How do you structure your work?

I just sketch out the thumbnails in my sketchbook, as well as some phrases so my memory can be jogged once I get around to writing the speech bubbles...

Everything is in my head, I just get some printer paper draw then scan it. Draw over that then color everything then boom. Done.

I script my pages first, with the general ideas of each panel corresponding to each scene, and then I sketch it out when I get to that point. I use Excel for it, like so:

Page number column, followed by panel descriptions, followed by dialogue per line of panel (with each row being its own panel). The only time I really find myself re-doing sketch pages is either when I'm going back to old sketches I did in advance a while ago and want to improve them (I had to redo the sketch pages for Chapter 16 for ex, because they were trash enough that I couldn't even draw lineart from it lol and the process is usually pretty streamlined, it was that bad), or I come up with a better way to panel something after sitting on it for a while (again, usually with pages that I made in advance and later returned to when the time came to actually draw them).

Step 1: Write the text in the program
Step 2: Make black boxes for the panels
Step 3: Draw the panels

Scripts just take away the excitement of bullshitting everything in one go like an irresponsible person does, such as myself

Define 'organization'.

When it comes to the "storyboarding" process, I don't have much of a structure, what I need is all in my head. Although I do put my ideas to paper for the most part, and the writing process looks like this.

I don't write it down to read it later, which is why it's mostly incomprehensible chicken scratch, but the act of writing it makes the ideas more solid in my brain. Half of what gets written down is never used, but doing it helps me decide whether I want to go that direction or not.

Then I go to thumbnailing, which looks like this.

I'll thumbnail on any piece of paper I can get my hands on, and use it till I have no room left, my "strictly for writing" notepads shown above are also not safe from me drawing thumbnails all over them; and the papers are scattered all over my room since I can't bring myself to throw them out.
After I get a layout I like, I draw the page up on my bristol board, or as canson likes to call it "comic manga illustration paper" (It's obviously freaken bristol board, but I guess that's what the cool kids call it now a days). Then I post and slowly begin working on the next page.

Needless to say, I am not the person to go to for storyboarding advise, or storytelling advise in general. Heheh

I am always thinking of scenes/moments I would like to have. Some are way down the line though, but it helps to have those in mind when we work on the script.

My husband and I sit and discuss what should be in the issue. Once we have that worked out, we then plan the actions per page. He then works on the script. Then get it and I draw the whole thing.

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But the script can change or we think of a better way to present something. We have gotten better. This is our first story attempt, so there was a lot of back and forth. And lots of changes.

Even when we think we got something, sometimes we find that we need to adjust the story, which then affects the page layouts, even the order of pages. We are still adjusting the script to the end very end though... because there is always a better way of saying something without hand holding too much...

Below is a sample from the first script/layout and where we ended up.

the final is the same story beats, but presented in a different way.

this is all after the entire story is written in narrative format, thought out and edited. without this i wouldn't even know where to start...it's an extra step, but works for me.

First I write the script with minor keys on what i want to put for imagery my memory is awful and I have adhd lol it's a must for me to write a script or i lose track of whats happening or get off the main story :

second, I take the script and do thumbnails of the layouts for some reason this works best for me on paper I don't get detailed at all just use marks for the characters and notable lines from the script:

third, I choose a layout and make it in clip studio linking each panel up with what happens in the script by number...basically so i don't forget. also since this is mostly for print I use Ka-blams template for margins:

after that I sketch out the page according to the script and thumbnail. ink and tone and apply bubbles.

THEN I save 3 VERSIONS 1: for tapastic which is low res. 2: in clip studio format so I can edit it if need be. 3: tiff files for Print.

Ive tried alot of ways to stay organized and this way I just sort of came up with and works great for me. if other peoples methods don't work for you. try different ones out and maybe you'll come up with you own perfect method of organization.

I thumbnail an entire chapter in one go: it gives me a better overview of the pacing, and it's nice to have a plan.

