IIRC, the asteroid's surface was mostly based on images from Full Moon, the gorgeous art book of Apollo Mission photography. I might've considered drawing something more exotic like real-life asteroids 433 Eros or 243 Ida—or maybe even comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko—but chose to roll with something simple and, well, "potato-y."

Note also that all my starfields are rendered via white correction paint on a brush-tip, one small dot at a time; I never cared much for the "toothbrush spatter" approach to creating stars, after a few abortive tries decades ago.

Today’s Patreon update: As it’s a Wednesday, time for the $5+ Patron tiers to get their weekly dose of commissioned “damsel-in-distress” content, along the lines of the same material that was eventually reworked into Empowered. (No idea as to exactly what that content might be at this time, though; these commentaries are written much further out from posting than are my often last-minute Patreon updates.)