Trying Times

Cover art for Last Chances by @winterdaphne2, created for @fandomtrumpshate 2026.

An excuse to draw my favourite (dancing) duo, Baker Street wallpaper, Art Deco influences, and spend entirely too much time adjusting eyebrows by a just a few pixels. Thank you, @winterdaphne2, for giving me that gorgeous scene to draw.

Also on AO3

John & Mary’s waltz (full version)

So I honestly can’t believe I’ve never seen anyone talking about the art direction of this scene. If I’m repeating something, Ah,well. But I’ve honestly never seen it pointed out that this is the very first time we see Mary, and there are three important things here:

Mary reaches for John’s hand. John takes it, of course—he is used to being offered comfort for his loss, by now—but he is not reaching out to her for comfort in his sadness. She is inserting herself into his grief. Reflexively, he lets her.

We only see the back of her. It’s unusual to introduce a major protagonist any other way than by showing their face pretty much immediately. A major antagonist, however…a baddie…well, they often are introduced in a cloud of cigarette smoke, from a distance, in the shadows, as a mysterious voice on a phone, or in some other way that doesn’t tell us right away who they are. Our first glimpse of Mary gives us only the most vague information about her. Obviously a woman, obviously someone John is close to, as he holds her hand. Other than that…who is she? We don’t know.

is how

the show

introduces

literally

every

single

villain

and antagonist