart, who the real Simpsons killed by accident) end up moving in with the real Simpsons. At the end, Bart gets in some trouble at school for drawing his bizarre new "family," which now includes two Maggies, two Homers and an EldritchAbomination version of Marge.

Compare RoomFullOfCrazy, EntertainmentAboveTheirAge, NightmareFuelStationAttendant. Also related to TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour.

** Not sure if this actually fits, but ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' explains the origin of all the Monsters in the series as actually [[spoiler:those drawings of abandoned children Shiro and Yui Kanzaki, which the former brought to life when he became a MadScientist.]]

* In the hospital level of ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 2'', one wall is adorned by a child's crayon drawings that recap the blood-and-tragedy-filled first game.

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* In a film clip shown in ''Series/JimmySavileABritishHorrorStory'', Creator/JimmySavile mocks a young hospital patient who had made a drawing depicting him as an evil monster. "What did I ever do to make you draw me like that?" he asks. The child tearfully replies, "Everything." Years later, it's horrifically clear what the child must have meant after [[HiddenInPlainSight revelations of Savile's serial predation came to light]].

** There's also this infamous drawing from [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Sderotchilddrawing.jpg Sderot]]

** A more realistic (and possibly more horrific because of it) in "Contagious" where a girl draws a picture of herself on a sports field, with an imposing and scary man standing off to the side in a football jersey. Initially, they think it's [[spoiler: the coach- her uncle- who's been molesting her, but it turns out he was falsely accused and loses his job because of it. It was actually one of the high-school students on his team.]]

** PlayedForLaughs in "Coralisa," WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror's spoof of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}.'' The button-eyed "other" versions of the Simpson family (sans the Other Bart, who the real Simpsons killed by accident) end up moving in with the real Simpsons. At the end, Bart gets in some trouble at school for drawing his bizarre new "family," which now includes two Maggies, two Homers and an EldritchAbomination version of Marge.

* In the ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' comic book, an autistic child in a group home draws pictures, with accompanying text, of the Monkey King that (unbeknownst to the authorities) killed his parents. Soon, all the children in the home are independently drawing pictures of the creature, presaging its reappearance.
* In the ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' comic, a rather disturbing picture is drawn by 13-year old Walter Kovacs ([[spoiler:later known as Rorschach]]), showing his mom and a man, both naked and fused together. The picture is accompanied by a transcript of Walter describing a disturbing sexual nightmare he had where he watched his mother and this man having intercourse. The way their bodies merge together symmetrically makes the picture resemble [[spoiler:a Rorschach blot.]]
* The fifth (Or is it [[{{Retcon}} fourth]]?) Comicbook/{{Robin}} has a sketchbook full of violent and disturbing imagery. To be fair, [[EnfanteTerrible Damian]] was raised by the League of Shadows and lives in [[CrapsackWorld Gotham City]].
* The main character of ''Comicbook/HalloweenNightdance'' used to babysit a kid, who even years later keeps sending her pictures that he has been drawing with crayons. She becomes very disturbed when she starts receiving pictures that depict nudity and gore. [[spoiler:Turns out that those pictures were drawn by the famed killer Michael Myers, who has killed the kid and his family]].

* ''FanFic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'' shows [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Boo]] and [[{{WesternAnimation/Villainous}} 5.0.5.]] (here a human child) drawing pictures of the abuse they endured. 12-year-old [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim Zim]] also makes extremely violent drawings due to his [[RelatedInTheAdaptation uncles Red and Purple]] abusing him.

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' episode 4 of season 1, you can find a drawing Clementine made of [[spoiler: the player character, Lee, burying a dead boy in the backyard.]] It's notable because that's the last known drawing Clementine ever makes.

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* The image from ''{{Webcomic/TheZombieHunters}}'', above, which a little boy is drawing instead of watching the cutesy safety film about zombie attacks.

* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': In the episode "T.K.O. Rules", [[https://twitter.com/O08171/status/1147228447535579137/photo/1 a series of four drawings]] [[FreezeFrameBonus can be found]] during T.K.O.'s [[HitFlash Hit Flashes]] that paint a rather troubling picture. The first has him holding a cookie and standing on top of K.O., who is lying on the ground and telling him to stop while T.K.O. refuses to. The second depicts T.K.O. attacking a city, with the caption "GET REKT". The third shows him apparently taking over/terrorising the world while people cry for help. The fourth depicts him surrounded by darkness, pulling at his hair and saying "I can't stop" while crying.

* The main character of ''Comicbook/HalloweenNightdance'' used to babysit a kid, who even years later keeps sending her pictures that he has been drawing with crayons. She becomes very disturbed when she starts receiving pictures that depict nudity and gore. [[spoiler:Turns out that those pictures were drawn by the famed killer Micael Myers, who has killed the kid and his family]].

The combination of a disturbing image rendered in a crude, childlike style is a powerfully scary one in and of itself, but just as unsettling is the window onto a child's view of sex/violence/Cthulhu that it gives us. The idea of [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocence]] being exposed to things it finds frightening, or things it [[InnocentInaccurate can't understand]], is a classic way to play off AdultFear and at the same time deliver a bucketload of NightmareFuel rendered in red crayon.

** An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' called "Three-in-One" did an interesting variation. Creepy childlike drawings at a crime scene lead the detectives toward a suspect with a child's room in his house, but no proof the man actually ''has'' a child. He actually had a dissociative identity disorder and did the drawings while in the personality of a child, but committed the crime in an adult personality, and didn't have a clear memory of what was going on.

** One episode "Contagious" had a little boy who witnessed [[spoiler:his father]] bash his stepmother's head in with a lamp. He trusts Olivia the most, so she's the one who sees the picture he drew of the attack. Lots of red crayon there...

* Meghan from ''Literature/NightworldLostSouls'' has always enjoyed finger painting, but most of her work consisted of random streaks and blotches. But under the influence of the ghosts, she starts drawing stick figures in a hole, with an unnaturally tall, thin figure towering over them. [[spoiler:Victor finds more detailed pencil sketches of the same subject matter under Elson's bed.]]

* ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}''[='=]s popular "stabdads" AU gives us "[[https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/601582462704962001/ Daddy's work trash]]".

* ''FanFic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'' shows [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Boo]] and [[{{WesternAnimation/Villainous}} 5.0.5.]] (here a human child) drawing pictures of the abuse they endured.

* ''WesternAnimation/FIsForFamily'':
** Phillip keeps a "kill book" featuring graphic illustrations of people he knows being killed in a brutal manner. The creepiest part is he doesn't remember drawing any of it.

* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'':
** In the episode "T.K.O. Rules", [[https://twitter.com/O08171/status/1147228447535579137/photo/1 a series of four drawings]] [[FreezeFrameBonus can be found]] during T.K.O.'s [[HitFlash Hit Flashes]] that paint a rather troubling picture. The first has him holding a cookie and standing on top of K.O., who is lying on the ground and telling him to stop while T.K.O. refuses to. The second depicts T.K.O. attacking a city, with the caption "GET REKT". The third shows him apparently taking over/terrorising the world while people cry for help. The fourth depicts him surrounded by darkness, pulling at his hair and saying "I can't stop" while crying.