How long have you& been doing art?

We've enjoyed writing and making stories for as long as we can remember. We got serious with the world of roleplaying, fanfiction, and fandom culture in sixth grade in the late 2000s. This became our outlet for coping with bullying, verbal abuse at home, and other mental health issues. It also became a way for my headmates to express themselves freely and find their voices. We discovered manga in middle school and got serious about comic books in high school, and the rest is history.

What programs/Tools do you use?

A Cintiq 22 display tablet, with Clip Studio Paint. Before Clip Studio, we've also used Krita, GIMP, and Ibis Paint X.

How do you feel about AI Generated Images?

AI 'Art' is theft, plain and simple, and is wasteful for the environment. AI is a tool with many applications and full of potential. It should not ever be used in place of human creativity, however. For this reason, Burning Heresy Art will never consent to having our art scraped to train AI.

Do you& offer NFTs?

Absolutely not. They're pointlessly wasteful and a scam. Buy commissions or physical art instead.

Do you& take requests or art trades?

We do not accept art requests and rarely will we accept art trades. However, we are always accepting commissions and looking for work. Here is our commission/work info. The only exception is ArtFight once a year.

What illnesses do you& have?

ADHD, Autism, dissociative identity disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, OCD, numerous head injuries, and dyscalculia. We may have more, but these are the ones that've been diagnosed.

Do all of you have autism/ADHD?

Yes, autism and ADHD are neurological disorders that affect the way the brain is wired--therefore, our entire system is AuDHD. Many will be surprised to learn, however, that every alter can have unique ND traits. For example, I (Andrea) stim commonly with my hands and by stretching. Kaz prefers to stim orally with chewelry. Adrien's special interest is medicine instead of fiction.

Your comic is relateable. Do I have (diagnosis) too?

We are experts in our own experiences. However, we are not mental health experts with training and certifications. If you have concerns that you may have a diagnosis because you relate to folks online sharing their experiences, you should write them down and bring it up to an actual professional who can decide what treatment works for you.

Are your conditions hard to live with?

Absolutely. However, they were much harder to live with when we didn't know about them. Social media and the destigmatization of mental health has been game-changing with teaching us how to mitigate our symptoms and navigate our challenges.

Nobody likes having (diagnosis). You must be faking.

We don't owe anyone an explanation for why we choose to share our experiences, but we'll give you one anyway.

Mental illness is not an exact science, and our understanding of the human mind is still in its infancy. The lobotomy was only banned in the 1970s. Anti-depressants were only invented and starting to be perscribed in the 1950s. The first person to be diagnosed with autism died recently in 2023. Dissociative identity disorder was renamed in 1996--the same year our body was born. Even so, what we do know is that mental illnesses are as varied as the people who have them. Even if your disorder is the same as someone else's, your way of experiencing it is unique.

We grew up ostracized and outcast for our neurodivergent traits. We only began to understand them in our mid-20s. Understanding them and unmasking them has set us free and made it possible to accomodate our struggles. Learning about our systemhood in 2020 and listening to eachother's voices and acknowledging them as the voices of friends and people who benefitted our survival is what's made us stronger as a team. Most importantly, growing up, my system--my friends--were the only people I had, and I didn't even realize I wasn't imagining them until far, far into the future, after we'd been separated by dormancy and amnesia for so long. They made my hellish existence liveable; of course I love them. Of course I care about them. And of course we're happy when an old friend returns.

People laugh at their trauma all the time. Laughter is called the best medicine. Cancer patients aren't told they're faking because they make jokes about their situation; why are neurodivergent people told this?