adamwarren
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Patreon preview: Emp "bedamseled," from EMPOWERED vol.12
🕑 Added 2019-07-01 18:35:57 +0000 UTCFollowing up on earlier previews from my first bunch of cheesecake-intensive pages drawn for a Empowered vol.12 flashback (here's the first page; then pages #2-3; then pp.4-5); then p.6), here are another few, as the suspiciously well-equipped goons render our luckless heroine into a genuine "damsel in distress." (The somewhat creepy undertones of the minion's dialogue as he gags her do wind up being relevant to the story's overall point, I can tell you. No, really!)
Important to note that the bondage scenes are a flashback from (many?) months ago, whereas the Semi-Meta Emp panels are up-to-date. One key point of this episode is that Current-Day Emp is wholly desensitized to the damsel-in-distress (or "DiD") experience and can just shrug such episodes off afterward, whereas Early Career Emp visibly could not. (Which leads to an important decision for Emp later on in the story, I can hint.)
Of course, Flashback Emp canonically shouldn't be as "thicc" as I show her, particularly in that, ah, racktastic first panel, but I just said, "Ehh, screw it." I'm messing around with a few revisions to how I draw her nowadays, so I didn't care to get all that scrupulous with her "physique continuity." Note that, in all likelihood, you won't often see the current, fuller-figured Emp with her hair back like this, because holy crap does her chest loom prominently. "Whoa," to quote Keanu.
This'll probably be the last Empowered vol.12 preview for a while, so why not splurge on a third page, I say! Behold:
In the next few pages, the goons belatedly realize that something really peculiar is afoot, not just with their minion equipment, but with what they're doing to Emp, and why. (Close readers of Empowered vol. 8 might be able to guess what's up, I think, which is what the story's really about.)
Anyhoo, this heavy dose of Empowered "damsel-in-distress" imagery is also meant to serve as an introduction to similar material that will be "dropping" in the higher $5 and $10 tiers starting tomorrow. Yeah, as of July, those tiers will be seeing quite a bit more commissioned "DiD" content on a weekly basis, from heretofore unseen con sketches and illos to actual comic pages (well, of a sort.) Tomorrow, the oft-mentioned, tragically hapless Hushed Half-Elf makes an appearance. Wheeeee!
And now, the page roughs. Note that p.7 below was laid out differently in my first draft:
Note that I sketched the panels below on a separate piece of paper so I could draw outside the panel borders:
Needed a few tries to get the next panel right. Drawing DiD imagery can be tricky, folks!
The next page, for once, had a single rough. Note that the drool in panel 3 seemed a bit too icky a detail, so I left that outta the final page.
Couldn't quite pull off the same trick with the next page, which required separate roughs.
Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed this Empowered vol.12 preview in all its damsel-y, unobscured-by-hair majesty. And now, on to other work!
Comments
Maziar
In the second posted page, Emp in the last two panels somehow looks far more alive and "Emp-y" in the rough draft than in the finished page. Just MHO.
KranberriJam
Goshdarnit, more roughs that'll get bought before Heroes next year (really digging the one with Emp's face three times)! As for Volume 8, yep, I know the exact part you're referring to.
Aidenke
It's always fascinating to get Emp's take on things, especially as we've learned more about the context behind WHY they're all so prepared... Curious to see where this (admittedly pretty fun) chapter goes!
Lex of Excel
...Ohhh. THAT little part of volume 8. Almost forgot.
andrew
Page 3, Panel 1 is a redonkulously original point of view. As both a fan of the super-villain lifestyle and amatuer fanfic writer I've probably spent more time than most thinking of how villains operate, work with minions, and...ahem...distress damsels and my goodness thrice now this story is taking me to school. This is why Empowered is so awesome. It's not just a story, it's not just great art, no, it's both of those and an ongoing thesis into the subculture of Cape Culture. Thank you for this preview. Cannot wait for 12!
