Drawing gore/horror: What do you do when the only response is "ew I hate that"?

[Orichan]

This one happens a lot to me! I'm a big horror fan and love to draw gross, scary stuff. HOWEVER my partner is not a fan of such things and they are also my main second-reader/editor right now. I'll often show them a piece of work like, say this thing I did for goretober(at end of post). And Ill be like YAY ITS EXACTLYHOW I WANTED IT TO BE and they just be like "oh gawd please stop showing me this". Shoukd i take this as a complimentif its supposedto be horror? My logic says "yes, obviously" but my heart is like "WEH".

Does anyone else have this experience? ALSO SHOW ME YOUR SCARIEST PICTURE!

[BlairFujin]

I think that's a sign you should find someone else to run your gore stuff through if your partner isn't comfortable around it...

[Orichan]

I mean yes... they are generally good at communicating their needs and when they said they don't like it I obviously stopped? I didn't really factor it into the story because it wasn't so much about my relationship as the general experience

[grozalyn]

If they're really your only option for an editor, then you should probably be censoring the version you give to them. But if they're saying things like "why are you showing me this stuff", you should probably get some clarification on what their boundaries are, and if they even feel comfortable reading your works at all.

[remiquise]

I don't think I can show the "scariest" or goriest picture I've drawn here. I donno the forum rules, but I will say I ran a blog many moons ago (like 10 years) under a different name that was entirely gore, and folks pay good money for some depraved crap. I still like to think I'm pretty good at drawing blood and viscera but do so a lot less now a days hah;;

It's not everyone's cup of tea. Due to said blog, and how "big" it got, I got many messages insulting me and declaring me a psychopath and whatnot. Granted, I didn't just draw horror so that may be why. It'll happen, that's just the nature of the subject matter. Best to just ignore and make for whatever target audience you do have and want to foster. Forcing content onto someone who just... doesn't like it won't do you much good. That said, and as I said, there is an audience for such out there.

I suggest if your partner is uncomfortable with the subject matter you find a different editor-- not just for their comfort, which is paramount, but having someone who is better versed with the stuff will be able to help out more and be more willing to pay attention rather than just get it "over and done with" so they don't have to engage with things they don't like.

[Orichan]

Yeah, I am not forcing my partner to read/look at gore-- I guess I didn't make this clear enough but this happened a few times and now i let them know or just don't show them stuff. I'm not really looking for advice about how to manage my relationship and/or whether they can look at my work or not, though I understand how interacting with that aspect of my post is more interesting as it triggers peoples protective impulses-- it would be quite shitty if I was making my partner read a bunch of traumatizing violence or what have you. The endpoint of this storyline is just that I don't really have any second reader for horror scenes, maybe someday I'll have one, but as it is, I'm not a professional and kinda just have to do my best without.

[remiquise]

I get it. I frankly can't get anyone of my friends (or family) to read my horror novels. Getting friends to agree to edit for things I want to submit to contests is like pulling teeth-- gotta bribe them with home baked cookies or something of the like. I just do my best on my own. If you're not a pro, well... what else can ya do? Such is the struggle of passion projects and hobbies haha.

I know that's not really what your post was about, so I did my best to talk about the subject at hand as well. That said, though I haven't really shown my artistic prowess of the subject matter here, if you ever wanted art pointers on such things let me know. I'm no editor, but I'm always willing to show folks how I draw and link things I have drawn (on sites I can mark things as mature).

[Orichan]

I would love that!! What site do you usually use for that kind of communication?

[inubasket]

Haha oh man I relate! My husband is also not a big horror fan, but kindly reads over my comic pages for me so I can have some fresh eyes check to make sure it flows okay and makes sense etc before I post them.

Horror is definitely a "you love it or you hate it" type genre. Thankfully it does have a decently sized fanbase, but it can definitely be hard to advertise because you have to find a good balance between attracting the horror fans with scary elements, while being careful to not expose the non-horror fans to gore.

[remiquise]

@Orichan
Contact me on either Twitter or Instagram, I'm Remiquise on both.

[Orichan]

Right? I have zero desire to make someone look at things that will scare them or disturb them without their consent, but also, the only (effective) way to share your work is to spam it all over the place which directly means anyone can stumble onto it! Also, my sensibilities tend to be skewed enough that i can't always tell what is too much so I get freaked out about posting anything

[kyupol]

Drawn some brutal stuff in my past comics...

Nowadays, it's the topics that get brutal. I do way less sex and violence.

[remiquise]

Oh, I remembered something I drew that isn't just... horrific amounts of SH or messy disembowlment

Body horror.

[llobucervallince]

"same respond if I ever see you ugly face honey"