Mea: Thanks!
Aoshi: It's pretty much the classical way - start by coming up with a basic idea, like what should happen in large and where should it go. Toss and turn ideas in your head and/or on paper for some time, until something solid starts materializing, and you know where to start. For this comic I had two ideas I wanted to do that just happened to play out in an SA context, so I decided to combine them and start building a story to support them both - and I concluded they would both fit in a personal retelling of the SA story.
When you have an idea, I usually just start drawing the dummy pages/storyboard with the panel layouts and dialogue directly. Some like to write the whole script dialogue in text only first, and then split it into pages and panels, but I usually just write as I go along. If I come up with something that should be further ahead in the story, I write it down as I envision it, sometimes with picture support, and then include it when the time comes. Others may have systems of post-its with various scenes and ideas that can be rearranged if needed, or other ways of organizing the story. I usually just keeps most of it in my head, and keep iterating it to see if it holds, or if I come up with something better.
The storyboards/dummy pages are small and simple arrangements of the page, the panel layout and their content, that can be easily changed or swapped before drawing the real page. Some people just start inking from their head, but I like to write out the script and the layout so that I can read it a few times and make sure that everything fits together, polish the dialogue and character/speech balloon positions etc.
Then it's time to put it all on the real, fancy paper and draw the proper lines and ink and all that. After that, I scan the pages and tone and text them in Photoshop, and it's done.
I don't know if my way is the best, but it works for me. I start working before the whole script/storyboard is finished because I'm impatient, and I'm generally just a few pages ahead in the script, but as long as I know where I'm heading, it usually works out. Without experience, you may find that it's better to have your whole story finished before you start getting serious with the drawings, though. It's much more bothersome to change or dump a finished page than a sloppy sketch.
Here's one storyboard page from a bit further ahead, with some changes in dialogue and text order made. It's very quick, just to get an overview. And with atrocious handwriting. Did that answer anything?
