A spicy scene from THE CHASTE AND THE CHAINED, as illustrated by an art request piece! (Patreon)

So!

As I hacked and flailed my way through the final few outstanding art requests from the $20 tier yesterday, I used the opportunity to twist one of the suggestions into another art-test piece illustrating one of many, many different interactions I've worked out in my head between the starcrossed lead characters of fantasy test project The Chaste and the Chained.

For reasons unknown to me now, I wrote out the following conversation in Word, probably as an early test of dialogue patterns.  Here 'tis, as the Elf Mage queries her Human Paladin guardian about a peculiar aspect of his creed's theology:

ELF:  I’ve been reading up on your Goddess and her little prettyboy cult of violent virgins--

PALADIN: Profane her not in my presence, thanks.

ELF: --and some of your scriptures seem to imply that the most blessed of Her Holy Paladins enjoy Her divine favors as a reward in the afterlife! Does that mean that you’re holding out for heavenly congress with this Divine Maiden of yours?

PALADIN: *koff* Depends on which cleric’s preaching you listen to, but… yes, most of the Divine Maiden’s other Paladins are, ah, unshriven and saving themselves for holy communion with Her after their heroic deaths.

ELF: No offense to your Goddess, but that doesn’t seem like the holiest or purest of motives for Paladinhood, does it?

PALADIN:  Might be so, but that’s not my motive, believe me. Besides, I cannot be counted among Her most blessed of Paladins, as the feat of remaining unshriven proved beyond me.

ELF: Wait.  Are you saying that you’re… not a virgin?

PALADIN: That’s the sorry truth, yes.

ELF: *!*

PALADIN: In my sinful, shameful youth, I was a thief and a brigand, foolishly addled by greed and wrath and lust, wallowing in drunkenness and brawling and, well, wanton revelry with near every wench I could get my hands on.

ELF: *!!*

PALADIN:  I told you I had plenty to atone for, remember? I was not speaking of venial sins.

ELF: *!!!*

And cut!

The scene would've continued with the frustrated Elf stewing over having missed out on the Paladin's earlier career as a womanizing brigand, until a lightbulb (well, a light spell, perhaps) popped over her head; why, of course, she can visit that younger rogue in her fervid nighttime fantasies!

And here's the art-req-based illo featuring the scene's fairly spicy punchline, drawn as yet another art test of Clip Studio Paint (PC version) via my Wacom Cintiq:

(For the record, the right side of the illo is exaggerated for comic effect, as the Elf would be quite a bit less obvious about such behavior.)

The gallery above included a version with a bit less distracting text:

And here's the initial sketch for the piece as a "blue pencil" layer:

The illo was a test of various CSP techniques, some of which worked out better than others. Going heavy with the oddly flawed PC version of the Design Pencil brush on the left-side art elements was a focus, while I continued messing with the Frenden Pigman Mycon for inks, though that tool is proving not quite as magical as I initially thought. Experimentation will, of course, continue.

NEXT TIME ON THIS HERE PATREON: No idea, TBH, but something should be coming up in the next M/W/F slot. Let's find out together, shall we?

UPDATE: Ehh, not sure what the heck is going up next, as many options abound. Could be the text piece re: Bubblegum Crisis I just finished (complete with a shocking-to-me epiphany about BGC: Grand Mal), or a sneak preview of the writing & roughs gig I recently worked on, or maybe even the first set of suh-weet character designs that an interested artist worked up for my original fantasy-RPG comic pitch from 6-8 years ago (predating anything you've seen here). Let's find out Friday, shall we?