I know, right?

This month I saw Groundhog Day for the first time. I liked it. I like seeing Bill Murray in a role with some humor to it. That said, it's probably been long enough that I can give Lost in Translation a second chance.

Been brushing up on my western animated movies a lot lately. Don Bluth and Disney are making up most of the menu, but I've also picked up a lot of things that are fairly well-known but just don't have a wide circulation anymore.

How, you ask? Thrift stores. If you've ever got a hankering for VHS tapes at around $1, check ‘em out. There are a great many titles out there that either never made it to DVD, or did but (like the Disney catalogue) still command a high retail price.

On my watch list: Gulliver’s Travels, The Lion King II, Anastasia, The Land Before Time… and ever so many more.

Chapter 7 isn't done.

Chapter 7 needs color.

I still haven't decided how much color chapter 7 should have. And I'm tempted to say “all of it”.

That said, I've already moved forward with chapter 8, which most definitely will be all-color.

And I'm sorely tempted to go back and color at least some, if not all, of the rest of the comic.

Which isn't to say that I don't like the black-and-white. I do. But we all know the color panels look a lot better. That said, there are plenty of places where grayscale or muted color would be appropriate, and I can do that. But that effect needs to come by muting color, not by an over-reliance on not putting color in to begin with.

So at some point, not sure when, you may start seeing pages being replaced with colorized or touched-up versions. Do not be alarmed. (But if you really prefer the black-and-white art, save it now before it's too late. Or at least write me so I can put up a side gallery.) As always, thanks for reading.

And now, statistics.

Time elapsed since comic debut (1/1/2009): 347 days.
Pages posted: 137.
Average days per page: 2.53.

Time elapsed since start of work (10/26/2008): 414 days.
Pages planned: 360 (49.2%) (1.15 days per page)
Pages sketched: 228 (31.1%) (1.82)
Pages drawn: 205 (28.0%) (2.02)
Pages complete: 170 (23.2%) (2.44)
Pages posted: 137 (18.7%)

77 units planned, sketched, and drawn, but none complete. Why none complete? Well, less time in front of the computer… but not really. More like thinking about the direction of the comic keeping me from actually completing pages. Such is the irony of art: the faster my pace, the more open road I see ahead of me.

Overall progress: 33%.

Until next time!