{"id":46216,"date":"2019-07-19T09:02:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T14:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=46216"},"modified":"2019-07-20T10:12:57","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T15:12:57","slug":"an-interview-with-the-creator-of-the-webcomic-autophobia-g-h-s-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=46216","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with the Creator of the Webcomic Autophobia, G. H. S. T"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY JOHN CARTER JR<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(All Art Featured in this piece were created by G. H. S. T)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autophobia <\/em>is a webcomic created by the talented G. H. S. T, a webcomic artist who is developing very timely stories about the LGBTQ youth and mental health issues and awareness. Autophobia <\/em>is \u201ca coming of age comic about dorks falling in love.\u201d The comic features Louis Beau, a highschool teenager exploring who he is, what he wants, and who he wants to love. He does this through the loveable Daniel York, a teenager who has a tendency to be awkward around his crush, Louis. Throughout the weekly releases of this story, character develops in a natural and beautiful way, the aesthetically pleasing art style benefits this completely. We had the opportunity to reach out to G. H. S. T. for an interview concerning the development of her work, in particular the webcomic Autophobia<\/em>, and the effect it has had one her life. 
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JPCJ-<\/strong> When and how did the concept for Autophobia <\/em>come into fruition?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>It\u2019s a bit funny, I initially, created the characters Louis and Daniel in the Sims 2 to play out a story about two boys who fall in love and play with all of the drama in their lives\u2014it\u2019s not the Sims unless there\u2019s drama, haha. That was back in maybe 2009 (maybe even earlier, yikes!)\u2014the comic officially started in July 2010. When I started the story, it was just a seed of an idea; it\u2019s grown to be so much more. The more I worked with the characters and formed their personalities and of those around them, the story grew. It wasn\u2019t until 2012 when I felt I had a solid framework for where I wanted the story to go and what all I wanted to convey. When I started the comic, it was honestly on a whim and I remember thinking \u201cwell, let\u2019s see where this goes!\u201d I never imagined I\u2019d actually get this far!
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 JPCJ- <\/strong>Where do Louis and Daniel get their inspiration from?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>This is a hard question to answer\u2014I\u2019m not really sure! There are aspects of their characters that are inspired by parts of some of my own experiences, such as Louis\u2019s anxiety, but really I just started with the \u201ccold, brood\u201d and \u201chappy, optimistic\u201d lovers trope and built off of that. I\u2019m sure there are other things that have indirectly inspired them, but not really anything I can consciously put my finger on and say \u201cYES! This will be Louis\/Daniel.\u201d They just slowly morphed into their own characters over time.
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JPCJ-<\/strong> Not only is this comic display a relationship of an inter-ethnic couple but also one of people of different body types, was this intentional or was it something that just formed over time?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>Including characters with different ethnicities and different body types was intentional; I wanted a realistic cast. Although, drawing different body types was something that came over time as I developed as an artist, but as my skills improved, it was definitely a conscious decision. It\u2019s also important in terms of representation\u2014I\u2019ve had folks share that they\u2019ve felt represented through these characters and I think that\u2019s great.
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JPCJ- <\/strong>Where does the inspiration and development of Mia come from and will we see more from her?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>Of course we will see more of her! She is Daniel\u2019s best friend, after all, and she is growing a tolerance for Louis (haha). She also struggles with mental illness like Louis (she has clinical depression), so I would like to further explore her experience with it. Mia is based quite a bit on my middle school friend group\u2014we were all into the goth subculture back then. I thought it would be fun to have the \u201cmysterious and quiet goth girl\u201d be best friends with Daniel who is seemingly the exact opposite. At least that\u2019s how it is on the surface\u2014in actuality, they\u2019re both just big dorks!
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JPCJ-<\/strong> Are there any characters you are looking forward to introducing or expanding on in the future?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>I really look forward to expanding on the characters in Louis\u2019s friend group, as well as introducing Daniel\u2019s father (for better or worse). The formal introduction of him is important to Daniel\u2019s character, and maybe not in the best of ways. It\u2019s a dynamic I\u2019m very interested in exploring, especially as it might compare and contrast to Louis\u2019s relationship with his own father.
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JPCJ-<\/strong> I have been extremely impressed by your handling of Louis’ panic or anxiety attack scenes, did you do any specific research on these mental health topics or have specific inspirations?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>Thank you! Aside from my own personal experiences with anxiety, I also majored in psychology in undergrad and got my masters in school psychology, so I have done a lot of research into mental illness and mental well-being.
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JPCJ-<\/strong> When reading Autophobia <\/em>I have noticed that a lot of the moments that are Daniel focused are seen from the outside in, can we expect more narration from Daniel?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>Can I just say that I love that you noticed that? That\u2019s been intentional. The current chapter (chapter 19) is more Daniel-centric, but we still don\u2019t get to hear his inner thoughts other than what he shares out loud. It\u2019s definitely in the plans for Daniel to shine with his own narration at some point. We\u2019ve already seen a few other characters\u2019 perspectives, such as John, Chloe, and Mia…Daniel will definitely get his day, but not just yet. For a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, I think he has a lot more going on in his head than a lot of people, including Louis, realize.
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JPCJ-<\/strong> Is it pronounced (Louis) Lu-ee or Lu-iss?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>Lu-iss, like how you would pronounce \u201cLewis.\u201d (though feel free to pronounce it any way you\u2019d like, I won\u2019t know haha!)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JPCJ-<\/strong> is Autophobia <\/em>and The Fool That Once Was<\/em> in the same Universe?
G. H. S. T- <\/strong>Yes! Although, I do have plans to completely reboot The Fool That Once Was<\/em>. The story was not quite working out like I had hoped, so it\u2019s back to the figurative drawing board for that one for now.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JPCJ-<\/strong> What has Autophobia <\/em>done for your life and how does your emotional expression show in this work?
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G. H. S. T- <\/strong>Autophobia <\/em>has been a part of my life for such a long time now, it\u2019s kind of scary to imagine life after it (thankfully [?], we have a long way to go before then). Writing the story has been an outlet for me in ways. It\u2019s not autobiographical by any means, but a lot of things are based on some of my own experiences, such as coming to terms with my own sexuality (I\u2019m bisexual like Louis) and anxiety. Writing Louis\u2019s struggles with anxiety has helped me to contextualize it in ways and better understand how my own anxiety manifests. In terms of emotional expression, I have been told I have very animated facial features and talk a lot with my hands, so I suppose that has helped me with drawing the different expressions and their body language!
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Thank you G. H. S. T for this opportunity, been a huge fan for a while now! You can find their social media links and the Autophobia <\/em>Comic below:
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Twitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/itsaghst<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patreon: https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/itsaghst<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/itsaghst\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comic: http:\/\/www.autophobiacomic.com\/<\/a>
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