Creator Spotlight: @_warich_

It’s spooky season gaybies. 

What better way to start than by kicking things off with one of my favorite horror artists of all time-my good friend Adam! Adam and I have known each other for literal years and bonded over a mutual love of found footage, so I finally sat them down and asked a few questions. Enjoy!

Adam, thanks for stopping in. Before we get to the actual interview: Ghosts. Do they exist? How? Why? Are they sexy or terrifying? If sexy, how do I get a sexy ghost to haunt me? It’s been a long lockdown. 

I think ghosts do exist, in a sense. It’s hard for me to explain, but I personally view ghosts as kind of like echoes of the past. Every location has them, from deep scars in the landscape to hard gum under a public bench. They’re remnants of times and places long past, of events and people we’ve never had the chance of meeting. Ghosts aren’t as much malevolent entities (to me) as they are history. To get a sexy ghost, idk maybe throw a condom in the woods and hope something grabs it? lol

You and I have known each other for an incredibly long time. That started on tumblr if I remember correctly. Since then, both of us have grown in the kind of content we produce and on what platforms. How do you think changing platforms has affected your creative endeavors? Do you feel more or less engaged with your audience on your current platform?

Honestly I think twitter has kind of messed up my audience engagement. On tumblr you used to reliably be able to see your friend’s posts and reblogs, vs on twitter it’s all based on the algorithm. I think overall it’s been a sort of negative effect since now I’m much more worried about the kind of content I post getting more interaction so that people who don’t follow me are able to see it.

Speaking of which, you make some incredible horror art. A lot of it makes brilliant use of hues, color contrast and softer shapes to convey emotion. Upon viewing many of your works, I’m genuinely at a loss for words the first time I see them. That’s a very powerful reaction I think many artists and creatives try to capture-but many don’t often correlate that with the horror and dark fantasy genre. Was there a particular reason you felt drawn to this?

 I’ve always felt drawn to horror because it’s been the closest genre I can relate to my own internal struggles and dealings with mental health. In my pieces I try to get all my emotions and sensations down on the page. I use intense colors to convey the potency of my feelings and state of mind. Causing others to have feelings based on something I create is what helps motivate me to keep creating and sharing. Plus? Creepy shit is fucking cool.

To take that discussion a bit further: Much of the LGBT community (myself included) often feel drawn to horror. Particularly, the depiction of monsters. It’s not all that uncommon to find people that embrace monsters, demons and other folkloric or cultural creations into their online identity. Personally speaking, I gravitate more towards demons over the years after a lifetime of being a part of abrahamic faiths. Embracing being “the monster”, “the other ” was cultural liberation for myself. Do you find this is the reason, or one of them, so many LGBT people are drawn to horror and monsters? Or do you have other thoughts on the matter?

I think that’s half the reason. The other half is that much of the LGBTQ+ community struggles with the darker side of the brain. Whether it’s mental illness, substance abuse, or self harm, we all know people in our community affected by at least one of those things, and I find that horror (personally) makes all of that darkness feel sort of… normalized? For lack of a better term. Basically, the darkness in the media helps us feel like we’re not as outcast. Horror can also cause a nice break of the numbness that can come with depression. The fear from watching a truly scary horror movie is a wonderful alternative to feeling nothing at all.

Alright-enough super serious questions. Time for a fun one. What’s your favorite piece of horror media? For me, the original Carnival of Souls and Team Silent’s takes on Silent Hill hold a very special place in my heart. I’ve grown to appreciate the metaphors of each, especially now that I’ve got older. 

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the found footage genre. The Blair Witch Project or Grave Encounters movies are actually what kind of turned me on to horror in the first place. I loved each and every second of those films. I know they’re all fake, but there’s something real enough about them that just makes me so excited.

I’m also an admirer of Junji Ito’s work. The way he weaves each of his stories into unsettling tales of twisted minds and figures is just truly inspiring.

So, let’s talk craft for a minute. What programs do you use to create your works? Do you perhaps have alternatives? Likewise, do you have any suggestions for new or fledgling artists on where to begin? 

I mainly use 3 different programs to create my art: Clip Studio Paint (CSP), Procreate, and Photoshop. CSP and a program called Affinity Photo are both great alternatives to Photoshop if you don’t have access to it. I’ve personally found myself leaning more into CSP just because of how the brushes interact with “ink” already on a canvas.

As for suggestions on where to begin, I honestly just recommend putting pen or pencil to paper (or finger to screen) and running with whatever you have in mind. A lot of what drawing is just simply the act of creating. It doesn’t matter if you’re “”good””, it just matters if you’re enjoying what you’re doing. 

One last one, I promise. Where do you see horror going in the coming years, both as a genre and from a craft perspective? Personally speaking, you and others give me hope in seeing it grow to an even more intimate expression of humanity. 

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure where horror is going to go in the future. It’s such a subjective and flexible genre, that anything can really be horror. Rom-coms? Horror if you don’t like relationships. Cartoons? A lot of cursed shit can happen in cartoons. I’m honestly just happy to be along for the ride.

Anything you want to plug?

Please follow me on twitter , and if you like what you see please consider liking or retweeting my work, and if you want me to draw something for you please send me a DM and we can work something out!

Thank you for your time Adam!