Ello everyone,

It's been about a month since I submitted the last page of Breakthrough's first chapter. I just want to throw out there that I haven't given up on it nor have I lost interest. In fact, if any of you have looked at my profile you may have noticed a "Breakthrough Secret Project - In Progress" in my to-do list. ;) I plan to start Chapter 2 a week or so after that project is complete. The project is going to take some time simply because of my schedule and just my inspiration in general but I hope to finish it as soon as possible. The project will make Chapter 2 and Breakthrough overall much easier to understand and comprehend and it helps me put a more solid basis down for the lore and world. :)

So yes! I haven't died! I'm still here! Of course you know that part from my occasional uploads. But I haven't lost my will to work on Breakthrough!

Also this is very early to say but I have a hiatus planned from the very very end of June 2015 to the very start of August 2015 due to a visitor. :) (Can't spend hours a day drawing with a guest!)

Hope you're all hanging in there. ;D

-Rackie

Greetings all,

Friday I fell sick with what my mother believes is the flu (coughing, sniffling, fever of 101.8f, achy, etc) and I've been either bedridden or scarcely seen playing on my desktop for the last few days. I also have midterms the next two weeks (my school decided to phase them in and gave us barely any warning) and I've two quizzes tomorrow that I'm going to miss due to being absent, which I will have to make-up on my own time. I'd also have to make-up the midterm. Meaning, unless I can drag myself together to finish the next page tonight and tomorrow night, there probably won't be an update Tuesday. I'm sorry, especially considering I already had to skip two weeks, but I'd prefer to sacrifice Breakthrough for my health rather than the other way around.

Thanks for reading,
Rackie

Something I thought I'd add here is that tomorrow I may not have extra time to work on drawing things like I normally do as it's my birthday and my parents might steal me away for the free time that I usually spend drawing. Meaning, most likely no Breakthrough update on Tuesday and I can't finish any commission work, though I'll try!

I'm flying home today as well in a few hours so I will be able to return to working on things on my home computer once more. On the plane I'll try to scrounge up the inspiration to draw a competent page or two for Breakthrough and sketch out commissions. Since it's a three hour plane flight I'd like to accomplish something more than sleep. :P The trip here I tried to draw but the kid ahead of me decided it was the perfect time to lean his chair so far back my pull out tray was nearly in my lap.

Breakthrough:
Chapter 1's Closing
I thought to mention that Chapter 1 will be starting to draw to a close in the coming weeks. What this mean is that I will be taking a month or so off from updating the comic as I get Chapter 2's storyline, characters, and general idea sorted out. I need to sketch a lot of concepts and such as well. At this point I won't reveal anything about what Chapter 2 may be about, but I'll mention it will probably be much more interesting and revealing than the first. ;)

Next Update
Another thing to mention is that next week I'll either have no page to put up or a backlog of pages to upload in the following weeks. It really depends what's going on over Thanksgiving break. I'm visiting my sister in Florida from Wednesday, November 26th to Sunday, November 30th. In this time I'll either have my computer and tablet and be drawing to pass the time or my parents will decide it's time for me to not draw and drag me around Miami. A lot. Hopefully I'll have a page! :aww:

December 26th - January 4th Hiatus
Due to a visitor I'll have during this time I won't have the time to work on any page updates unless I'm on a long car drive (unlikely) or have free time (even more unlikely). So that means the Tuesday, December 20th and Tuesday, January 5th won't have an update. Early warning!

1 year
In January, I will be able to say Breakthrough's been running for a year, which is pretty nuts considering any of my other comics I tried to start made it about 2 weeks. :D I don't know if I'll do anything special for it, but if you've any ideas, feel free to throw them at me. :)

Comments!
I don't reply to comments for so long because it takes me a while to think of a reply, I will get back to you unless I've nothing to say to your comment in particular (e.g. it's a reaction comment like 'wow o.o')

Other:
New Watchers
I've gained 13 new watchers in this past week, which is a heck of a new record. I added the 'thank you' to my page so I don't have to thank everyone individually, but I thought I'd just mention a big thank you here to all you new guys anyway, while I'm at it! :)

Hello again!

