So, this week on the commentary I’m addressing a frequently asked (and almost as frequently answered) question: “Why don’t we ever see Emp’s supersuit fully intact?”

Time for the second real-world reason for her perpetually torn costume:

2. Much more important is the unfortunate fact that drawing Emp’s suit fully intact is very, very hard on my drawing hand. Lemme repeat that for emphasis: Drawing Emp’s suit fully intact is very, very hard on my drawing hand. Doesn’t take much to set off the dozen or so perpetually recurring aches and pains that plague my hand and arm, okay? Now, some of those chronic issues I can ameliorate with fingertip padding or joint splints; but the very specific burning pain in my forearm triggered by high-pressure graphite rendering is one that can’t be mitigated by anything other than not drawing for a few days, or weeks, or even months. This is why I’m going to have to switch over to working digitally at some point in the near future, as I’ve found that working with an Apple Pencil on the ol’ iPad in Clip Studio Paint or Procreate seems notably less stressful on my drawing hand.

Rendering Emp’s suit fully intact requires large areas of graphite boldly applied—a recipe for exacerbating my chronic hand problems—whereas the tattered suit’s alternation of smaller dark areas and unrendered skin needs less high-pressure penciling.(That’s why, nowadays, I depict Sistah Spooky’s strongly dark outfits with large portions of ’em depicted via Sharpie® marker, which saves me a fair bit of drawing-hand stress.)

Tomorrow, on to some interesting in-universe rationales for Emp’s perpetually tattered suit!

Today’s Patreon update: Not sure, to be honest (these commentaries predate my Patreon posts by a few weeks), but I can guarantee that there's a new post today!

-Adam Warren