How far in advanced do you story board your comic?

[Cairas]

I usually draw storyboards chapter at a time (I have it all written out from beginning to end of the series) but I'm curious how far forward everyone else story boards? Does it make it flow easier to story board farther in advance? Do you get impatient?

Fugitive

[infectedbloodcomics]

I write the entire synopsis, chapter by chapter, and then get down to a chapter at a time. The storyboard helps a lot and I tend to revise the dialog, more than the art. And no, I never get impatient.

[Zanreo]

Well, I do have plans for a lot of future stories, but as for actual storyboards and every detail of the pages... I admit I mostly wait until I get to that actual page

[joannekwan]

ehehe, I don't do a storyboard/rough sketch for a page until it's a couple days before it's due to upload onto Tap.

While I love to draw, I like to write more, since it's pretty much instantaneous. My least favorite part is storyboarding, so I tend to put that off until the last minute. But then I get into the groove of things and the refined sketch, line-art, and coloring/toning comes pretty quickly afterwards. Rinse and repeat every week.

[Pandastrophic]

I'm at ep 1 in Socializing101 but I'm about 26 webtoon episodes ahead in the storyboard, which is a lot considering the length of one episode. I also have until about ep 30 written out with some unorganized ideas for the future eps too.
I'm very glad I did this because I tend to change things A LOT and it's easier to change the storyboard than change a page I already drew. Also it makes working on my comic much less stressful, story boarding ahead gives you perspective on whats going to happen so you wouldn't have to come up with things as you're drawing the pages, it also helps with dialog, placement of panels and such.
And no I never get impatient, story boarding is actually one of my fav things to do comic-wise XD

[UzukiCheverie]

For the actual drawn storyboards, I'll start the sketches for next chapter a week or so before said chapter begins (it only takes me a day or two to actually get the panels and text bubbles done, so I'll spend a few days doing the sketches).

For the actual scripts before the sketch phase, I work very far ahead (I'm working on them right now!). I'm currently on Chapter 7 of Time Gate: Reaper for the drawing phase, but I'm up to Chapter 32 in writing and scripting. I plan so far ahead for obvious reasons, gotta make sure the plot flows properly and I know what to expect when I'm actually in the storyboarding process.

[Aloredd]

I'm a noob when it comes to comic terms so I'm not entirely sure what you mean by story board, so I'm probably going to make a fool of myself by going off of what I think it means:

I've actually written my story out in novel form first, and am currently trying to find artists to illustrate it (which I feel like is actually going well). By doing it in novel form I have all the details and dialogue and everything. I even have the characters developed and planned out. All that's left is to illustrate it

[Cairas]

I have mine written out completely, that seems to help me more than the story boarding. I get impatient and want to just finish the page before moving on. I need to learn patience i guess lol

[Cairas]

That's a good practice, I have mine written as well. Story boarding comes after that. It's what the artist does to lay out what the page will look like. Kind of like prewriting.

[infectedbloodcomics]

I used to write out completely, but I found it extremely slow and clumsy. I am a very visual person, so I need to sketch every scene as soon as possible without losing track of where I want to go. This is why I have synopses and storyboards

[Cairas]

It's so interesting to see how other artists do their work I checked out your work and it is amazing i love it!

[Strontium]

I storyboard a chapter at a time. I'm just beginning chapter 4 of my comic so two weeks ago I did the thumbnail sketches for the entire chapter and wrote the script afterwards.

[infectedbloodcomics]

Thanks a lot (Hoping you're talking to me)

[mg78]

the storyboard it s the 2nd most important thing & moment for me. (the first is the story).
it s with the SB that i start to see problems and errors, solutions or new ideas (i write very free, just what's goning on. how to draw a shot or a sequence, i create with the SB)
btw, when im doing the SB, i go so far as i can.

with GRUNK im +6 page foward with the storyboard
it mean: i did 2 page here. in the SB im @ the 8th page, im working with pencil, ink and tones @ page n3 and n4.

[keii4ii]

For my current comic, my thunbnails (or storyboards or whatever you want to call them) = my scripts. Meaning I type out the dialogue on the PSD file, straight out of my head. No text files or anything. It goes like this:

1. Open the blank template PSD
2. Type out the dialogues for an entire chapter (this takes up multiple PSD files, as I use 1 or 2 thumbnail PSD files per episode/update... and there is no set number of episodes for a chapter). During this process, I figure out the basics of the speech bubble placement as well as the overall visual layout even though I'm not drawing anything just yet.
3. Scribble in the thumbnails, usually for the whole chapter. But if there's one part that gives me trouble, I skip it and get the rest of the chapter thumbnailed up.

The rest of the process is immaterial.

Since I do an entire chapter at a time, I have to do this before I start posting anything from that chapter. Meaning I had chapter 6 all thumbnailed out before I started posting anything from chapter 5. I may have done it while I was posting chapter 5 -- or maybe chapter 4? I can't remember. No set rule there.

Right now, I have chapter 7 all thumbnailed out (finished up to step #3), and chapters 8 & 9 typed out (step #2). The comic is currently on a mini hiatus after reaching the end of chapter 6.

[ratique]

My technique is pretty poor, but it works out well.

• I start out being a well organized comic creator, sketching out the whole first chapter.
• Then I start drawing the first couple pages. My husband starts looking over my shoulder. "But it would be pretty cool if..." or "I had this great idea for this scene you are working on..." are the things I hear soon after.
• Or I look at comments on my previous pages and change the story/panels on the new pages according to what has been pointed out. I am not sure my readers quite realize how much they influence the comic.

That means that in the end whatever I had planned was thrown out of the window. The basic idea is still there, but the comic is completely different. I enjoy it, since I don't really know what is going to happen too far in advance, while still knowing the overall storyline.

Also, my husband is really good at editing.

[konori]

I have most of the story written out, but I storyboard at least a chapter ahead of the one I'm currently working on, so I could plan on where to start/end the chapters.

[AnnaLandin]

I storyboard a chapter at a time, just like you. I've got an outline for the whole comic (with enough blanks in it to tweak and change it if I need to), but I don't storyboard more than a chapter at a time.

I do it that way because a.) I write my dialogue at the same time as I storyboard, which means I don't do the actual writing until I storyboard it. Before that, it's just notes in an outline. and b.) I like to draw an entire chapter before I post it. I can do this, because I worked up a really big buffer before I started posting chapter one.

[AnnaLandin]

@Aloredd Storyboarding is like layout sketches - thumbnails of how you want the comic to look. Different artists do them in different ways, but mine are literally thumbnail-sized, and look something like this:

These are storyboards for a Christmas-calendar comic I did last year, and those thumbnails are about 2 inches tall, and yes, those teeny-tiny scribbled words below each thumbnail is how I write the first draft of my dialogue.

I like doing them this way, because then I get several pages next to each other on the same piece of paper, which helps me adjust the pacing and make sure the layouts aren't too similar on each page.

[phoenixrenaissance]

I typically keep about a chapter or so ahead. This was easy to do when I worked a slow job with a decent amount of down time. Standing in a fitting room was more inspirational than it should have been.

I work a new job now though and it's harder to find a good brainstorming atmosphere and my thumbnails are starting to run dry.