Progress Bar Key
Scripting/Page Layout: Self-explanatory
Artwork: The Drawing, Inking, and Computer Work for the comic
Final Edits/Incidentals: Post-Production Edits, Designing the Cover, Preparing for Press, etc.

****
When I wrote the first progress report for Tonoharu: Part Two back in mid-July, I was a quarter of the way through the artwork. I concluded the entry saying I’d update on my progress again when the artwork was halfway done. I estimated/hoped that that update would come in “three or four months”, which would have been in mid-October/November.

So here we are at the end of December. And instead of being halfway done with the artwork, I’m only a little over a third of the way through it. Sigh.

I started a post-grad research scholarship in April of this year, and that, along with other obligations, have placed more demands on my time than I had originally anticipated. So I haven’t been able to put in as many hours into the comic as I had hoped, hence the slower production.

I had hoped to see a release for Tonoharu: Part Two in 2009, but at this point I think that’s a pipe dream. That probably sounds overly pessimistic, seeing as how 2009 hasn’t even started yet, but there’s still a lot left to do before Part Two is finished, printed, and shipped to stores. I have almost a hundred pages of comics left to draw, plus final edits, plus final design work, plus production and marketing… it all adds up. Add to that the aforementioned grad school obligations, and I can’t realistically see it coming out before 2010 (though hopefully early in the year).

So, that’s the bad news.

The good news is, I really like how Part Two is turning out. The story, the artwork, the dialogue, the pacing… I’m pretty proud of it. Granted I’m the most biased person in the world since it’s my baby, but I honestly think it’ll win over some of the people who were on the fence about Tonoharu (like this guy (last review on the page)).

And I’m hoping to pick up the pace on Part Two by managing my time more carefully in 2009. I’m not very good at multitasking, which is probably part of the reason my progress has been so glacial since I’ve started grad school. But I have a new system I’m going to try to see if I can’t improve matters (which I’ll write a little more about in two weeks).

I’ll post the next progress report when I’m halfway done with the artwork (or in a few months, whichever comes first). I’ll probably include a few teaser images at that time as well, so stay tuned!