First you read through the script, next you...Identify and gather any reference material you will need, then you...
Thumbnail the panel layouts....
A large part of gaining facility and speed in creating comics or cartoons is having a system, a process, or a workflow. This way you can focus on what you want to say not how you are going to do that. Depending on whether you are part of a creative team (writer, penciler, letterer, inker, or colorist) or an auteur creator and do it all yourself - it is beneficial to have a routine way of approaching your creative task. A large part of this is accomplished through familiarity with your media and materials. You learn, often through trial and error, what works and what doesn't. You learn what flows naturally and what often ends up a big mess.
An example of this familiarity with materials that is specific to drawing: dip pens, like the Hunt 102 are commonly used for inking comics and need a smooth, calendared surface when you are choosing a drawing paper. If you don't have the right paper your pen will get a clumps of paper fiber at the end and require frequent cleaning. Another common problem is when the ink will not keep a sharp line on the page and will bleed and feather. The weight of the paper can become an issue if you lay down large areas of black - thinner papers can buckle or ripple - this is why a 2-ply is predominantly the minimum thickness of bristol board you will see professionals using with dip pens.
I found this cartoon process link on the Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog, it is to Ted Slampyak's blog Shop Talk- he is the current artist for the syndicated comic strip Annie and also has a wonderful web comic entitled Jazz Age. I hope Ted continues to post on his blog about his cartooning process and about how to draw as I found this post most interesting and enlightening.
How do the rest of you all work? Do you have a system? Anyone willing to share your process with us? Or perhaps you know of another web resource that discusses this?
things like this help me because im still in the stages of learning how to create comics. some of the things i just read are new to me and it helps to have this available
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