Today my boyfriend asked me how I've spent my free time this summer, since he's out of town. I told him I drew comics, which sparked his curiosity. I avoided showing them to him by saying I'd rather show him the finished product...
I don't want to show my boyfriend my comic. It's like he would be reading my diary, my innermost thoughts. D: Plus he is IN this comic. The page he's in hasn't come up yet, FYI, if you guys happen to read my comic. I'm tying in how we've met and my first impression of him in an upcoming page. I describe him as a typical bored college kid too wasted to drive home. Plus he's going to be slightly out-of-character in future pages. Nothing embarrassing happens to him, he comes out great in the end.

Should I tell him? (Y/N)

Well, you've already told him it exists, so it's just a matter of time anyway. It'd probably be a good idea to tell him a bit about it and warn him about his own appearance first though.

You can show the internet your comic, but you can't show him?
You don't know if he'll appreciate being in a comic, but you tell us that he's in your comic? Otherwise we wouldn't have known.

Considering that you did the above 2 things, you might as well tell him. Just so you can show that you have nothing to hide from anyone, online or offline.

Thanks for the advice, guys. =D It's extremely helpful.
I guess I'm more open to showing my comic to the people of the interwebs versus him because I don't know you guys on a personal level, and there's no personal info about me other than my name and location, so I'm not worried about being judged.
Do you guys think I should show him the comic now before he comes up, then tell him that he's going to be in it, or after I finish ( more than a month from now)?

I'd tell him now.

What benefit do you gain by hiding it for now?

You can show or not, as you and he would like, but let him know what's up.

Yea, better sooner than later, thanks. I was just wondering if it would be better for him to read the whole story or only half of it.

If you show him now then he may just get a laugh out of his character because he IS your boyfriend.
He may get offended that your hiding something from him.
That's my opinion but I don't know very much so you can take it or leave it.
;D

Well... good relationships have a solid foundation of trust and honesty. It's probably best that he heard about it from you instead of having found out on his own or heard it from someone else. And like those before me, you might want to warn him that you've included him in it.

Who knows? He might like it. I can't speak for him on that... but I have a feeling he'll appreciate you showing/telling him.

Wipe his memory and never mention it again...




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You'll have to show him.

...unless...
You could make up a fake comic quickly, or tell him you make someone else's comic and get that person to agree to fool your BF with you?
I DO love a farce

No, don't show him. It'll work against you in the future- especially since you actually put him in it. It'll limit you.

I would know ._.

Aww do explain, I am awfully curious. =[ I see your point, it would limit me.

Make a decoy comic. He'll be none the wiser.

Or overhaul the dialogue for every single comic strip you've uploaded.

"Sometimes I just wanna lock the door, close the blinds, and wish that Christmas would come every day"

If he's internet savvy, he could possibly find this thread, detailing your attempt to keep the wool over his eyes.

You've already told him about the comic. I'd suggest to just tell him all about it. I think he'd be cool with it. Tell him there's going to be a character based on him, but not exactly like him.

oh wow. If I put that in to my comic, I am not sure if i'd want my boyfriend to see it either o_o. But I know what you mean. I on the other hand let my boyfriend see all of my drawings, online or offline :3. I think that there may be a possibility that your boyfriend may stumble upon this page? I don't know :p Just saying ^^;. But I suggest you not show him :S for both of your sakes xD.

It's on the internet, and now he knows a comic exists. He's going to find it himself, you might as well tell him and let him see. He ought to be flattered he's in your comic, unless you're showing the internet all his negative stuff.

I agree with Skullbie though, I put a (now ex) boyfriend in one of my comics a few times as a nameless character, and now I hate those pages and I feel like I wasted good comic space. My only comfort is that readers wouldn't know the character from anyone else, but it sours my memory of the comic.

Ergh, both sides make some pretty awesome points here. o_o I'm stuck between the middle now.
He is very internet savvy, but he has no idea about DD, this username, the name of the comic or what it is about. So I don't think he'll find it. Plus he's not THAT eager to read it to search the interwebs for it.

I like Raccoo's idea of telling him the character is based on him, not actually him. I don't think I'll add how we met into the storyline anymore, because of what Skullbie and Peipei said, even though it's pretty interesting. I would hate seeing those pages if we ever broke up.

I was thinking about overhauling the dialogue, for the pages I would send him via Photobucket, as Claus suggested. =] Just on the typical drunk college kid part.
But I don't know how he'll react when he reads the part where I used to like going to lan parties because I'm the only girl there...

Yea, I'm not going to actually give him my DD link, only links to the pages I uploaded on Photobucket. I'm planning on showing him the pages today, so I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for all your help. =]

My suggestion was cooler. ^-^

I was totally going to do that but I have neither Tommy Lee Jones nor a working MiB Neuralizer.

Hmm, now I'm thinking you shouldn't have shown him.

Well I guess it all depends on what you think your future with this person is, how you feel about sharing your own art, and how well you can compartmentalize your art from your life (if your relationship with him ever changes).

Never MAKE a bridge between the internet world and real life.

NEVER.

Ask Allan how secrets like that go over.

I think if you explain everything, and say that the character is based off of him, there is no reason you shouldn't show him.

The point about if you and him broke up, though seems valid (unless you would remain on good terms afterwards, but that is off topic).

Nothing's wrong.

I'm itching to call my ex gf that I portrayed her as a reptilian shapeshifter in my comic (her true form). I just cant find her number!!!

Thanks for all the great advice, guys. =D I really appreciate that you all took the time to help me out!

So I told him yesterday, he really liked that I drew a character to his likeness and thought it was funny that I called this character a wasted college kid who goes to lan parties. In the end, I show him my comic, and he laughed all the way through. He even made some really helpful suggestions. =D But I'm not going to draw him in any pages anytime soon.

Kyupol, that is so awesome. You HAVE to find her number, or better yet, wait til she stumbles upon it on her own!

glad it worked out well for you! He seems like an all-right guy.

Yeah... she's going to be so burned when she realizes she missed out on a mature, responsible guy who takes out his aggression through strained metaphors via a comic. That'll show her.

Anyway, Atom brought up Allan, and if you're curious to see how a secret like that can go out of control, you can read his The Truth arc.

Think about stuff like this, though, is that, in a way, having the people know about it can taint the comic. Basically in the sense that, if you know they're reading it, you might not do something that would be good for the comic, or perhaps even true, for fear of upsetting them. Really, though, it depends on what kind of comic one is doing. I'm not so much saying this for Liz's sake (since she already told her boyfriend), but it's something I've been thinking about, largely because I've also started an autobiographical comic recently (seems to be all the rage, doesn't it?)

I guess it really depends on what kind of comic one is writing. If a person is just writing a fun, silly comic that pokes fun at themselves as well as their friends, there's not much to worry about. But some people use their comic to express darker feelings, such as anger, confusion, or sadness. And if someone you know and care about finds out you're telling people about the time they threw a can of coke at the back of your head because they were in a shitty mood from work, they might get upset. Odds are they're most likely embarassed by the whole thing, and don't like that it's being recorded on the internet. But something like that is also real, and it's emotional... well, not my example, obviously, since I just made it up. But it helps people sort through things, and that's got to count for something.

you need a man to support your art. always always always.

i'm glad your guy has a nice sense of humor :3