andykiss4ever asked this question in the comments of today's webcomic page:

andykiss4ever
At some point will you let us all know what your working method is and how long each stage takes to do i.e. layout, pencils, inks, colours. How big are your original pages before they're prepared for upload?

I'm an artist before I'm a writer, so I usually sit down and sketch out all 13 (sometimes 12) pages of the webcomic in little thumbnails, thinking about it as I go. Then I open up Notepad and write down all the dialogue I heard in my head while I was making those thumbnails. And now the comic is written and “storyboarded”. This usually takes the better part of a day, as I really take my time on it, and like to let the story brew in my head as I'm working on it. After that, I start cranking out pages.

I work with 2-ply bristol board, sized 11“x14”. The art itself takes up a space about 8“x12”, which is a little small for me–you can see me struggling with it way back in May, when I got started. I'm used to working on 11“x17” bristol, with the art taking up 10“x15”, but my scanner can't handle art that size. I need a new scanner.

Anyway, I pencil and ink it, then scan it in at 600 dpi, black and white. I have to scan it in in two pieces (top and bottom) and join them together. Again: small scanner. Pencilling and inking takes about three or four hours, depending on the page, and how much stuff I have to put into it.

I delete all the white of the page, but save the inks, so that the inks sit on their own transparent layer, then reduce it to 400dpi and convert it to RGB color. I put a layer under the inks layer, and color on that. I'm told that most comic book colorists set the inks layer to Multiply and color right on the inks, but I've never been comfortable with that. I just like to color behind the inks. Seems easier for me.

Coloring takes about another three or four hours.

Then I type in the text and add the word balloons and caption boxes. That takes anywhere from five to thirty minutes, depending on how wordy the page is.

Then I flatten the whole thing, reduce it to 100 dpi and 750 pixels wide, and save it as a jpeg.

That's really about it. The total time to create a page from start to finish is about 6-9 hours, but I'm working on shaving about 2 hours off that. Ten years ago (when I was doing black and white comics) I could pencil, ink, and letter a page in 3.5 hours–at my peak. I look back on that art now, and it looks a little rushed, though. I think that five or six hours a page from start to finish would be a good goal.

I hope that answers your questions. If anyone has other questions, feel free to post them below.

Oh man, you're good and fast! It takes me about a week to do one page and I don't even colour them! Not sure how many actual hours ‘cos I don’t do it all day every day. They're no way near your standard either. Guess I'll always be an amateur and comic making just a hobby.
I looked at your website and myspace page. In addition to the artwork you have great design sense. Some of the illustrations would make great posters. Ever had a portfolio printed up for sale, like they used to do in the eighties?
Thanks again for the info.
Love your work!

Andy

Thanks, Andy!

I've been considering a portfolio for awhile now, but there just aren't enough color pieces to include. I'm mainly a black & white artist, and it seems to me that there really isn't much market for a book fulla black & white art. I may be wrong, though.

I have, however, put some of my old art up for sale at my CafePress Store. If there's a piece of art you'd like to see for sale there that I haven't put there already, send me an email: indigoshift@gmail.com

Adam Black
I delete all the white of the page, but save the inks, so that the inks sit on their own transparent layer, then reduce it to 400dpi and convert it to RGB color. I put a layer under the inks layer, and color on that. I'm told that most comic book colorists set the inks layer to Multiply and color right on the inks, but I've never been comfortable with that. I just like to color behind the inks. Seems easier for me.

You got that a bit wrong. When you set the page to multiply, that means that the lighter colors become transparent. In case of a black and white drawn page, the white becomes transparant and not the black. Comic book colorists don't color on that layer, they also do it on a layer behind the inks layer.

So with this, you don't have to delete al the whites. Should save you some time :)

Good to know! Thanks.

I've always been a black & white artist. Never really did much coloring (comic or otherwise) in Photoshop until I started this webcomic. Which should be painfully obvious when you go back and read over May's story.

I'm curious; do you do the coloring now how I said or do youstill do it by removing the white first?

I'm removing the white with the standard “set to multiply” method now, actually. Thanks again for the tip.