We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

I'm been laid flat for a week now by illness and (presumably related?) severe insomnia, so commentaries will resume when (or if?) I once again feel capable of actual productivity and coherent thought.   

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

I'm been laid flat for a week now by illness and (presumably related?) severe insomnia, so commentaries will resume when (or if?) I once again feel capable of actual productivity and coherent thought.   

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

And lo, we're back to the setting of the climactic act of Empowered vol. 5, albeit with a seemingly different outcome! Whatever could this mean, folks?

While I'm glad to have pretty much given up lettering word balloons going forward, note that I still quite enjoy crafting sound FX, and will likely continue doing so even if I'm no longer handling the " copy" on a page; come to think of it, this is very much a "manga-like" approach, though I'm not pursuing this technique in imitation of Japanese creators.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

And lo, we're back to the setting of the climactic act of Empowered vol. 6, albeit with an unhappier outcome! Lordy loo!

Gotta say that Deathmonger's "wavy-looking" dialogue pattern, which shifts font size from word to word and even letter to letter, honestly looks more like generically crappy and uneven lettering than it evokes the warbling tone of an undead speaker's voice. (Oh, well.)

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

And lo, we're back to the setting of the climactic act of Empowered vol.8, albeit with an unhappier outcome! 

Note that this page was almost entirely rendered in ink, with graytones added in pencil afterward. By this late point in the series, I was actually inking quite often, as opposed the earliest volumes' exclusive use of penciled artwork.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

And lo, we're back to the setting of Empowered vol.9's climactic act, albeit with an unhappier (and much creepier!) outcome. Whatever could this mean? 

Panel 3: L-shaped panel alert! (As noted earlier, this is a layout riff I long ago borrowed from a reprinted issue of Frank Thorne's Marvel run on Red Sonja.) 

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

I wound up increasing the contrast levels on this page from the printed version via Photoshop, as I thought the pencils seemed a bit too light. As I've noted recently, in the long run I'm almost—let me emphasize, almost—glad that the pencil-based art technique I used for Empowered is now lost to me, as that grayscale approach brought seemingly endless hassles with reproduction and printing that simply don't exist with a more conventional ink-based art style.   

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Always did like doing Neurospear's inverted-to-white-on-black-in-Photoshop telepathic balloons, gotta say.

Next week on the webcomic serialization, stand by for further seemingly cryptic and puzzling unpleasantness, dear readers!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

One thing I'm not definitely gonna miss about working in pencil is how insanely vulnerable this medium is to very slight variations in reproduction process and quality. In fact, most second or further printings of any given Empowered volume tended to vary noticeably in contrast levels, much to my chagrin; then again, that was back in the day when Empowered volumes were, in fact, getting multiple printings. As the series' sales inexorably dropped off, Dark Horse Comics stopped doing second printings of the later books, which is why volumes 10 & 11 have long been difficult or outright impossible to find. The only versions of the series still in print are the paperback Empowered Omnibus editions, with November's upcoming 4th Omnibus (and hardcover Deluxe Edition, to be released simultaneously) making vols 10--12 available in print again at last.

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 5: Hilariously enough, I can no longer recall whether or not this bold and striking image was done as a deliberate homage to a (very) similar scene in 1991's Dirty Pair: A Plague of Angels issue #2, or if I accidentally repeated myself 30 years later. I'll give 2021-ish Me the benefit of the doubt and say that this was done on purpose, but I'm not 100% certain on this point.

Expect to see text referring to "ORIGINAL TIMELINE AND NARRATIVE" recurring throughout the rest of this volume, folks, as I intersperse brief snippets of this lone remaining vestige of the original plotline of Empowered vol.12 with the ongoing Empowered and Never-Ending Reboot storyline that replaced it.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 1: Gotta say that I quite like how graphically striking this somewhat abstract image worked out. "Harsh B&W for the win," I might say, if not for the cringe-y phrasing.

Panel 4: The "boba background" in this shot also worked out amusingly well, IMHO.

