Panel 3: The ol' "Profile Cheat" strikes again! As mentioned many times before, the "cheat" is a means of showing facial expressions on foreground characters who would otherwise be seen from behind as they face a background character or image. The trick only works in a fairly cartoony style like mine, IMHO, because with a more realistic art style, one can readily perceive that the "profile cheater" isn't actually facing the background element, but is turned away to enable the profile shot.

Of late, I've grown much less fond of the profile cheat and tend to use "back of the head" shots instead, despite the notable lack of facial expressions with the latter. Not sure why, TBH, but this might be due to the slight infusion of (ahem) "realism" that's crept into my work ever since I went on a year(s)-long binge of near-daily life drawing recently. (Well, not recently, as that binge kicked off five g-d years ago in 2017, but whatevs.)

Today’s Patreon update: In an attempt to scratch 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