I start with a basic outline ("Masahiro discovers there's something creepy about this temple, and whoops - demon!"), which I then turn into a stream-of-consciousness babble-y description of the event ("So, this strong wind starts blowing which is strange because hey, we're INDOORS, and then Masahiro grabs his sword just as a giant creepy demon descends from the darkness of the rafters and attacks him"), and then break THAT down into page-by-page descriptions ("Page 1: Masahiro notices the creeping darkness gathering. Page 2: a strong wind whips through the temple. Page 3: The demon appears! Page 4: stand-off with creepy staring", etc.).

And then I do thumbnails based off of the page-by-page description, on paper, armed with tea and patience and absolutely no internet-access (I get distracted), and they look like this:

... and yes, that barely legible chicken-scratch beneath each of the pages are written notes to myself describing what's in each panel (in case it takes a while before I do full-size sketches and I forget what these hieroglyphs are supposed to be) - and also the very first draft of the dialogue. Before this, no dialogue. And at this point, the first draft for the leftmost page literally says "blah blah blah takes time. I will pray for you so you can leave while you wait" which is the gist of what ended up in the comic, but certainly not word for word the final result.

I then open up Manga Studio 4EX, and do a multi-page document with all the pages in the chapter. For chapter five, it looked like this:
Still very rough, but now with some actual, readable dialogue, and panels and everything. Once I'm happy with it (and at least somewhat happy with the dialogue: dialogue can be tweaked), I export the pages as .PSD and open them in Manga Studio 5 to do all the finishing work - clean sketches, ink, colour, etc.

... The reason I don't use Manga Studio 5 for all the things is a.) I like the panelling and speechbubble tools of MS4 better, and b.) I don't have the EX-version of MS5, so I can't use the Story-function.

Exactly like the example in the opening post =P (Might be hard to tell cause the tumbnail is so small but that's the layout for chapter 9 of my comic No Future)

It used to be a lot more involved and complicated that this, but over the years of webcomicing I've been trying to simply things as well as tey and to condense my steps into as few programs/devices as possible to try and save time. (Thumbnailing/layout used to be all drawn out on paper)

I have the script to start off with, then I try to do the storyboard/layout in CSP/MS with basic shapes for characters and objects after the first attempt I'll export the files and attempt to read the chapter. If the text isn't flowing right or is a little iffy to read, I rework or expand on the page. That's why the layout is vague shapes, so I can erase and redraw without worry, also because it's digital there's not actual restriction to how many pages a chapter can be other than my own "I wanna try and keep it within ___ amount." So I can afford to have a few more or less pages then initially planned in the first attempt at layout.

It was a bit to get used to doing layout in the program but I got used to it after a while.

After that it's the usual drawing steps you take to get a page up and ready for release.

I don't even use Manga Studio, I make all the pages of Captain Ufo in Photoshop.
I have the script opened in Word and I do a quick sketch of the layout of the panels;
- Then I open the file with the page template and set the panels
- put the dialogues in mostly to figure out the encumbrance (it's just temporary, thoug. Most of the times I end up moving and/or reshaping the balloons while I draw)
- Sketch everything
- Since I work digitally, there's no clear distinction between pencil cleanups and inks. Sometimes, if the panel is complex, I go throught the cleanup before the inks, some other times I ink directly on the rough pencils.
- Flat colors
- Shades
- Lights
- Other effects (reflections on glass, lasers, stars, whatever).
- Release and be overjoyed when 8 people look at it.

Mine is completely hand drawn so I dont have trouble structuring mine
THE LAST SAMURAI2

It's always evolving, but here's how I'm workin' now!

The first step for me is the script, which usually also has a bunch of little thumbnails scribbled in the margins so I have an idea of the panel layout I'm imagining (and make sure I'm not putting too much on one page).

In between writing it on paper, I type up the "final version" (over on the right), and I use both of these scripts to make my actual thumbnails:

These get scanned in and turned into my "visual script" of each page

There's not a lot of shot calls in these or varied angles in these -- I decide most of that when I start doing the rough sketch -- but it does give me a good idea of if I'm hitting the beats/timing I want with the expressions and dialogue laid out.

So when I start on a page, I open up that file and start the rough sketch of the page from there!

It depends on what I am working on. For most things I write the script or outline in google docs, so I can access and work on them anywhere.

