October 2017 Q&A

October 2017 Q&A

Q: How are interspecies romance seen? Is it different depending on which two (or more) species is involved?

A: In Brujagh, it's usually seen as a positive thing. There are some who are fervently defend their cultural bias towards mixed species relationships, however. And yes, some races who are pretty hostile to each other frown upon relationships that break the normal pairings. For instance, a Benian and a Tiedian in a relationship would be frowned upon by both parties, as both were previously at war.

Q: What programs do you use for your art?

A: I used to use both Photoshop CS5 and PaintToolSAI. Photoshop for sketching and final shading, and SAI for the inking of all the pages. I upgraded to CS6 and dropped SAI to try and keep the workflow a bit more consistent. 

Q: What is your process for writing the story?

A: I have a general idea of the big key points in the plot, and its writing all the things that lead up to those key moments that I take the time to do. Brujagh is only a fraction of a thousand years of plot points that I have planned in my head and on paper. With the story of Brujagh, I've already figured out most of the major events as points to write into, rather than writing as I go along and seeing what comes next.

Q: Wait, I thought Sierra was with that Evee girl? What happened?

A: No, it's totally not a retcon of Evee, I promise. Sierra is a very troubled person, and after suffering a pretty close brush with death, she sought out some comfort. She found Evee, who, at least I think, saw she needed comfort. I think they had a natural evolution of their relationship from there, and it's something Sierra is going to have to deal with. Nagog is an old flame, and it ignites now and then.

Q: What is your favorite color? And what is the origin of the Benian race?

A: My favorite color shifts between blue, green, or orange. The origin of the Benian race? Whoof. So, several thousands of years ago, a bunch of really strange semi-organic and synthetic aliens, all at once, woke up on a giant chunk of debris. This chunk of debris was, in theory, part of a Dyson Sphere. This massive chunk of metal was pretty much the birthplace of a bunch of blank synthetic life forms, who, over the years, removed what organic systems were left and tried to figure out their own individuality. That chunk of metal is called Origin now, and the mechanical organisms on board are Benians. 

Q: Dear Badger, how much can you lift? And what is your favorite food?

A: "RAAAGH! I CAN LIFT A LOT OF THINGS. BIOMASS IS GOOD, NO FLAVOR, BUT GOOD."

Q: Rho, do you eat? Where does your power come from?

A: "I do eat. It's mostly in liquid form however, I only have a proboscis, and it's not edible by any other species. The materials we ingest is broken down in a sort of converter inside of our chest cavity...Kind of like a, uhh, organic battery? Occasionally we need to have them removed and cleaned of erosion, but if we run out of power, it isn't the end. We can actually live a while on only a few of our blocks or cans of our own food. Some Benians like to chew food with a synthetic jaw, but I'm fine with my proboscis."

Q: Who have you drawn inspiration from in terms of art?

A: That's a hard one, there are a lot of artists who I look at for inspiration. My original inspiration was Feng Zhu, back when I was in high school. Craig Mullins, Chris Foss, and H.R. Geiger were ones to follow as well. My original ideas for comic characters came from before I really thought about doing any sort of story, Michael Turner was my inspiration at that time and has been one ever since.