badspacecomics

The other humans

Published: September 16th 2022, 4:08:12 am

I loved researching Neanderthals for this new comic! The study of other species of human has been undergoing a bit of a revolution in recent years because of genetics, and it's changing the way we think about how our species and other species evolved. 

And that's wonderful, mind blowing, fascinating stuff. 

Rebecca Wragg's book is fantastic, if you're interested in more. And the Tides of History podcast features some terrific interviews and thoughts on our recent evolution, as well as so much other good stuff. Totes recommend. 

Drawing Neanderthals also presented a problem I didn't expect. 

Because of their heavy brow and more solid stature, I kept finding that my drawings of them looked "wrong". They were actually fine, but my brain is so finely tuned to what human proportions look like that I kept falling into a kind of uncanny valley: thinking my pictures were wrong, when in fact they were accurately depicting Neanderthal proportions. 

Anyway, such an interesting challenge for an artist to run into! Also, I really struggled with the hair of my little neanderthal girl. That was not something I expected to happen, and it made me MAD. 😅