Instagram story viewer> @jillycupcakess> Posts

Jillian Charyn

@jillycupcakess

6.4K

followers

2610

following

just a 👧🏻 with a ✏️
weirding you out or weirding you in ↴

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓔𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓝𝓟𝓒 project is my ongoing exploration of dissociation, performance, and identity —
the parts of us that keep playing the game even after we’ve emotionally logged out.

They started as doodles on napkins but became something larger:
half self-portrait, half soul archetype.
Every stitch, cord, and antenna is a nervous system trying to reconnect.

This world lives somewhere between psychology and pop surrealism —
Freud’s free association meets early-internet avatars, trauma humor, and dream logic.
Each figure speaks to the inner characters we perform to survive:
the alien girl, the sad clown, the cool detachment, the invisible one.

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎:
Because emotions deserve form.
Because humor can hold grief.
Because drawing the part that isn’t okay
is how I remember that I am. by @jillycupcakess

453

3

a year ago

is this thing on? by @jillycupcakess

137

20

6 months ago

@adultswim 🥹

“Jill Charyn’s ink-and-marker illustrations straddle the line between alien and inner child— dreamy, unhinged, and beautifully self-aware. Her Emotional NPCs are surreal avatars of feeling: stitched-together girls, cosmic misfits, and fashionably dissociated icons who wear their contradictions like accessories.

Blending 2000s doodle culture, retro pop, and emotional surrealism, Charyn turns vulnerability into visual mythology— where sadness sparkles, humor heals, and every character looks like they’ve just felt something real.” by @jillycupcakess

667

15

a year ago

I would find you in every folklore taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

3

0

4 days ago

SAPPY POST ALERT

When I messaged @laurenlabellatattoo out of the blue about an apprenticeship, I had no idea what I was walking into. I just knew there was something about her that spoke to me.

I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pen. Art has always been my therapy, my medicine. And while I’ve had the opportunity to do concept illustration for reputable brands and shows like Adult Swim, I never went to art school. I’m largely self-taught.

There are plenty of shortcuts into tattooing these days, but I wanted to learn in a shop, surrounded by people who genuinely know, respect, and love their craft.

And that’s exactly what I found at @thepearltattoo

One day, Lauren sat with me and explained a drawing she’d done of a nun. What started as a conversation about clothing became a discussion about religion, symbolism, devotion, and what it means to dedicate your life to something.

She told me about studying the anatomy of flowers, how a snake’s body changes after swallowing a rat, and how to visualize an arrow flying through the air.

She explained the concept of “drawing through” an image, because to her, drawing isn’t simply about putting something on paper. It’s about understanding the world, looking beyond the surface, and discovering what’s underneath.

There’s something beautiful about the way she sees the world, and even more beautiful about her willingness to share that perspective with me.

She’s not just teaching me how to draw. She’s teaching me how to see.

Something called me to this shop. Pulled me, actually. And I’m so grateful I listened.

I thought I’d come here to become a better illustrator and learn how to tattoo, but I’ve gained something even more valuable: a different perspective. I don’t have a timeline or grand agenda. I just want to show up, ask questions, make mistakes, watch, listen, and learn.

I’m incredibly grateful to Lauren and all the rad human beings and artists at The Pearl who’ve been generous enough to share their craft, knowledge, and love for what they do with me.

It means more to me than you know 🖤 taken in The Pearl : Tattoo & Fine Art Gallery by @jillycupcakess

3

18

4 days ago

I really love this collage series because it touches on nostalgia, something I’ve always been fascinated by.

Memory is such a strange thing. Our minds are constantly reconstructing the past, filling in the gaps, romanticizing certain moments, and sometimes inventing entire stories around things we barely remember.

When I look at these photographs, I feel like I’ve been there. Like I recognize these places, even though I’ve never seen them before. There’s something strangely comforting and unsettling about feeling nostalgic for a time or place you’ve never actually experienced.

I think that’s what I love most about making these. The idea that something completely unfamiliar can still feel deeply personal. That we can miss places we’ve never been, people we’ve never met, and versions of our lives that never existed.

Maybe nostalgia isn’t always about remembering something. Sometimes it’s about imagining what could have been.

What do you feel when you look at these? taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

131

4

6 days ago

Hey (with the intention of slow dancing in the kitchen together) taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

866

6

4 months ago

NPC SOCIAL CLUB
Members only.
Drop coming 10/10. taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

3

8

14 days ago

I’ll see you later.. taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

530

4

11 days ago

It was a pleasure miscommunicating with you taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

1k

8

a month ago

It was just love all along taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

248

7

16 days ago

What if seeing eachother again changed everything? taken in New York City by @jillycupcakess

193

10

14 days ago