What do you do to draw your comic? Simply sit down with a light on and draw?

Me, I lay a blanket in the floor, grab a pillow, turn on a playlist and get to work.

I will either lay down (usually while inking or coloring) or I sit indian style in a manner that will probably leave me arched over as an old geezer =P

While I wait for each page to save I generally browse here, use the bathroom, and such. On Thursdays my friend comes over and uses my Cintiq to draw Convenient Hell and/or Skulls. During this time I sit and make my story up on paper and draw the drafts.

Sometimes I draw on the desk I have, but not often anymore, seems much less distracting to sit or lay in the floor.

I pile pillows up on our couch to make a back rest and sit sideways (cross-legged). I have the TV on and draw on a lap desk with my bookback full of supplies and references on the floor beside me. I write out the script for the page on notebook paper, then sketch my plan for panels, and then start drawing. I take breaks after especially detailed panels or difficult poses.

In the evenings, I show my roommates what I drew that day, and we discuss character development and potential plot twists/development.

When I get writer's block or have no motivation (happens frequently), I like to sketch my characters, do fanart/community things at DD, or practice drawing in other ways. That way, when I return to my comic, I have improved some.

At night, I fix up my old pages and change the handwritten gook into text on the computer. Then I make sure my page on DD for the day has updated properly. While I do that, I read and comment on my DD favorites.

I just turn on some Guns N' Roses and start drawing in Photoshop.

I move my keyboard out of the way, get some paper out of the printer and a plain ol' number 2 pencil, draw each panel on its own sheet of paper (so I can do smaller things easier), ink with a sharpie, scan it in, and save it for when it's time to update.

Depends. If I'm working digitally, I lean back in my computer chair, but my feet up, and put the tablet in my lap.(provided there isn't a cat there first.) Otherwise it sits infront of the keyboard and crank up my headphones, put on my favorite music du jour, and I draw. If I'm drawing traditionally, I find a surface, and either place it on my lap and draw crosslegged, or put it on a table draw. Ideally the table is pretty low so I can see most of the drawing without a lot of distortion. Otherwise it ends up looking 'long'.

Well, it's a very complicated ritual. It involves candles, heathen dances, virgin sacrifices, and little pine-scented wooden christmas trees.
lol pun

My computer is set up so that I stand up to use it. When Im working on my strip, i stand there, and i pace around my room a lot. I drink coke zero like it is good for me and I have the radio on - usually NPR, but sometimes random music. I *dont* listen to my favorite CDs/playlists when Im working, because i would stop and actually listen to those instead of working.

I dont do it all at once - for some reason, it gets spread out over the whole day, in bits and pieces. That gives my scattered mind a chance to catch up with my own thoughts.

At some point, i print the strip out and show it my partner to ask "Can you tell what they're talking about? Can you tell what that's supposed to look like?" If it passes the clarity test, i save out a gif, throw it on the "episodes" folder and I'm done. Usually, I start to lay out the NEXT one right then, so that I dont lose track of the feel of the narrative.

I'm just beginning so I don't have a specific way I have to do things, but they usually end up going something like this...

I work at the coffee table in the living room. The table is really close to the couch, so I sit on the floor with my back against the couch.

Ritual wise I just put some cartoons on the tv, something I've seen before and won't get to engrossed in so I stop working, or something that I'm not really interested at the moment, I just like some noise. Lately it's been Ren & Stimpy. Though on the weekends I'll put Cartoon Network on. This past Sunday it was a Camp Lazlo marathon, week before was Pokemon. :P

During the day, the windows need to be open so I can see, at night, I have to turn every light on in the room. It's really not that well lit. Then I just get my supplies out. I end up taking up the whole table between the page I'm putting together, the scrapbook of recycled elements, the cutting board, and my laptop.

I'll get up periodically and do chores and stuff. Or I'll waste some time being distracted online. When a page is done, I have to go into the office to use the scanner. I've only been doing this about two weeks but I'm trying to make sure I build enough pages on the weekend to have an update every day for the week, which means Friday nights I try and figure out how I'm going to build the next 7 pages.

Time will tell if I keep up the pace and this ritual. At the moment it feels right to me.

When I write(I dont draw) I usually play some music-most often its something I downloaded specifically for the task of writing a new character. Thats about it.

I grab a sandwhich and start on an 'Idea Chart' and then when I come up with something I go and make the comic:P

I shall jump the gun on Ozoneocean and say it involves a baby sacrifice.

EDIT: But curses! I didn't beat LizardBite!

Not really...

I typically get into the proper mindset when I'm in a boring class or lying on my bed. Then it just sort of flows. I don't draw well with music on because I get too caught up in the music.

I get out my rotaring drawing board, clip on a bit of paper and rule my 'bleeds'. Then I find a nice bit of floor, sit or lie down, look at the thumbnail sketches in my big sketchpad, and start drawing!

I finally had the money to have a dedicated space made, so I put up some inspirational pictures I've saved to my PC, play some music that is inspiring, set my Blue Line comic pages on the easel and start working.

It depends on where I'm at. Often I'm at work when I do my initial sketches for a page. All I really need are my comfy chair, my tablet (not computer tablet, old school tablet), a 2h pencil, separate eraser pencil and I'm good to go! Last week, I actually did some inking and colored a page while at work, which surprised me. As long as I'm into what I'm doing, I don't seem to have a problem.

When I'm at home, I'm usually on the couch with the laptop playing some tunes through headphones and relaxing (except when I ink, which I'm trying to get more relaxed at). My choice of music is usually Yahoo launchcast or Pandora.