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 4: The white FX lines in this shot were actually drawn in black ink on a vellum overlay, then converted to white in Photoshop and applied in a layer over the pencil art. Note that this conspicuously analog approach is attempting to replicate the effect of a white-line layer as applied in a digital medium such as Clip Studio Paint; in fact, having comparatively easier access to white-line artwork at all times might be one of the biggest advantages of working digitally (well, for me, at least).  

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 3: As much as I always wanted to add complex and deep shading like this to my pencil work, the tragic reality is that my rendering skill set was ill-suited at best for such approaches, as seen here with the quite grainy and unsatisfying shadows I slathered over Spooky in this shot. (Oh, well.)

Next week on the webcomic serialization, stand by for a sudden surprise before the narrative switches things up once again!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Enjoy the terrible majesty of Safari Spooky, dear readers! Note that she can rock high heels on safari because, well, she's perpetually levitating like Lum from Urusei Yatsura or Freefall from Gen13, who was almost always depicted in flight during my runs on the franchise in tribute to Lum.

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

-Adam Warren

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panels 2-4: Achieving an even gray tone for supposedly "blue" skies with pencils was always a problem for me. The technique I used here was to lay down a fairly uneven base tone with HB pencils, then smooth out the pencilwork with a blending stump or tortillon before adding a final layer of fine, overlaying lines to even things out. (Gotta say, just slapping down a sheet of screentone would've been quicker.) 

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Note that the captionless Emp narration was lettered on an overlay then pasted atop the artwork; for the mockup jpeg I'm using here, I added a white "stroke" outline in Photoshop around the text to take sure the letters wouldn't merge with background detail on the artwork underneath. Alas, the published version doesn't have that white stroke added, so some of the words are rather tough to read. (I consider this error to be my fault for failing to notice the problem in the preview PDFs I reviewed before publication.) So, yay, you're getting a superior version of this page, webcomic readers!

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Note this page's extremely rare use of, in effect, narrative captions without actual caption boxes. Just trying something a li'l different, folks! I was trying a whole lotta narrative approaches in this volume that were a li'l different, in fact, though the success rate would be considered spotty at best. (Oh, well.)

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 4: in the first draft of this panel, I committed the shocking error of drawing Emp's "toothsome rump" (per the Caged Demonwolf) a bit too small in the original art (GASP), so we had to enlarge said rump a fair bit in Photoshop. Whew! Imagine the sales hit this volume might've taken without a correctly sized Emp behind in this shot. (Just kidding, folks.) OTOH, I also drew her g-d hands too large, but that was nowehere near as easily corrected, it seems.

Next week on the webcomic serialization, Emp reaches some important conclusions about this minion experience before the story's setting undergoes an abrupt change. Lordy loo!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Note that this page continues the bonus feature of an extended "Semi-Meta Emp" sequence deleted from the published version of Empowered vol. 12 for pagecount purposes (hence the "Page 93E" label); this sequence, along with many other unused pages, will be part of the 30-odd pages worth of bonus content featured in the Empowered Deluxe Edition vol.4 hardcover due out in November!

TBH, Thugboy would almost certainly have gotten used to Emp's overdramatic roleplaying by this point in their time together, but who knows? Perhaps she really is a great actress in the ultraspecialized theatrical field of "mmphing"-only bedroom performances!

Tomorrow, back to our regularly scheduled serialization of Empowered vol. 12, folks; hope you can still remember the flashback scene with the puzzled minions, dear readers!

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, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Note that this page continues the bonus feature of an extended "Semi-Meta Emp" sequence deleted from the published version of Empowered vol. 12 for pagecount purposes (hence the "Page 93D" label); this sequence, along with many other unused pages, will be part of the 30-odd pages worth of bonus content featured in the Empowered Deluxe Edition vol.4 hardcover due out in November!

Yeahp, this scene is a pointy-eared variation of a very similar "bedroom roleplaying scenario" that was deleted from the published version of Empowered vol.9 but was also serialized on this very webcomic years ago (and, come to think of it, also appeared as bonus content in Empowered Deluxe Edition vol.3).