I recently completed a page of comics that I was incredibly proud of and it was at that point that I decided to really look at how I arrived at this end. I have to thank my colleague Jake Peck in some small part for pointing out the importance of self-reflection when it comes to craft; he's written rather extensively on the subject.
However, my own "method" tends to be rather cut-and-dry as shown below.
Most of the actual "thinking" comes during the thumbnail (not shown) and drawing stage. Due to the fact that few of the actual penciled lines make it all the way to the ink stage, it allows me to loosen up and focus on creating a good gesture and establishing a visual hierarchy. Not to mention some of the comic book making rules I've picked up over the years (next blog post). After the pencils are scanned I touch them up and render them to completion on the computer where upon I print them in blue; the less I leave out of the final renderings the easier the inking process becomes. Finally the only stage that ends up seeing the light of day is the inks. Despite the seemingly gestural look of some of the lines they actually are all thought out previously to ensure that no mistakes are made during the final process.
Each step refines the final product bit-by-bit, so the more steps I throw down along the way the more refined and ultimately better product I make.
