I realized while drawing this, I'm fairly certain that I spend more time on lighting and shadows than literally anything else.

I've actually had the idea for this scene in my head for a while but never got around to drawing it. Also, it serves the purpose of clarifying something that I think there may have been some misinterpretation over. It occurred to me that how I've always described Vilkas and Handwing, as being like brothers, I think has been interpreted more positively by some people than I intended.

Them being like brothers is based on the fact that when living with Beijeye, Vilkas by default also grew up around Handwing. But while Beijeye filled the role of a good older-brother-figure, Handwing was the bad-influence asshole sort of older brother. They're both used to having each other in their lives and there is an unspoken feeling of obligation for them to stick together after Beijeye died. But it is by no means a healthy familial bond. Over time, Vilkas did grow on Handwing, and Handwing does care about him like a younger brother, but he goes out of his way to not let it show and treats Vilkas like shit. Vilkas sticks around because he feels like it's what he's supposed to do. He believes that because Beijeye was Handwing's only friend that it would be wrong to ditch him and leave him completely alone. Vilkas gets the brunt of Handwing's verbal and emotional abuse, and they do get physically violent with each other.