I don't really have a "ritual", to be honest. I'm actually usually doing two or three things at once, so me sitting down with the intention of just working on my comic is rare. But I absolutely can't do any work without some type of music playing, so I guess putting in a CD or turning on Winamp is as close to a ritual as I have, lol.

Hm. I still have a dumb huge monitor, so if I'm working in the basement, the tablet goes on the left, the mouse to the tablet goes on my lap and the holder for the stylus goes on my left.

If I'm working upstairs on the laptop, it's the same thing. Usually I like to have music or the TV on and I dislike having any IM programs on (unless it's MSN), because people just seem to love starting conversations and text you while you're in the zone.

I sacrifice a couple of ba.... Damn you Lizard and Kohdok!

Nothing... I just need stuff to listen to. BBC7's [bbc.co.uk] listen again feature is my fave... I usually make playlist out of a bunch the a day's programs and I'm set. Without the stuff to listen to and distract my mind, I can't work. If I think about what I'm doing I can't do it. -unless I'm writing, then I need to concentrate.

I honestly don't really have a ritual. I spend a lot of time just musing about my work - like if I'm watching TV or something I'll be watching but also thinking how to word a certain part of the story or how a character would act... Only when I've got it properly planned in my head can I set pen to paper (or tablet pen to tablet in my case).

I generally work better in silence or with very quiet music on and I never put my feet on the floor when I'm sitting at my comp; I've always got my feet up on the chair in some way. X) Umm... I usually have a shower/bath before I work cos... I dunno... I usually do my inking in the morning because I'm usually more relaxed and my lines come out better. My drawing board is set up so I can sit on the edge of my bed with my duvet wrapped around me and ink~ ahaha.

ozoneocean
I sacrifice a couple of ba.... Damn you Lizard and Kohdok!

FINALLY! Let the records show that I finally beat Ozone to the punch!

Hijuda
I just turn on some Guns N' Roses and start drawing in Photoshop.

you listen to the same band every time you draw?

wow ! am i the only one here that sits hunched over a desk without a computer ? that's the way i've always done it (xept when i'm using my HYpeR-Pen tablet ; that is truly hyper now that i've worn the tip down flat) !!
! writing - i usualy do that while i ride the train and drink beer

Well, first I concentrate to charge up my power. I charge up my power enough so that I create an energy aura around myself, turning my hair a glowy spikey yellow... I charge up so much energy it's like I'm constipated or something. Then I...

Waitaminute! I really gotta stop DragonballZ...

Actually I look for my scriptbook and draw according to what I've written down on the pages. hehe... :)

Thank you for my first laugh of the morning, that was classic! :)

Lonnehart
Well, first I concentrate to charge up my power. I charge up my power enough so that I create an energy aura around myself, turning my hair a glowy spikey yellow... I charge up so much energy it's like I'm constipated or something. Then I...

Waitaminute! I really gotta stop DragonballZ...

Actually I look for my scriptbook and draw according to what I've written down on the pages. hehe... :)

First I find something decent on TV (usually the Fight network, but a lot of the time I just end up watching DVDs), then I dig through my projects folder until I find the one I want. Then I start to lay things out on my drafting table. The current page goes right in front of me, my script (if I bothered to write one) goes above that, the last few completed pages go on my right for reference, the TV remote goes on my upper left in case I need to change the channel, and any other references I need go underneath that (lately it's been a copy of Ultramodern Firearms, which I highly recommend if you need to draw guns). Then I make with the drawing stuff.

Take out my comput, open up Paint, glance at my idea sheet* and blast away!



*A piece of paper covered front to back with a description of the all planned comics in a few words.

Lil bit different for each of my comics.

Demon Eater has the script printed out and ready. So I divide up the sentances in to what would fit into each panel and just draw the comic on computer paper. (since it's on paper I can take it with me anywhere to work on. Before class, at work, at home, etc..) I draw up about 5-7 pages(that many pages because it's much easier to watercolor them all at once), pen ink it. Then in a nice layed out area in my room I charcol them and watercolor them. Lastly scan and copy paste the script from Word into the page via photoshop.

For TPCTH I have to be in a mood, usally when a week has gone by without updating then I get to work. I usally have the page scene in my head. I love to listen to music set to what the mood the scenario of the page is. Happy music for happy scenes. Hard rock music for angery scenes...Sad mucic for sad scenes, it really gets me involved in the work. I tend to use referances for everything. Some times I work in front of a mirror and act the scene out to figure out what the character should look like in the panel. There is a lot of laughing to myself during my penciling usally because something looks bad or I'm thinking of really bad jokes while I draw. My roommates think I'm crazy.
Since the drawing is done on paper, I can pretty much take it anywhere to work on. I'm more careful about the quality of TPCTH vs DE so I have to have some kind of non-moving undisturbed place to work at. I most often draw from digital photos in front of my computer.

hmm. I sit crosslegged with my tablet in my lap, or my drawing pad in my lap.
I have very bad posture.
I gnaw on my dipping-pens... and on my tablet pen *gasp!*

Kristen Gudsnuk
hmm. I sit crosslegged with my tablet in my lap, or my drawing pad in my lap.
I have very bad posture.
I gnaw on my dipping-pens... and on my tablet pen *gasp!*

Yay! We get to be hunched over Quazimotos together in the future!

I often draw them on the train... yes while it's moving and bumpy.

RobertTidwell

Hijuda
I just turn on some Guns N' Roses and start drawing in Photoshop.

you listen to the same band every time you draw?

That's just an example. I have plenty of bad '80s rock groups on my playlist. Guns N' Roses is just my favorite.