WORK STAGES on EMPOWERED vol.12's cover illo, part 2: THE COLORS! (Patreon)

Belatedly following up on a November post featuring the B&W Work Stages for the cover illo from June 2023's Empowered vol.12, here are the many, many color drafts of said image beautifully Photoshopped up by my buddy Ryan Kinnaird.

Before we proceed, lemme trot out the book's solicitation copy once more:

Costumed crimefighter Empowered discovers that she’s trapped in a surreal nightmare scenario as her superhero universe begins spontaneously rebooting itself over and over again, with each variation more twisted and bizarre than the last! Can our befuddled heroine somehow undo this inexplicable Neverending Reboot—while simultaneously steering her love life in a boldly polyamorous new direction with Thugboy and Ninjette, no less—or is this The End for Emp and her chaotically convulsing cosmos?

Too many color drafts in the gallery for me to comment on in detail (note the variations of Ninjette's face), but here are a few words on a few images:

Above is an early, "color-flatted" draft; gotta say, there really is something appealing about this type of simple coloring, though I've never quite had the nerve to use this approach for an entire story.

TBH, Ryan probably colors Thugboy with rather too dark a skin tone, but has always done so, dating all the way back to the very first Empowered cover illo. Thought about having him lighten ol' Noah up a bit, but will likely just roll with the image as is.

Later on, I asked Ryan to restore my inks for T-boy's musculature on a draft as a test, but we both agreed that the results looked too "busy":

Anyhoo, onward!

NEXT TIME ON THIS HERE PATREON: Friday will almost certainly see a Distressed Damsels post for the $5+ tiers, this time with more sketch sets continuing the, uh, "story" of (star)flight attendant Lily in peril, drawn last month as a brief distraction from the nightmarishly time-consuming grind of penciling and inking that Harley Quinn story (which is finally done, I'm happy to note).