Panel 1: By this point in the series, I had long ago switched over to using inks—Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens, I'd assume—to render complex, high-contrast technical linework like the speed-lined "motion blur" on the alien hardware in this shot. Otherwise, the ultra-soft 4B or 5B pencils I used for the rest of the artwork would smear to hell and back as I was dragging a French curve or triangle back and forth across the page. (Note, however, that I'd subsequently add a penciled layer of shading over that inked linework, roughly equivalent to the practice of using screentone on conventional line art.)

Panels 2 & 3: Note also that, after a panel's art was otherwise completed, I'd go back and add "motion streaks" of whiteout trailing off light sources to indicate, say, the alien armatures whipping around at high speed.

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, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

-Adam Warren