FISH
[in progress]

Graphic Novel

It is a surreal journey through a living, ever-shifting world where reality is unstable, and both body and consciousness are inevitably transformed. The protagonist pursues a goal but finds only decay, transformation, and a merging with the environment. Psychedelic chaos consumes its inhabitants, biological structures grow and wither, space fractures, and language loses its meaning. At the end of the path awaits God—an existence beyond comprehension, whose mere presence reshapes the fabric of reality.

Fish is a journey through a fluid, ever-shifting reality where the boundaries of body, memory, and time dissolve, leaving only the sensation of perpetual transition. This is not a story but an immersion—into an alien world, into a space that is both alive and decaying, all-consuming and elusive.
At the heart of the narrative is a protagonist driven by rage, fear, and the instinct to survive. She pursues a goal that constantly slips away, evading her grasp as if the very fabric of the world resists her presence. The chase pulls her deeper—through dead forests, rotting cities, and living structures that breathe, decay, and grow, obeying laws beyond human comprehension.
The reality of Fish is unstable. It glitches, fractures, loops in on itself. Space behaves like a living organism—psychedelic chaos consumes its inhabitants, biomechanical structures spread through the streets, bodies transform, succumbing to alien biological rhythms.
In this world, it is impossible to remain unchanged. The protagonist mutates along with it. Transformation is not a choice but an inevitability. Each encounter—whether with buzzing, translucent creatures, ancient sentient beings, or something beyond perception—erodes her boundaries, making her part of this world.
But there is something greater. Deeper. At the core of Fish lies God. A being whose existence defies explanation, whose attention is unbearable. It is neither good nor evil, neither adversary nor ally. It simply is. It blinks, and reality shifts. It moves, and the earth fractures beneath its weight. It exists, and that alone is enough to render everything else insignificant.
Fish is not a journey toward a destination. It is a descent into the unknown, where any explanation is meaningless, and every form of reality is doomed to collapse.
The Creation of Fish
I started working on Fish as an experiment—a way to break the rigid structure of storytelling and allow the narrative to emerge from chaos. Unlike my other projects, this one didn’t begin with a clear concept or a well-defined world. Fish appeared spontaneously, born from pure sensation: flashes of imagery, distorted perception, fragments of text that felt more like hallucinations than coherent storytelling.
The first fragments were messy—disjointed scenes, feverish descriptions, incoherent dialogue. They didn’t form a complete picture but rather created a sense of disorientation, as if I hadn’t invented this world but had accidentally fallen into it. I didn’t know where it was leading, but I felt something beginning to take shape within the chaos.
At first, Fish was just a collection of scattered images. But gradually, something solid began to emerge from the noise: a city, a chase, the feeling of pursuit, the theft of an egg that was more than just an object. A creature—alien yet eerily familiar. And at the center of it all, Molly, moving forward, balancing between fear, rage, and the instinct to survive.
Now, as I continue working on Fish, I’m shaping this chaos into something tangible. But I’m not trying to tame it. I want to preserve its raw, unfiltered energy, to let it remain alive, pulsating, distorting itself. Fish is not a story that can be told in a conventional sense. It is an experience that must be lived.
Here you can see the First sketchlist
Like the previous one, it was conceived about ten years ago, roughly at the same time as Alevtina and Tamara. Similarly, it was inspired by a simple love for female anatomy, gaming, and psychedelia. One evening, I saw a concept of a devilish female by Paul Richards and felt a strong desire to create something similar. I've always enjoyed making 2D drawings for 3D models, and back in 2010, this skill was particularly relevant for concept artists. I was satisfied with the result - breasts, armor, sword, a semblance of volume. For the character's references, I used my wife, Sinkai from Trava, Tyranids from Warhammer, Monster Hunter, and Paul Richards' drawing.
First Molly concept design 2012
However, the character didn't endear itself to the audience as much as it did to me, which was incredibly disheartening. I decided the character lacked dimensionality and added concepts of a fish and a god, which became the mount and the antagonist.
FISH and GOD drawings 2012
Later, I delved deeper into the concept, placed Molly on the fish (around this time, she got her name and the project got its title), began generating props, and inventing inhabitants of the world. Molly was initially conceived as an invader of a wild alien world.
FISH sketchbook drawings 2012
FISH character for TRASHFIGHTS 2012
And then "Baboon" appeared. And if you take a closer look at it, you'll notice a plethora of details. I decided it should be a mix of a primate, a crustacean, and an arthropod. Primates live in mangrove forests, catch prey with hand-like tentacles, and their mouths are covered with broad jaws.
baboon design development 2012
The god became the antagonist a bit later. I unearthed another concept drawn back in 2010, and I really liked the effect of scale - the clash of a naked, weak, frightened human with something huge like a dinosaur, but also endowed with power and magic. The god was conceived as Mad.
Itzpapalotl 2010
After that, I began crafting a story - the project came to life, and drama started to unfold.
Several times after that, I tried to rekindle the project in my heart and in the audience's interest in the new universe. But it didn't resonate with the audience, and the project went dormant, waiting while I finished Alevtina and Tamara.
several art from different periods
Mollys' different forms
And finally, that moment has come, and now I've taken up its realization with new vigor and diligence. I hope it will take much more time, as it is already more than a third planned out. It has chapter markers, the hero's conflict, and an ending. Now it just requires focus and time.
Molly portraits 2023
I've been pondering a lot about my purpose, who I am, where I'm going, where I want to end up. And it seems I'm becoming more and more confident that all my projects are already conceived and awaiting realization. They're queuing up at the door, languishing from impatience.
And I'm so eager to finally release them.
If you enjoy my work, you can support me.
All rights are reserved by Dmitrii (Skolzki) Khuzin.

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