Today we’d like to introduce you to Josie Ruiz
Hi Josie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m Josie Ruiz, the artist behind Dreamy Creeps—a world of dreamy girls embracing their inner creeps. I work across painting, illustration, sculpting, and paper mache. Dreamy Creeps is an alternate dream world where your inner monsters can play with your inner child—a reminder to never forget to find joy in this eerie place.
I’ve wanted to make art for as long as I can remember, but for a long time, I was terrified. Terrified that it wouldn’t come out the way I imagined, terrified of being misunderstood. Just terrified that it would be bad. In high school, I’d stay up watercoloring until 4 a.m., only to throw everything away by morning. I couldn’t stand looking at my own work. In college, I started keeping my art, but only because I had to turn it in.
Years later, when I finally had some financial stability, I was still struggling mentally. I had lost several people in my life to tragedy, just gotten out of a bad relationship, and my roommate was going through a breakdown. Everything felt heavy, and I didn’t know how to pull myself out of it.
The only thing that could help me was listening to music and drawing. When I drew, I felt grounded. The weight in my chest would leave, even just for a little while. It was the first time in a while that I felt something close to joy. That feeling gave me hope and it made me realize that if art could do this for me, maybe I could create something that gave others that same sense of joy and escape. I started dreaming about building an art community center, a place where creativity could be a safe space.
But first, I had to start with myself. I had to let myself make art just to make it. I drew my first real character—a creepy cute bear named Sugar Tooth. I hated it. But I kept it anyway as a reminder that I could only get better from there. I kept drawing, kept creating, and eventually, I started sharing my work. I wasn’t afraid to call myself an artist anymore.
Now, art is my joy. It’s still there for me on the hard days, but it’s also what excites me, what makes me feel most like myself. I have my own studio, an online shop, and I sell my work at conventions. The fact that I get to share what I love is something I didn’t think I’d ever get to do when I was throwing away those watercolor paintings in high school. I’m so grateful to be here.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It really hasn’t easy. It might feel smoother now, but I spent so many years second guessing myself, convinced my work wasn’t good enough. And beyond that, life was just hard. Losing people I loved, struggling with my mental health and finances. It was difficult to even pick up a marker let alone think about how I could show my art to other people.
Even when I started vending, I wasn’t sure if I was ready. I remember seeing an opportunity to sell at a pop-up market and telling my partner that I think I might be ready to try it. We went through it logically and he said I should just go for it, why not? And that was all I needed to hear. I threw myself into making a few paper-mache skeletons, sculpted a little devil character named Devo the Devil, printed my first tote bag, and prepped some stickers. That was my first real step into putting my art out there, and I’ve just kept going.
There are still struggles, though I am in a very blessed position. Imposter syndrome, ADD, the business side of things, balancing creative energy with making a living—but at the end of the day, art is what keeps me going. It’s what brings me joy, and I know that as long as I keep creating, I’ll be okay.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I love exploring different mediums, so I do a little bit of everything: illustration, painting, paper mache mask-making, sculpting, sewing plushies, and lino cutting. These days I focus mostly on painting, sculpting, and creating paper mache masks.
At the core of my work are my little monster characters and the world I’ve started building around them. My art is about creating an alternate reality that invites people to embrace their own monsters and reconnect with their inner child. We all carry parts of ourselves that feel strange or out of place, and I hope my work can give space for those parts to exist out in the open.
My art blends eerie with joy, creepy yet cute, weird but comforting. Whether it’s a small sculpture for your desk or a large paper mache mask, my work is meant to be something you take with you as a reminder to never stop day dreaming, and never lose your sense of wonder in this weird, strange world.
What I’m most proud of is that I’ve been able to take these ideas and turn them into something tangible. Into characters, objects, and art pieces that resonate with people. Seeing others connect with my work, whether through a painting, a sculpture, or even just the emotions behind it, is so fulfilling.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a quiet, anxious kid, so quiet that my aunt still jokes I was like one of the Children of the Corn. But even though I kept to myself, I was always curious. I loved spending time in my grandma’s rose garden, looking for praying mantis and black widows, making “perfume” out of flower petals. Growing up in a Mexican household, art and scary stories were everywhere. My great-grandma was into ceramics, and we’d go to this huge warehouse in the valley to pick out pieces to paint. I learned how to draw by my aunt who had How to Draw Anime books and would teach me how to sketch.
Horror was a huge part of my childhood. I played Silent Hill and Resident Evil with my cousins, even though they gave me night terrors. I became obsessed with The X-Files, fascinated by the idea that there was more to the world than what we see. A real turning point was watching A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was around 10. That movie, along with Silent Hill, completely changed me. It was the first time I saw a dream worlds in my waking life that just made sense to me.
Music was just as important. My family had a lot of different genres playing—my mom and her siblings could be playing anything from new wave, 70s psych rock, 80s thrash, my grandparents played oldies and ranchera. When I found my way into punk/hardcore in my early teens, it cracked another piece of the world open, introducing me to politics, subcultures, and new ways of thinking.
Looking back, all of these things shaped me. My work now is a mix of all the versions of myself, created by art, horror, music and a deep love for the strange and unknown.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DreamyCreeps
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dreamycreeps/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dreamycreeps
- Other: https://linktr.ee/dreamycreeps
