Steph is a 2011 graduate of Gettysburg College (majored in history, minored in Civil War Era studies) and current graduate student at Pratt Institute (library science with a focus in Archival Studies) who loves baseball, anime, writing, drawing, Rogue Squadron, cars (and Top Gear), comedy (especially its history and, naturally, the British variety) and her cats and Old English Sheepdogs. Fond of Stanford even though she doesn't go there. Has Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. Created the 30-Day Baseball Meme. One time she made a music video about Buster Keaton's love affair with trains. Since she's an archivist-in-training, she often preserves things on her own. See her scans here.
Author of the webcomic The Historians, the excuse to draw dead comedians called Comedian Heaven, and Londinium, a novel in the making set in 1863 London. Scriptwriter for the webcomic Home By Now, a story about time travel, music, history and general hijinks (meet the incredible artist here!).
Very occasionally posts about herself when she's not posting about baseball, dead people, Top Gear or her pets.
Anonymous Asks:
1863-project Said:
Tragically, there’s not an interesting backstory to Armo - he’s newer and only arrived in my life about a year ago. I was going through Historians ideas as I laid in bed trying to fall asleep one night and decided that the racing team needed a Finn.
It got a Finn.
Armo’s only been around for approximately a year, and he hasn’t really changed since his onset, but he did reveal that he’s a very, very loyal friend over the course of that one year and he’s always there to stick up for people. Even Julien, who he playfully torments.
On the other hand, Basil has a very, very long history - he arrived soon after Dustin did in 2004.
LOOK, I LABELED HIM ‘MAIN CHARACTER.’ HAHAHAHA.
There are only two things that are currently true about Basil in that image: he was born in Manchester, and he still makes sure he doesn’t miss his tea in the afternoon. His birthday has since been moved up from 1834 to 1837 (although it’s still July 2nd if you want to bake him a cake), he’s the eldest son of an earl masquerading as a banker to figure out what happened to the money his father invested at a rival bank, and he’s an incredibly imaginative writer - he secretly writes satire anonymously. His evolution as a character from boring banker to an aristocrat with an almost infallible deadpan is charted in this post somewhat.
In 2007, as this post here explains, I discovered Basil had way too much in common with Peter Cook for me to ignore it, and so his post-early 2007 characterization has been inspired by Mr. Cook. (Likewise, Dustin had too much in common with Dudley Moore for me to let it pass, and so began my realization that I’d loved double acts for a very long time and it was finally showing up in my work.)
Basil today has pretty much done a complete 180° from the Basil of late 2004, and I’m quite relieved for that because the Basil of late 2004 really isn’t someone I’d have wanted to spend the past eight years writing for. (Londinium turns 9 in December. That makes me feel weird.)
I like this Basil better.
I started this yesterday and had way too much time before class today so I finished it now. Here you are, not that you care about how my two OCs became a double act or anything.
I hadn’t drawn these idiots in a while.
Dustin and Basil for an art trade with 1863-project! WHEW sorry that took so long, these two are a ton of fun to draw oh gosh.
I read they liked to post stupidly for publicity SO HERE YOU GO. I imagine they’re probably doing a gag where Basil thought he saw a rat crawl across his foot or something, hehehe.
Hope you like it! :>
OH GOD MY BABIES I LOVE YOU FOREVER FOR THIS
(I’m so touched to know that they’re fun to draw, too! <3 And their stupid posing, YES! They’re so precious!)
Sometimes I have feelings about that book I’m trying to write.
thank for following my lame art blog HERE’S A THING FOR YOU
(I am sorry if I made them look blatantly American I haven’t educated myself on British 1860s attire much aaaa)
HOW DID I COMPLETELY MISS THAT YOU DREW BASIL AND DUSTIN OH MY GOSH MY BABIES I LOVE YOU <3333
Basil and Dustin doing a sight gag.
Sometimes Basil and Dustin pose stupidly for publicity stuff since they’re comedians. This is one of those times.
Here’s a bit of insight into my writing process. This was recorded from my phone, so it’s difficult to hear the differences I do between their voices, but this is Basil and Dustin rambling about a Wikipedia article for nine minutes.
The article in question is here.
This is how I try out new kinds of paper.
BASIL’S SMILING, GUYS. THIS IS EXCITING. LET’S ALL CALL HIM OUT ON IT.
Look, I finally figured out how to draw faces on profile! I just had to return to human anatomy for a second there and check how the skull is placed on the neck.
Taking anatomy my senior year of high school = best thing I’ve ever done for myself when it comes to improving my art.
Yes, this is Basil.
It really sucks when the two main characters in your novel keep you awake until 1 am because they’re writing comedy together and having terrible giggle fits.
By the way, this is a rare moment since you get to see Basil lose it. He’s normally really good at holding a deadpan.
Since I drew Dustin in a rare moment of anger, here’s Basil openly smiling.
