While I still quite like the way Emp & Ninjette's figures worked out in this shot, holy crap did poor Syndablokk's figure drawing get mangled—albeit in a strangely indirect manner, as his unseen right leg is kinda disappearing into the void, despite being covered up by the stone structure presenting the katana. Basically, the horizon line is going through Synda's clavicle, which is far too low a vantage point to support such a camera angle without massive "fisheye-lens" distortion on his figure. (Also, the one-point perspective I chose to use for the shot requires even more such distortion.) Believe me, I'm sure I could see the problem at the time, but wound up saying, "Ehh, screw it, this is gonna have to do."

Plus, let's face it, the presentation of the katana in its container does give a bit of a "dick in the box" feel to the shot, which may arguably be even more severe of a problem. Yeahp, I really should've used a different composition for this page, but I'm pretty sure that I was so pleased with how Emp & Ninjette's poses worked out that I was determined to use those sketches no matter what, even if the rest of the page soon spiraled into utter disaster.

Today’s Patreon update: Originally done as a means of scratching out more worktime to complete the long-gestating Empowered vol. 12, I've switched over to a Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday Patreon posting schedule that won't feature the fixed content format I previously used. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

-Adam Warren