New comic and Process

This week, along with the comic, I'd like to talk about the process of drawing my cartoons. I have a whiteboard and use the back of it as a makeshift lap desk. I tape down my drawing paper to it and draw all the panels. I use a triangle and a T-square to make sure the lines are all straight. I use 8.5in. x 13in. paper, but I draw my comics only 4.5in. x 12in. After drawing all the panels, I loosely sketch out the people and objects in them. I then add in dialogue. After that, I put on the finishing touches and then the comic is ready to be inked. I used to ink the comic right on the original, but now I tape tracing paper over it and trace over the comic in ink, so that way the comic is more clear due to the lack of eraser marks. I use a felt-tip marker for smaller lines and a calligraphy pen for larger areas of black. After I finish a comic, I throw it into my portfolio for display. When I need to put it on the blog, I scan it in and upload it. My scanner only permits one half of the comic to be scanned in at a time, so I have to photo shop the two halves together before I upload my comic. I also have to make single-panel comics shorter than usual.