Drawings I did 20 Years ago on Acid

[Masato]

Hey all - dug up an old sketchbook from the peak of my acid-taking years...

I must've been about 18 when these were made. Before I started dosing I was drawing typical shit, copying Frank Frazetta etc... then maybe my 3rd time tripping I started seeing/drawing in a whole new way and went crazy for it.

We had a small junky apartment where I did a huge mural with black markers on a white wall - took me 2 trips back to back to complete it... but eventually it got shut down and was painted over. My ex has photos of it but I haven't spoken to her in as many years.

ALL of these were done whilst on copious amounts of LSD, in order of completion, all done with either pencil or black marker on paper.

Good days:


This was the 2nd drawing I did on acid. The first was just breaking this new visual state of mind and was not very good. This was intended to be representative of me sort of reaching through from this other world inviting me in


This was just a crazy attempt to draw ideas from my trip, and not so much to accomplish any visual result. The ideas were mostly about myself I guess, and the changes I was experiencing as the drugs were opening my mind up:


This was an image of everything happening in my life at the time I was drawing it; I had just come home from a long walk late at night... along the way I went through a field with 4 lights... casting 4 simultaneous shadows of myself in 4 directions. If you look you can see a figure in the center with the 4 shadows, each exploring a different facet of myself/my life at the time:


This is personal, I won't get into it:


This I think was done on mushrooms, as you can see the mushroom cap at the top:

[Masato]

There is an observatory in Victoria BC at the top of some rocks close to the ocean. This is that scene, where one can feel the earth, the ocean and the cosmos from one place:


This is me trying to tap insight from a higher source. In the bottom right you may see a figure kneeling... he is trapped in the 3D world, with a ceiling preventing him from seeing beyond, but he has found a channel where he can connect past it to other realms/dimensions:


This is me getting ready for another acid-trip explore/adventure (I used to go rambling around just enjoying whatever environment I came across, the whole world was like a visual playground. In the bottom right corner you can see a human figure climbing over a wall out of a box (he has an arrow on his back). This is representative of me escaping the limited 3D paradigm and going out to play in a metaphysical wonderland:


I think this is just playin around, I have no memory of any intention with this one:


This is what came out while listening to 'Check Your Head' by the Beastie Boys with headphones while on acid. You can see the words 'check your head' near the middle. Trippy, trippy album. Headphones + Acid = FUN


This is about weed being illegal. It is a picture of some rastas, escaping from Babylon where it it illegal, and the sadness that comes from such persecution:

[Masato]

This is a portrait of a friend of mine at the time, who had a brilliant mind but was frustrated because he had no way to express it. Making the drawing was like trying to manifest a way for his ideas to come out (paintbrush/head). It was only later I saw similar imagery from Alex Grey etc... this seems to be an archetypal theme that many people see on psychedelics.


This one was just playing with faces, nothing too deep as far as I remember:


This was just a tunnel I saw... and also the appearance of an image I later used for my Sherdog Avatar, lol (difficult to spot):


Done listening to 'Paul's Boutique' from the Beastie Boys w/ headphones. Also ispired from Beacon Hill Park in Victoria BC, where I had frequent good trips:


Just playing with visuals... something about energy coming from hands (seen at the bottom):

[Masato]

The connection of 2 souls (that were ultimately to be parted):


An illustration of a type of 'energy-field' pattern I kept seeing. My trip drawing these was just to go straight freestyle to black marker, but if I had sketched/planned this one out ahead of time it could have been better:


This was inspired after reading Alan Watts' book 'The Watercourse Way'... its all about 'Waking Zen' and trying to exercise a zen state of mind while moving and acting in the world (there was something to do with a crane that I don't recall but see in the image):


Trippin on an incense stick:


A portrait of Sid Vicious:


My first attempt at using color. This was also my last LSD-induced drawing I did.

[m25105]

Pretty sick.

[johnkilo]

Awesome work, Masato.

[Luigi]

Its awesome that you kept all these. They look amazing. I remember in high school I would smoke a lot of weed on my lunch break then go to class and spend the whole time making abstract drawings. I wouldnt be surprised if I could find some in my old notes, I kept them all in a drawer at my parents house. Next time I visit them I will take a look and post anything I find.

[fungi]

That's freaking trippy. Or tripping freaky. Either way some nice stuff.
I've always wanted to try acid, but never had the balls to do it. I'm afraid I won't be able to find the path back to sanity...

[Masato]

Luigi - if you can find em would be great to post em!

fungi, you are probably wise. There is no fooling around with LSD, it is a pretty heavy commitment. I think I could do it at the time because I had no strings/responsibilities, and had that naive/reckless fearlessness of youth.

Knowing what I know now, (or knowing what I know I don't know, lol) and having responsibilities as a husband/dad I really don't think its possible anymore, at least not for me.

The idea of 'coming back to sanity' is a weird thing... Sometimes I remember feeling at the height of a trip that I would never come back, and that I had done something permanent. But every time, eventually it always wore off and I found myself back in the 3D world again.

On the other hand, I can't deny that I always came back as a different person, and in many ways the experiences did permanently changed me. I could not ignore or un-do what I had seen, and it really sort of did forever change my views of what 'sanity' really means lol

[fungi]

^ I've read from multiple sources that LSD effect on brain is permanent, and people may experience the aftermaths of taking it even 20 years after. I do want to try it, however, haven't made up my mind yet.
If I ever get a chance to do "proper" ayahuasca tho, THAT I will do no questions asked.