Network: 
One Japanese manga artist isn't afraid of the necessary discipline to make comic magic happen, however, for they've created a detailed schedule to map out their days:
Though the author is anonymous and segments of the document have been translated into English, I don't question its authenticity, especially given what I know about the work schedules of many American comic book artists. Still, those three hours of free time a week have me feeling a little bit lazy.
[Via Twitter @rickspears]
Comments:
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Friday 11 September
By kwanzer
I though roughs were called a "NAME." Not a nemu...
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Friday 11 September
By Tony Moore
how long does that hold up before all the days are filled with colors that denote "murder spree" and "locked in a padded cell?"
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Friday 11 September
By preston
It's always amazing to me how much a mainstream manga-ka can accomplish. Take any mangaka for Jump for instance, like One Piece's Eiichiro Oda or Naruto's Masashi Kishimoto.
They have to create about 19 pages a week for the weekly publication, Jump Magazine, and usually a cover page to go with it. Despite the fact that they have assistants to help them out (whose jobs ranges from background drawings to inking depending on how involved the main mangaka is) you have to consider that most of them have to come up with a story, and so write AND draw it at a rate of 18-19 pages a week.
And what makes it seem even more unreal is how over here, most artists can't even meet a deadline of 22 pages a month.
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Saturday 12 September
By Mike Choi
It's a different market over here. The standard of work delivery is a 22 page comic every month or every six weeks or every sixteen weeks or what have you. Forget the "art and inspiration" factor (which I think is almost irrelevant in a commercial industry like mainstream comics, here OR in Japan,) but here the market is built around establishing the product first, and then scheduling its release.
Not saying this is what YOU'RE doing, but I don't think it's fair to imply laziness because of lack of output compared to other individuals, let alone cultures. Is Hollywood lazy because their output quantity-wise is dwarfed by that of Bollywood?
I think the thing to ask is how many American comic artists worked on Labor Day, for example. Or are at their desks right now on a Saturday afternoon. We don't work 19-hour weekdays and 15-hour sundays if we don't have to (but do with regularity) but we still work hard :)
Saturday 12 September
By preston
I was definitely not implying laziness, I'm an artist in training and I completely understand the different philosophies and work ethics. I can respect that even though someone as a commercial artist is expected to deliver pages at a standard rate, that it's fair for him to take as long as he feels is necessary to deliver what he thinks is a high quality work.
I find it unreal that manga artists would push themselves to that type of productivity, to the point where I can't fathom it being possible. It's not a "whoa, how come American artists can't work this hard?" thing but a "how the hell can these Japanese artists do this, this is inhuman" type of thing.
Not to mention of course, which artists/writers feel rushed or have to compromise their styles or quality because of their hectic schedules.
Sunday 13 September
By Whip
Is this just for the artist? Or is the for the Takahashi-types who serve as both writer *and* artist? Crazy, either way.
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Wednesday 30 December
By q
I think this is just for the "art." The "art and story" types usually have storyboarding time cut in. Although, i think they might have more people helping.