It’s no coincidence that I chose Dil as the example for, what I’ll call a “composite character”, with regards to how he relates to people I know in real life. The truth is, Dil really is almost fully fictitious. While I’ve borrowed certain traits from others I know, I couldn’t point to any one specific person that Dil represents. Ine’s mom and dad though match my own parents quite closely. While they don’t appear super often, when they do I often think about how my own parents would have responded in a given situation when deciding on dialog and such.

Speaking of personal details, it was important to me to include at least some aspects of the faith and belief system (or lack thereof) of various characters. I wasn’t out to create a “religious comic”, nor one that came across as “preachy”. Still, in my own life, my faith is a part of who I am, and not something I only do on Sunday and than shrug off until the following one. It affects many, if not all aspects of my personal life, sometimes in small, subtle ways, and other times in very noticeable ones. I wanted to show a glimpse of that in Aww, Feathers! Obviously, the subject of religion is often a source of conflict. But I’m happy to say that I’ve received positive feedback from those of many beliefs.