Your Comic Creation/ Manga Creation Process. What is yours and what would be most productive?

When I'm working, I usually start with a vague idea that I slowly flesh out into a cohesive story over the course of several weeks or months. I don't even worry about character names or locations in the early part of writing, because I can get so caught up finding the perfect name that I lose momentum for my story. So in the first draft, my characters are all Shady Guy and Main Character, and my locations are all Capital City and Book Shop.

Once I get enough of a story down, I'll work on my character designs, and this is where I usually figure out character names that fit what they wind up looking like. Then I'll just Find and Replace in my document.

I don't start doing any actual page art until I'm done writing the entire story. I can't work chapter-to-chapter like some people can, I have to have my road map telling me exactly what's going to happen, so I can drop hints and foreshadow and things like that.

So once my entire script is done, then I'll go through a chapter at a time and thumbnail the whole chapter, then pencil it all, ink it all, and do all the colors, so the whole chapter winds up complete at about the same time. I'll set the entire chapter to auto-update twice a week, and while that is uploading to Tapas over the course of the next several months, I can relax and take my time getting the next chapter done. Rinse and repeat!

I don't think a few months is too long to work on a script for a comic that I'm going to be drawing for the next three years. I've got to make sure I love the characters, the story hits the right beats, and there's good character growth and plot development, and the ending is satisfying.

There are people who will develop a story for a year or years before it's finished. I see no reason to rush through a script and start drawing it right away, I like to take my time, step away from it for a while, go back and read it with fresh eyes, get beta readers to look it over and get them to tell me what they think, then revise based on the feedback I got. It's a process.

@krislalev I have an iPad, but it's taking me a LONG minute to get used to it. A lot of it has to do with I'm not used to working on a device that small; I feel like I need area for my hands to rest on properly. Also, working on CSP I dont have all the brushes that I regularly use on my laptop...I have the main ones that I use when I pencil & ink, but I'm still trying to figure out some of the settings coz the interface is different.

I usually think of the story, and concepts surrounding it...once I figure that out I begin designing characters, as well as figuring out stuff like how I want my story to begin & where I want to go with it; then I begin scripting.

I'll script so many pages then take a break and come back to see if I still like what I've written...if so then I continue- same routine until I finish the story, then give it a once over a week or so later to see if it still resonates with me. If it does, then I dive into production; if not, then I make the necessary changes to make it work, then take into production.

Panel/page layouts, loose pencils, slightly tightened but still loose pencils, inks, then colors...lettering is always the last task before proofing my work; do correx and then save & post.

Step 1
Sit down in front of computer
Step 2
Draw my page until it's done
Step 3
Start a new one

I don't have a system beyond that. I've been working on this story in all its shapes and forms for a decade. I've scrapped so many drafts, because I used to worry about everything being perfect.

When it comes to my personal work, I just sit down and do it, I know what needs to happen, it's all in my head. Sticking to an outline only hinders me.

I always write out the entire project before I start drawing it. So I write the whole project in a few months (usually in an abbreviated kinda-sorta screenplay format), and spend the next five plus years drawing it, because drawing is the great and powerful devourer of time.

Another five years and my current project will be done for sure. Then I could move on to the other five insanely long comics projects I've written in the interim. Hooray.

-character developement, plot idea, back story of the characters (important)
-48 pages script, I take an already existing comic book with similiar story structure I want
my comic to be like and write the script panel after panel
-writing down a short text what the comic is about to check if it works
-refining the story by writing it down again in a text form like a
novel, in that stage the script changes a lot because I have better ideas
-reading the text to some people to see if they understand the story and I
get their critique about the story and hear their ideas about the story
-refine the story again
-let my brother write the dialogues and other text that the reader will
read later
-drawing rough panels / layout collecting ideas for shots
all that happens in a couple of days, the 48 pages rough script for the comic
I´m working on took my one day for example
now comes the time intense part
which is a mix of drawing panels, refining them, getting feedback, layout
changes

It´s impossible for me to draw a comic without a finished story/script,
so that´s the most important part to get the ball rolling, but it´s also the
part which takes the least time

When I started to publish my story on Tapas, I already had a good 50% of the script done, due to the fact that I've been working on this story for almost six years now so for now most of my work is focusing on producing the art, rather than writing + drawing. I found this to be the best way: I'm a perfectionist and I like to make sure everything works as it should before I proceed to publish anything, so working on both the script and the drawings at the same time would have been far too overwhelming. In this way, I can focus on one thing at a time, and by the time my drawings will catch up with first half of the script I have now (which will take YEARS), hopefully I should have the other half already written anyway, here's my process:

WRITING
-Made a bullet list of the key events I wanted to have in my story. Then I started to flesh things out: didn't need to do much work on the characters, since at that point I'd been roleplaying them for about 4 years and was already familiar with them. There were a few new additions, though, so I focused on those. Also, as more details were added to the story, I figured it might have been a good idea to...
-Make a timeline of events. A lot of my plot relies on things that happened in the past, and although we're only going to see pieces of it through character flashbacks, having a timeline to figure out what happened when was still necessary. So I went on and made that. Again, it's in bullet list form, so I can easily add/rearrange/remove events if needed.
-Scripting. Not much to be said here, my scripts are very basic and I really only put dialogues in them XD when I write, I already have a pretty clear mental image of what's gonna happen in a certain scene, so I don't really describe actions unless it's a silent panel where action is the only thing you're gonna see.
-Edit, edit, edit, cry over plot holes, go back to fix them, rewrite, edit, cry again, edit... oh, hey, this actually looks kinda decent now! Time to do some...

