Hey man,
First off, there is no right and wrong. Comics are more and more becoming a free form type of art. There are general guidelines, but you can always break rules when needed.Here's what I do.
Step 1: Story
- Make sure to have the whole story mapped out before trying to draw anything. This prevents you from painting yourself in a corner later on.
- Once you have the story outlined, Try breaking it up like a script. Write out what goes in each panel. There are many examples of comic book scripts online.
- I don't really use this style, but it helps people who lean more towards traditional writing, especially when working with other people.
Step 2: Layouts (Thumbnails)
I se this as my writing tool. This allows me to structure the comic in a more visual style. Since i'm more artist than writer I find this fits my personal process better. However, everyone uses layouts regardless of style. It really helps.
- I draw a small box about 3X5 inches (1/3 scale). Full size comics are drawn on 11X17 illustration board, however I draw about half that size for my final pictures. for the thumbnails I doodle stick figures in each panel, sometimes more elaborate. it helps me map out the page before drawing the full-size scene. (Example included)
- You can also make personal notes out to the side, and it gives you and idea what it's going to look like when you're done. You can use it like a flip book. Think storyboards for movies.
- Make sure to leave negative space for word bubbles. (explained below)
Step 3: Narration & Dialogue
- Dialogue always comes last. It's great to write out what you want to say ahead of time, but you will most likely have to change some things. The reason for this is if you're writing War and Peace, it's not going to fit on the page. You have to be conservative.
- Show don't tell. Don't spend too much time explaining what's happening in the scene with narration. You have to do that with novels because there are no pictures. Narration can set the scene up, but use it sparingly. Use the dialogue and pictures to tell the story.
- Negative space is where your word bubbles should go. Often you will run out of space so you'll have to trim down your narration. This can actually end up being a good thing as it forces you to be more concise with your writing. You also have to plan ahead so you don't cover up any important artwork. You will always lose something in this process, but hopefully you're just obscuring the background environment.
- Cerebus by Dave Sim makes excellent use of negative space for word bubbles.
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