In this episode of Horror Heals, hosts Corey and Kendall Stulce sit down with Polish artist Hekkoto, whose horror-themed art draws from influences like Creepypasta and Japanese horror. Hekkoto shares their personal story of discovering horror during a challenging time in their life and explains how the genre—and creating terrifying monsters—became a form of mental wellness and community-building. From early inspirations like The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Paranormal Activity to their love for Slender Man and Japanese horror films like Ringu, Hekkoto reflects on the comfort they find in the darker side of creativity.

The conversation also delves into the cultural differences in horror between Poland and other countries, and Hekkoto's aspirations to expand their work into video and sculpture. Join us for a deep, spooky dive into the therapeutic power of horror art and how it helps people like Hekkoto find belonging.

From Creepypasta to Comfort: Horror Art for Mental Wellness

Key Topics Discussed:

• Hekkoto’s early love of drawing and the evolution from cute cats to horror art
• The impact of Creepypasta on their artistic direction, especially Slender Man
• How horror art became a therapeutic outlet during difficult times
• The sense of belonging Hekkoto found in the horror community
• Differences in horror culture between Poland and other parts of the world
• Hekkoto’s inspirations from Japanese horror, especially the Ringu series
• Plans to expand their creative work into video, sculpture, and YouTube
• The role of outsiders in horror and how monsters often mirror feelings of isolation

Guest Bio:

Hekkoto is an artist from Poland known for their horror-inspired artwork, which they share on social media. Drawing from sources like Creepypasta, Japanese horror, and personal experiences, Hekkoto’s art reflects their love for dark, eerie imagery. Through their art, they’ve found a sense of belonging and community, which helps them cope with life's challenges. They are currently expanding their creative outlets to include video and sculpture.

Hekkoto on Instagram

Hekkoto's Linktr.ee

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Hello, boys and girls. It's your old pal, John Cusir, the voice of the Crypt Keeper. And I want to welcome my good fiends of the Horror Heals podcast. Is horror good for mental wellness? But of course it is. I delight in the delicious deaths of pitiful people on the silver screen.

So get ready for a hell of a good time with my new fiends Cory and Kendall on the Horror Heels Podcast.

Hello horror heliacs. Get it? Maniacs, heliacs, aren't we clever? Welcome to another episode of Horror Heels. I'm Kendall Austin Stulce, and as always, I'm here with my amazing co-host and partner, Corey. Today we have a really special guest joining us all the way from Poland, the incredibly talented artist, Hokoto.

We've been following the self-proclaimed mega milk goth mommy's artwork for a while now and are just blown away by the way Hakoto brings horror to life through art. Hakoto, welcome to the show. Hi. We're in New England right now and where are you? I'm in Poland. Lovely. How is it Poland today? Quite warm, thankfully not super hot because in last week we had awful heat wave. Thankfully today isn't that bad. Good. Wonderful, yes.

Same here, although we had a horrible thunderstorm last night that kept the dogs up very loud. Last night, Kendall and I were looking at your Instagram page and just marveling at your art. I love the use of color and lines. Tell us a little bit about how you got interested in art and what drew you to like the horror-themed art. I always was the art kid, so I actually started drawing like a bit when I was like little child. But when I was 15.

I started drawing a lot of more. First it started with me drawing cute cats. It's totally something different. Back then I was posting mostly photos of flowers and cats. Literally just a few months later I was posting on deviantart back then. So I posted on a lot of social medias back then. It was only deviantart. And I just saw a lot of really cool artworks.

which was relating to horror, creepypasta, somewhere around then, like, I started really liking concept of drawing scary things, always like, horrors, things, supernatural and such. Also, that's moment when my life started to be quite awful, I was feeling bad, actually drawing horror really helped. So yeah, first it was like, so, creepypasta and such, which was really popular back then.

But later I started drawing just horror or gore. To be honest, drawing scary monsters or some bloody things. That's how it started. you have a favorite creepypasta? I really like Slender Man, but it's because I am actually able to visualize him like actually scary monster or draw him. I really like when monsters I drew have really long arms and legs.

And I think that might be factor why he likes to lend us so much. going back to childhood, what were some of the first horror things that you were exposed to? I think first thing I was seeing was when my parents was watching some horrors. But then I was still little, so I wasn't allowed to watch with them. They just look a bit and they really enjoyed. I also remember I was watching Cartoon Network and there was

cartoon, Grieve Adventures of Billy and Mandy. And I think it's one of the things that actually got me totally into this really spooky stuff in cartoonish way, really like something I really love. To be honest, to these days I really like mix of horror with cartoon. So I think it was probably one of the biggest factors. And when I was in my early teens,

I started watching horror movies. I remember on New Year's Eve with my friend, I was watching Paranormal Activity 2. I didn't saw first like of Paranormal Activity, I just started with second one because I am not exactly sure why, but yeah, I just watched this and it really like that was time when I actually felt like I really love it and I definitely need to watch a lot of more and then I started

watching a lot of horrors. I'm watching since then. How did you discover when you were feeling bad, how do you get to the point where like all of sudden horror has that aha like, watching horror, drawing horror makes me feel better? To be honest, I always saw horror or scary stuff quite comforting for myself. Probably because it was something I could relate to because I liked it and I thought

like other people like it too. So it gave me like sense of belonging and community. And I think that was probably one of the biggest factors because thanks to working horrors and drawings, spooky stuff, I meet a lot of cool people who also share the same interests. And I think that was like the biggest thing. From all my other hobbies and interests,

Nothing before gave me so much like feeling like I belong somewhere. And there are people who I like me. Excellent. When we tried to explain to people what the concept of this podcast is about horror and horror culture, helping us feel better mentally. Some people who aren't into horror, they don't quite get it. Was that a challenge for you? Like with your parents and stuff like that? you, was it hard to make them understand that, you know, drawing horror makes you feel good?

