Bird brain (Patreon)

I’ve had a few weeks now with my partner running my Instagram account for me, and it’s generally made life a bit less stressful, which is terrific! It just means dealing with trolls is mostly not an issue anymore, which was the biggest blocker to me writing and drawing. 

Thank you for your ideas and thoughts on dealing with this btw. I had no idea I was so sensitive! Social media really is a tricky beast. 

Meanwhile, my latest comic is quite text heavy this time around - so as well as some unused artwork, here are some of the panels sans text. 

___________________________________________________________

NOTES:

I loved imagining the language of these people as I worked. The twittering, singing and chirping. Completely unpronounceable to a human. 

It was also lots of fun thinking up bio engineered technology for them. Solar-sail creatures, with external skeletons and multiple hardened eyes, that, lacking radio, must navigate back to earth to report their findings. And then, later, a mix of GE and metal tech as they integrate new minerals and processes into their engineering. 

I imagined that the bird inside the jelly-spider was biologically connecting directly into this spacecraft: seeing through the ship’s eyes, its tentacles literally an extension of the bird’s body. Additionally, the bird has grown gills and floats in a sack of water, to protect its more vulnerable cells from radiation. 

In an idea for a sequel I’m playing with, I see these feathery Earthlings increasingly wearing bodies like clothes, depending on what they are trying to accomplish. But I’m not sure I have a coherent story there yet. We shall see!

Homework 😂
This comic is a sequel itself. The first part of the story is the Patron-only comic, The Lotus Eaters, which you can find under Extras. 

Have any of you read After Man? I had this book floating around when I was a kid, and I'm pretty sure it impacted this story to some degree. 

More recently, World without us is worth a look, if you're interested in this topic. It's an absolutely fascinating book. 

And finally, comic artist, Simon Roy has already made much more beautiful dino-sapiens than I ever could. Check out some of his work here.