A winter update

Oh how time passes

Hello friends,
I’m sure I’m not alone here, but oh my, isn’t time moving quickly at the moment!? I feel like I blink and lose a day. It feels like an immense force that just swells through the week; time. When I was a teenager I used to panic about running out of time, not enough time to do the things I want in the day, week, or life. Eventually I felt like maybe time isn’t my enemy after all, but these days I’m not so sure. The brain fills with panic when even passively considering how limited our time on planet earth is. The need is to find peace within that, figure out how to accept our impermanence and embrace its beauty, because I believe that’s there too.

Anyway, I don’t think many people notice an ‘absence’ as such, but I haven’t been very present on social media lately… similar to not noticing, but I doubt anyone would really care though I find social media to be such a double edged sword - it can be so uplifting and empowering to be able to connect to so many friends, and to be reminded of friends who are at arms length, but it can also be so full of noise and horror that it just seeps through everything. Besides that, I’ve also been hard at work on Haru book 2, which keeps me away from Socials.

Before that, however, a small update on Haru Book 1

I have received my advance copies! I’m so proud of how they look, and I feel really lucky to be able to work with people who also seem to really care about this book too.
This book started out as mine, my own, my precious, and to be able to share that with professionals who only want the best for it too, is wonderful.

The book is available to preorder now from retailers here!
(and all other good book shops too).

The hardback is out in March 2024, and the paperback is out in April 2024. I think the hardback is predominantly available in the US, though I have seen the hardback listed on a certain online shop in the UK.
The internals are printed on a really nice uncoated paper stock, so it really steps up the kind of feel I had with the self published chapter previously.
For anyone not familiar already, the book is chapters 1-6 of Haru’s story, and is 270 pages long.

Now some information on Haru Book 2

It’s very much in progress. I’ve finished the pencils, and am currently working on the Inks. I hope to finish inking everything in the next few weeks, ready to colour. The stages each take a significant amount of time, but I have learned a lot since the first book, and was able to experiment with refining my process and tools slightly when I worked on The Eternal Mountain, so every little bit helps to add up to the whole.

Here’s a sneaky look at the first page of inks from Book 2. It’s hard to share much from this without spoiling anything, so I guess I’ll have to keep it fairly hush hush. I hope you like this though!

And I think that’s about it. I’m about to start inking chapter 2. Which I hope to finish next week, and then ever onwards. I love drawing, pencils and inks. It really is my flow state. It gives me a calm I don’t know how to find any other way. It makes me feel that peace. I don’t take it lightly that right now, I get to do this for my living. I hope and dream that it continues.

Thank you so much for your support and kindness.

Merry xmas!