No, that wasn't any problem ever. To be honest, when I was 11, my parents bought me a video game, Bioshock, which was actually for adults, and it probably was one of the first where I saw more of like horror things, like the monsters and such. So my parents, we don't have no problem. I even was showing them sometimes my drawings and

They never said anything about me drawing like spooky monsters or something. Good. Good. So it's interesting. And I think Kendall and I have touched on this before that being part of the LGBTQ plus community, find like that sense of belonging and solace in horror. think a lot of times because the heroes in horror are often outsiders. You know, is that something that you relate to? Yes. To be honest for.

My whole life I always felt like outsider. I wasn't fitting, I was always different. And to be honest, horror actually gave me that sense of belonging because I could see myself like some character from horror movie. I could relate also to fact that often like monsters or killers and such had their own problems which actually could

and people and such and think that there are outsiders and they are so cool. It was literally awesome. was like, I want to be like them because they are cool. They're outsiders and then they don't mind it. yeah, and I really like this. you feel like you connect more with the monsters or with the heroes or the people in the movies? To be honest,

I often relate more to the monsters. I see myself more like on the monster side. Which is actually quite interesting because to be honest, I'm rather like super nice and kind person. Is war a big thing in Poland? Like the war culture? Yes, even in the cinemas. Around Halloween, like four or five movies in a row, horror movies, it's everywhere. Here in the United States, like

haunted houses and stuff are really popular. when they, especially around Halloween, they put up these haunted hayrides and places that you walk through where people jumping out of chainsaws and stuff like that. Is that something you'd like to check out or would that be too freaky? I would really love to, but to be honest, I'm just sitting home all the time. yeah, not probably recently. I never even look this because yeah, I'm just sitting home all the time. Gotcha. our cousins just moved to Prague this week.

And it's so funny, like they've got a great apartment, but on the main level is a horror themed bar or pub. They sent a photo yesterday and so it's just, I think it's exciting to learn about how people like horror and what's different in other cultures and things like that. Are there any Polish horror movies that you're fond of? I am not sure because I like the most Japanese horror movies. So I mostly focusing on them. I also like.

American horror movies to be honest for movies from other countries, but I actually plan to when it comes to Poland and horror I really would love to see a horror movie which is relating to Slavic Mythologies and I hope there will be something big someday Hopefully I have really really huge fun of like overall like Mythologies and folklore and

I really, I really love such things. So, interesting. mentioned Japanese horror. I was definitely into that in high school and college and stuff. When the Ringu movies were out and I know, you know, Americans like to remake everything, but I will say, and I just re watched the Ring movies, the American remake this last couple of days. And I thought that was probably the most well done interpretations of them. Did you, have you watched those? It's probably one of my top favorite.

I actually own almost every of them on DVD because I am a huge fan of them. Why do you find yourself drawn to those movies in particular? I really love there is like some creepy girl and like creepy girls are like super interesting idea, especially that I really like Samara Morgan or Sadako looking. I just love like long dark hair.

pale skin is totally my thing. I think that was probably one of the first things which actually made me watch this. We'll be watching to make sure you don't climb out of our television. Going back to your beautiful artwork, what are your hopes for it? I really hope to make art my career. Right now I'm making like tiny steps like I not only post on my social media, I also started to record some videos because I noticed...

One of probably best-have bigger audience and make money from art is thanks to YouTube. Already have like my Patreon and I post a lot of stuff. There are even people who like our Patreon so there is hope. People actually want to see this. That's one of the things that we appreciate most about the horror community are the creative people who we get to see a little bit peek into their minds through their artwork.

And yeah, it's really cool. I'm just, I'm like visualizing the reds and blacks right now that you focus on. Are there some other art mediums that you want to experiment in? I actually try a lot of media. On my social media it's usually digital art, sometimes a little artworks, but I really hope to go into sculpting really soon because I want to make some monsters or creepy things.

some ideas for let's say videos, movies and such. Hopefully one day it will be something bigger. But I think video form is really great, especially that I have some knowledge when it comes to graphic design, editing and such. So I can not only record, but I can also add some things there. I think really soon hopefully I will be doing some video stuff.

That's cool. That's exciting. Yeah. love seeing horror creators emerge, find their voices. The final question that we always ask our guests is who is your favorite final person from a horror movie? I know it's a tough one. It's hard for me to just pick one because for me, it's really often that I like the whole of the movie and such. So picking just character.

I don't know if I am actually able to. Because for me, really often, it's not only characters, not only monsters, but everything. Definitely see Samara as considered a final character. Probably yes. I think probably yes. Well, this has been a true pleasure and we're going to keep watching your artwork grow and we're excited to see what comes next. Thank you, Edad.

Our deepest, darkest appreciation to Hokuto for being on the podcast. It's inspiring to hear how art and horror can serve as such powerful tools for healing a community. We can't wait to see how your work continues to grow, especially with your plans for video and sculpting. We'll definitely be gouging an eye out for what's next. To all of our horror heliacts, be sure to check out Hokuto's social media for a glimpse into a wonderfully eerie world. Links in our show notes.

Until next time remember when someone states, worry is good for mental wellness you bite back with, of course it is. The Four Heels podcast is produced and presented by Alucard with the cabbage LLC.