For my webcomic, The Working Stiff, I have a running slides doc where each slide is a strip. I break down the panels with boxes and write the corresponding direction and dialogue in each panel. I'm usually about 10 strips ahead in the writing stage. I draw one a week so, I'll sit down open a blank template (I've created my own for the series in photoshop) and then just draw the next strip. I will usually reference the past strips for consistency, colors ect...

For long form work, once I have a script or outline in place, I create one psd for each page. I try to work them at the same level so I will flip back and forth as I transition from thumb-nailing to penciling, inking and coloring. This way I can "read" my story as I am creating it.

Hope that helps.

I dont really know how may pages I'll end up with per chapter just from my story outline but each chapter is kept in its own folder inside which I save the working versions of each page, the completed pages (pre text), and the finalized pages with text saved at the TAP publishing size. I try to complete one page a week, two if I can help it, so that I stay ahead of what is actually published on the web. When I am working on a chapter I will go through and create a number of identical files named "SWCH?PG00?" for the first 10 pages or so. These .sai files are just two layers with the basic page frame and a sketch layers. I will then go through and sketch out the outline. If I hit 9 pages I will make 5 more duplicates of the blank pg10 file and repeat the process until I feel the chapter has reached a good stopping point. Afterwards I delete any extra flies and go back to start inking, shading, and finalizing each page in turn. I dont save sketch/storyboard versions of pages unless I plan to be using them as examples for a class that I will be teaching or post online as a step by step guide sort of thing.

GOSH I wish I was prepared/organized enough to do this! :'D I consider it awesome if I can script an entire chapter at once (though I do have a pretty detailed note-form outline to work from)

I usually thumbnail between 2 and 10 pages ahead of wherever I am; it's a pretty focus-demanding part of my process, but I rarely have more than a couple of hours at a time to spare on it per week so it crawls ahead slowly. (I keep up with my update schedule by being fast with other parts of the process, haha).

All of my thumbnails are.... actually drawn pretty large. I have a small 4x6 notebook that I keep on me all the time, and I draw each thumbnail so that it takes up basically an entire page. Despite the size, they tend to stay pretty loose (I mostly do them that big because I also transcribe the dialogue into them so that I don't need a computer nearby when I sketch out the page itself later).

Here's a pic of one of my thumbnails, alongside of the full page it belongs to:

Since they're in a bound book and I draw them in order, organization kinda takes care of itself (same with the book itself). I keep all of my scans and finished (digitized) pages together in folders depending on what stage of the process they're at; one folder for layered PSDs with the text on its own layer, one folder for flattened pages, and one folder for the web-sized files.

Wise from experience (I made my first attempt at a webcomic 10 years ago - let's not speak of it, it is a travesty), I knew when I started my current ongoing comic that if I didn't a.) know where I was going next, and b.) had a big buffer, I would probably panic and burn out and quit altogether, and I didn't want to do that.

So I sat down and I outlined the entire plot (in pretty vague terms, but still!), and then I finished 52 pages before I even started posting chapter 1. I still, after over a year of posting, have somewhere between 48-50 pages of buffer. It's what allows me to post twice a week, and it is also what allows me the space to sit down and plan an entire chapter in one go.

Mine is not exactly a method, but my way to proceed is the following:
1. I write a description of each page, box after box, as a text in a Word document. In this phase I'm imagining already the composition and panels distribution, based on a 3x3 grid (I like square formats), together with the text.
2. Using Medibang Paint I sketch my pencils on a level, using a light grey. Adjustment on layout can take place here.
3. In a new layer I ink the panels.
4. In a new layer, I add the shadows.
5. I export on Photoshop and create the flat colors, the background and special effects.
6. I open InDesign, where I create the layout, add balloons, text and sound effects.

From start to finish:

1. Research into things I like and that are cool
2. Develop idea based on research
3. Spend 10+ years to improve art because I was 15 years old when I got the idea
4. Begin basic story structure
5. Add characters to fit the tale
6. Do page layouts on paper
7. Despair that I want to do so much more but don't have the money for it
8. Narrow down the length
9. Do whatever I can to make a style that suits the length without sacrificing too much
10. Finish the pages based on the layouts