Ridd1e's EMPOWERED cosplay

Behold, a sketch commissioned as a gift for badass cosplayer , based on a costume she worked up for the title character from Empowered, my ongoing "sexy superhero comedy" series published by Dark Horse Comics.

Mo' specifically, the sketch is directly based on a photo of Ridd1e as Emp (complete with logo!), which can be seen here:


Note that Spandex is remarkably challenging to draw... I recommend reffing off this photo yourself, so you can find out! Also, I am at best a simple artist who relies on simple (usually single) light-source schemes; so, when confronted with the studio-based lighting of Ridd1e's photo, complete with multiple light sources, backfill and the like, I was well outside my comfort zone. "Okay, the light source is behind her... No wait, it's to the left! And the right, too! AIEEEE!" Needless to say, getting outside your comfort zone is something an artist needs to do on a regular basis, even though I usually don't (because, well, I don't really care; but YOU should, aspiring artistes).

Note also the cool bit with stray hairs on Ridd1e's draping wig catching the light, at lower right; I like this effect so much I might well try to work it into future Empowered images. So, yeahp, here's yet another reason to work from photoref and/or life drawing, aspiring artistes: You'll pick up tricks and techniques you wouldn't have thought of on your own. (Cue the NBC "The More You Know" music drop!) Note finally that ace artist =frozenlilacs was already way ahead of me on this count, as she added exactly this effect when she colored several Empowered covers for me, such as this one:


Anyhoo: This illo, and 27 more pages of Emp sketches and stories, can be found in my new(ish) sketchbook dealie, Empowered: Extra Sketchiness, which debuted at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con. For the untold multitudes of Emp fans who missed out on picking it up at SDCC, the sketchbook is now available for mail-order through Stuart Ng Books here: [link] My first published sketchbook since the old-time doujinshi from back in the day,* Extra Sketchiness is $15 for 28 B&Wpp at a nice, big size (8.25" X 10.5"), featuring commissioned sketches and 10pp of previously unpublished Emp stories.


In closing, I must of course paste in the requisite general-purpose Emp-related floggery... Empowered's first six volumes (and a pair of one-shots in "floppy" comics format**) can be found on the shelves of your Local Comics Retailer or bookstore, or online at Dark Horse's retail website [link] or on Amazon.com [link] .

And, as I just mentioned, if you're looking for an even cheaper option, vols. 1-5 (and the aforementioned one-shot) are available for a mere $5.99 apiece (or $1.99, for the one-shot) as downloads in Dark Horse's new Digital store here: [link] Note that we're talking about $5.99 for 208-248 pages of sexy superhero comedy, which is a helluva lot more content (for less price) than you'll find with most digital-form comics....


<sub>*As seen here:

**Which would be Empowered: The Wench with a Million Sighs [link] and the current one-shot Empowered: 10 Questions for the Maidman, which is now available at your local comics retailer or from Dark Horse's retail website: [link]</sub>