SKETCHING
-My first draft is usually very rough. I either draw teeny tiny thumbnails on paper or on my iPad Pro. Characters are more often than not just stick figures. Backgrounds are pretty much non-existent at this stage. If needed, I start to look for references when it comes to complicated poses/perspective or make my own in The Sims 3. Yup
-Once I have everything set up, I move everything in Photoshop. I create panels (which are basically a bunch of rectangles on their own layer, lol), resize sketches if needed, add text to see if it fits. The text I'm adding at this point is not the -final- text (that will be added in CSP), but I still make sure to use the same font/size to make sure everything fits. Then I save it as a .psd file and move it to Procreate for the next phase.

DRAWING/COLORING
-I used to do things traditionally at first, but ended up using Procreate instead due to it being more cost effective. Most of the work is done in there: lineart, flats, shading. Then I move everything back to Photoshop for the final edits.
-Once in Photoshop, I add textures, adjust colors and so on. Yep, I could easily do that in Procreate too, but I find the effects I use to be slightly different in Photoshop compared to Procreate, and I prefer the results in Photoshop anyway. Once I'm done with it, I flatten the whole thing, save it as a .jpg and move onto CSP for the lettering.

...Truth to be told, I'm perfectly aware that my process is a bit chaotic and that I could easily reduce working times if I did everything in CSP. I also have a Cintiq, so it's not like my iPad is the only screen tablet available. However...

-I prefer the feel of my iPad compared to my Cintiq. It's more portable and easy to use. I don't have a desk to fit my Cintiq on 24/7, so I'd need to rearrange my entire workspace every single time I need to use it and it's honestly a pain in the ass.
-Procreate brushes = LOVE.
-I've been using Photoshop for 15+ years and I'm waaaaaaaaaay faster at it than I am on CSP when it comes to most stuff, like adding textures, mask/layer adjustment shortcuts and so on. However, CSP comes with a built-in feature for comic balloons, hence why I have to rely on that for my lettering.

At the current stage, anyway, working on a single page (not counting the scripting phase) takes me from 2 to 5 days, depending on how complicated the whole thing is.

When I'm working on a comic, I usually prepare everything beforehand until my set deadline before drawing the actual comic ( I work alone btw, so it means I have to do everything myself.)

• The first step would be creating an outline -- it usually takes more time especially if the story was set in a place that I'm not really familiar with so I need to research the culture, the architecture, the fashion -- everything. --- this is actually the longest process, it can take as early as 2 weeks until a month at most but for me this is actually one of the most productive step
  • during this time, I make a board with reference pictures on how I want the world to look like, how do people dress in that world things like that
  • this is also where I think of the name and write a detailed character description/ character profiling
  • detailed summary of the story also goes in here.
• The next step is creating an initial sketch of the characters, and other details based on the reference board -- the clothes they will wear, the place the buildings etc
• After the initial sketch, the finalization of character design will be next so this is where I create a detailed character sheet with the colour palettes, turn around, eyes, and extra details that will appear in the comic
• Then after everything about the theme/aesthetic, and story plot is finalized, the next is writing the detailed script of the story. --- This is the fastest process given because I got all the details I need.
  • because the detailed summary is already done by this time, I can now divide it into arcs / seasons and proceeding to write it in comic manuscript form.
• Once I'm finally done with the manuscript, I run a final edit on the script
  • changes in scenes and dialogues are unavoidable so I edit it while I'm drawing
• finally: Start Drawing
  • sometimes, I usually just start drawing even if the script is not yet completed as long as the script is completely ahead. -- so there are days when I'm writing the script while I'm drawing (I write and draw pretty fast actually)
  • I also plan on the extras beforehand too and for that, I have ready made prompts for special chapters like holiday specials and stuffs.

So, I've only done a few manga pages - but I do have a system. The way I do manga is a little different than I do my American-style comics, but I'll just go over my process for when I was doing my Tezuka contest entry:

I usually start by thinking of a story idea (obviously). The idea can be developed in many ways. I'm either struck by a simple idea that I then flesh out, or I instantly have a theme I want to tackle. If I don't instantly have a theme, then the theme usually comes when I'm fleshing out the idea I've been struck with. I tend to not write anything or much down when I have the idea that I'm trying to flesh out. I keep it all in my head, and it normally takes me quite a while to settle on the official story, depending on how long it is. If it's a one shot, then it takes me about 3 - 6 or more days to settle on what I want the story to be.

The next step is the script, which is pretty explanatory. I write it, and then afterwards, I edit it to where I feel I want the quality to be, and how I want the characters to truly act and speak.

After the script, I move to thumbnailing, using the script to dictate how I want the panels and action to flow. But I don't go into a ton of detail here. I just want enough on these thumbnailed pages to have an idea of how I want the pages to look.

After thumbnailing comes the storyboard process. (I learned of this step from a YouTuber that talked about how his process of one shots works.) I adopted it because I found it useful. The storyboarding process is just fleshing out the pages that have been thumbnailed. This allows me to get a more solid feel of how I want the pages and panels to actually look. It's here where I'll want to spend the most time - not getting the looks of everything perfect, but getting them down well enough that I know what I want.

And finally, the pages themselves. Because I've taken the previous steps for creating my pages, I pretty much just copy what I see on my storyboarded pages. Since I haven't made them to be perfect, though, I can still add more detail to the actual pages compared to the storyboarded ones, and the pages have become a kind of muscle memory to how I want them. It's pretty much been a kind of practice leading up to the actual page.

For me, though, I don't storyboard every single page and then start the actual page production from the first page. I storyboard page one, and then create the official first page. Then I move on to storyboarded page 2, and then create the official page 2. It's a long process, but I like it.

I write down the summary of the episode split into each important scene in the episode and a max and minimum amount of pages needed for them, then start my sketching and inking and everything else after that