As most of you are aware I went on a hiatus a few weeks ago due to both a few personal issues (now solved for the most part) and because I was going to be extremely busy. The latter still stands right now as this entire weekend I'm being dragged left, right, up, and down by my family as I'm dealing with the first week of school. However, soon enough - this week most likely - I'll start to be able to draw again. There might be a Breakthrough update this week as I do have a mostly-finished page in my computer, just the last panel needs to be finished up. However I might miss Tuesday and upload it Wednesday or Thursday. I also have to finish an owed art trade as well before I am able to work thoroughly on Breakthrough again. I'll try my best to be getting back on schedule in the following weeks.

I'll also start replying to the 18 comments/replies I have right now that I've been putting off. Thanks for all of your concern and understanding! :)

-Rackie

Hello everyone~

I'm sorry to announce that I will be putting Breakthrough on hiatus for 3-6 weeks, starting from today to (most likely) the end of August. The reasons for this are heavily personal and I refuse to disclose them.

Sorry all. I'd have one last update but it was a very busy weekend for me. Went to Florida to see my sister and had no tablet or time for drawing.

-Rackie

No one has really asked me much considering how young the comic is but decided to make this anyway, since I'm kinda bored and just woke up and felt like writing this down. Sooo yeah! Mostly are just random questions people may wonder.

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How many chapters will there be?
I plan for 3 but I'm not sure the 3rd one. My plans kind of set a track forward for about 20 strips and then it falters out and I have to sit back and talk with my co-author about what to continue with to make the story flow well. ( Co-author doesn't have an FA but their dA is 'Thyzara')

How long will each chapter be?
Chapter 1 will be around 60-100 pages at the rate that I'm telling the story but it may be more or less, most likely the former. I really probably should have called this chapter "Betrayal" and then the next chapter "Discoveries" as that'd probably make Chapter 1 not a hulking beast without end. Chapter 2, depending on what it is, will probably be of similar length but possibly shorter. Chapter 3, I have no idea.

What are Longwings and Sparkclaws?
Longwings are the higher-up race of the somewhat thriving dragon species that lives entirely underground since the time of the dinosaurs. They generally hold better roles in society and make up the government/royal line. Sparkclaws are the lower, working class and tend to be looked down upon but are generally respected by the Longwings as without them, the entire system for how the dragons live would probably collapse. This respect doesn't prevent interracial anger and quarrels, which happen quite often, and friendships that span the two races are often seen as disgraceful by the Longwings and as an attempt to get higher up in society by the Sparkclaws. Mateships are forbidden by the laws of society, as they tend to produce the mixed-breed Sparkwings, who I will not explain until a later date.

Why do the dragons not react to the brutality shown in the pages 17-20?
Page 20 is unposted as of 4/24/14 but people can kinda guess what I'm referring to.
I leave this up to speculation as it's hard to explain without really screwing up and spoiling the storyline in small ways, but basically it's a thing they've been used to for many hundreds of years and so don't really react much. It's just business to them and nothing bad or new, no matter how heartbreaking. Tygressa reacts so upsetly to this because the last time a Sparkwing had shown up as before she was born, so she never saw this before nor was even educated about it. Ruskaer was educated but never saw.

Why are Ruskaer and Tygressa even friends?
They're an example of the 'odd ones out' in society that managed to have friendships beyond early hatchlinghood into the juvenile stage. Nobody likes it but it happens sometimes and the pair don't exactly care because they have no other friends to worry about and only have each other. Their bond is quite fragile though as shown in Page 8, and Tygressa explains some of this reasoning in her own words in Page 9.

How old are Ruskaer and Tygressa?
Ruskaer is actually older than Tygressa by a few years, but I don't have pinpoint ages for them. They're both juveniles and sexually mature (which leads to the speculations like the ones thrown out by Irkien on Page 10. So they're between the ages of 20-30, with Ruskaer probably in the 25-30 range and Tygressa in the 20-25 range.

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I can't think of anything else so if you've got anything to ask, do so in the comments and I'll answer it if I can. ^^

Since I can't really go around thanking everyone individually, thank all you 11 people (so far!) for +watching me! :D I appreciate it greatly! ^^