Oh man, getting to work on this project was such a delight and honor. I’ve been in the lesbian knight headspace since starting work on The Royal Equinox Rager with Jessica Delphi, so when I heard that Dames and Nova and Mali were teaming up for another project (with KNIGHTS) I was majorly hyped. I got to make two pieces for My Liege, and I’d love to tell you about them.
I’ve drawn knights wrestling before. I’ve actually made a whole comic about casting aside your blade in favor of muscle-on-muscle brute force (for The Locked Tomb, iykyk). Dueling your equal match until the passion reaches a fever pitch and boils over into a brawl, eschewing the formality and distance of a swordfight, embracing hand-to-hand combat… that’s the kind of stuff that really gets me going. I knew that’s where I wanted to start with this illustration.
Another element that I’ve been playing with for the last few months is the throuple dynamic of an aloof, dominant woman having her brutes entertain her. Why only give your woman one dog, when she can have two? Yes, I’ll admit, it’s the very same dynamic in my last piece for Nova and Mali, a sorceress with her two leashed she-wolves. I wasn’t done yet. I wanted more.
The piece I made for My Liege features two knights dueling in the arena for the entertainment of the Queen. She sits on a platform constructed to keep her close to the action, closer than the crowd who presses on the fence in the background as they watch. This is her show, after all. She deserves to be as close to the action as possible.
The crowd’s banners and flags whip in the wind of an oncoming storm, the atmosphere a gradient of sunset to purple clouds. Bright green leaves fleck the sky. The wind is strong enough to part them from a summer tree. Rain begins to fall, turning the arena pitch into mud that ends up on the armor of the brawling women. The Queen is dry under her canopy, and at her feet her two dogs mirror the knights in their loyalty. One sits up, panting in excitement, while the other rests its head. Both keep eyes on the Queen, anticipating her attention.
The knights press against each other. One straddles the other, hand shoving the other’s face into the dirt, while in the other hand she raises a kalis-like blade against the sky. The knight laying in the mud has a hand on the other’s throat while she reaches for the hilt of a blade that extends off the canvas close to the viewer. It’s a moment that could result in anyone’s victory, if only she could grasp her weapon.
I’m quite pleased with the pyramidal composition of the fighters and the moment of maximum drama, the height of action. By contrast, the Queen has a more classical, triangular composition with her dogs. She sits on a level, horizontal plane in a reclined pose that belies her amusement and detachment from the physicality of the foreground.
The Queen is also shielded from the elements. While the crowd of countrymen watch in the rain, and the duelists muddy themselves, she’s dry and unbothered under her canopy. The oncoming storm and the rain drops don’t reach her. From her position, it seems as if not even nature can touch her, but her platform’s position under the most saturated clouds suggests that her status may change as the wind pushes the darkness over the landscape…
…which leads me to the next piece I made for My Liege.
Nova and Floh, with their big genius brains, concocted a bonus NSFW zine as an add on to the main art book. I wanted to take my illustration subjects out of the mud and into the Queen’s royal chambers, where they could resume their sword fight. The Queen gets her entertainment and the knights are finally relieved of the barriers of armor and public spectacle.
The chambers are an antithesis to the arena, all soft pillows and draping fabrics, but the sweaty faces of the knights tell a continuing story from the day. From her vantage on the sofa, the Queen leans back against a unicorn tapestry. The unicorn’s symbolic purity is contrasted with the events below its serene gaze, while its presence also plays with the colloquial turn of phrase referencing a threesome. Perhaps the Queen will join them, or perhaps the knights continue their duel for the chance to be the one to have the Queen that night.
I’ve written before about how I find it difficult to write about my creative process. Taking a more analytical, distanced approach— pretending as if I’m just an art historian writing an essay about a painting— makes it much easier for me to explain my choices in my craft. It’s also an excellent exercise in self reflection. Oftentimes, I make choices subconsciously, without really knowing where they came from within myself, and it’s not until years later that a friend points out I’ve shown my whole intimate inner world on accident. Embarrassing. Maybe by writing these reflective essays, I can become more aware of my choices as I make them.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for your attention and for spending time with me in this space. The Kickstarter for My Liege, which contains these illustrations, and dozens more from a variety of talented artists, is going on now until July 16, 2026. Get your art books, decorate your coffee table, and enjoy some fine, fine knights.