Looking back on my mid-2017 shutdown in Empowered vol. 11 production, I don't think the issue was "burnout" per se, as I hadn't gotten all that far into the book at the time; on the other hand, that first stretch of 25-odd pages had been unusually difficult, from the opening hiking scene that proved surprisingly challenging to draw to the subsequent "alley pursuit" sequence with the garbage truck which was likewise far from easy.

In most of the previous volumes, I'd start production by jumping right to whichever story carried the bulk of the effectively mandatory "damsel in distress" content for the volume, such as the much-disliked "Chevalier Blanc" chapter in vol. 10 or the interview with Ocelotina in vol. 6. Those stories are generally quite easy to draw, in large part because of a lack of complex backgrounds, and zipping through 'em quite quickly helps me get "warmed up" for more challenging drawing tasks in other stories.

That certainly wasn't an option this time around, for good or ill, as this volume's straight-line narrative offered no opportunities for an easy-peasy "DiD" chapter. That being said, we do eventually see such imagery scattered throughout this volume, but certainly to lesser degrees than in, say, vols. 9 or 10.

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 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