Q:HEY BRENDAN, did Sulla make you that mug? Is she actually any good at art?
Happy Father’s Day!
Q:No new update today?
New page is probably gonna go up tomorrow night. This has been a weird week.
I do have something to post tonight, but it won’t go up until I’ve finished this burrito that’s the size of a baby.
Thinking about doing some posts about character design next week
I’ve been talking with people and reading a lot about designing and writing characters, and I thought it might be cool to share some O Human Star character stuff when I got back from TCAF. Maybe even some personal design theory a la Aaron Diaz. If you have any particular questions/thoughts about that kind of stuff, send me an ask message and I’ll try to incorporate it into a post.
Q:Has Brendan tried growing a beard? (because two beards are better than one)
Brendan… doesn’t grow facial hair very evenly yet.
Q:Is there someone Al undoubtbly hates?
Yes. There was exactly one person whose existence he hated and feared. Until he got to meet that person.
Q:(Feel free to disregard it if you're not currently drawing asks.) Could you draw little Al with his mother?
Meet Sylvia Lynn Sterling. (“Lynn” is her maiden name, and Al’s middle name.)
This is what I know about Al’s mom. When Al was about 6 or so, his mom, on the advice of her family doctor, started being way less affectionate and touchy-feely towards her son. This was pretty common advice given to parents of boys displaying “effeminate” behavior, especially in the 60s. I think she felt pretty bad about doing it, though.
Q:What was Brendan's Bar Mitzvah like? And did Sulla have one?
Unnecessary character backstory ahoy!
Brendan’s family is what you would probably call Humanist Jewish, meaning that they observe the main holidays and traditions less because of the religious aspect and more to honor the history and culture of being Jewish. Brendan had a modest bar mitzvah celebration to please his paternal grandparents, but all his mom and dad asked him to do was write a paper about an aspect of Jewish culture or history that interested him. He wrote about the Golem of Prague, because even at 13 he was a lil’ robot nerd.
A few months after her transition, Brendan had Sulla write a paper, too, expecting that she’d write a similarly historical sort of research paper. Instead, she wrote about the implications of a synthetic being like herself observing a religion, and even some of her thoughts about believing in God.
Brendan was understandably astounded when he finally read it. The original copy is still in his office somewhere.
Q:are you coming to stumptown in oregon again this year? i got subrosa from you last year and gahhh i just want more. ,_,
Yes I am! I will probably be sharing a booth with fellow Minneapolitan/robot enthusiast Diana Nock and Smut Peddler editor/evil mastermind Spike! I will have copies of OHS 1 Chapter 1 and 2, as well as buttons and a new miniprint of Al’s lady poster. I’m getting seriously excited for it!
Okay, so, I get variations on “what did Sulla used to look like” a lot, and I’d usually tried to reveal as little info as possible because I’m devoting an entire chapter to Sulla’s early life. But I realized recently that that chapter won’t come around for a long while. Plus, a reader dug around in my Tumblr and discovered some early sketches of younger Sulla that I’d posted before I started working on the comic proper. So I guess trying to keep it a total mystery is not gonna happen anyway. :P
So here is what Sulla looked like in her earliest lifelike prototype, 6 years after she was first activated. Brendan referred to pictures of Al as a child to design her. She looked male until she was 13.
Q:hello al, you seem to be a very big man, how tall are you? where you that big when you where younger????
Al’s about 6’ or 6’1”. He got super tall super quickly when he was a kid, and Sulla’s about the same height he was when he was in his mid-teens (5’9”). His biggest growth spurt coincided with him being sent off to live with his relatives, so there was a solid year where most of his clothes were way too short for him. It sucked.
