There was a time when I drew pretty much all of my comics straight in ink, with minimal planning - and I still like to draw comics like that sometimes. For Kids Are Still Weird, I followed the process I'd developed for my Star Wars Darth Vader books. Once I had the panel layouts drawn for the book, I started pencilling each individual page. The first pencils are pretty basic, just to give me a sense of the overall composition.
As a physical act, I really enjoy this stage of pencils, making virtually abstract lines before adding the text, which always brings the sense of figuration back. I use Staedtler Mars Lumograph 3H pencils. It's a bit harder lead but not too scratchy, so the tip stays sharper for longer, and there isn't as much smudging as I'd get from a softer pencil.
Then I start to fill out more detail on the figures. I may adjust elements, in this case moving the first speech bubble slightly. And you can see a slight ghost image of Simon that was erased before drawing him again in a slightly different space.
You can also see the finished pencils are still pretty rough. For example, the detail of my right hand is really just a few expressively dashed off lines. At each stage of a page of comics, I like to leave room for myself to still enjoy the process and keep things loose enough that I can still make discoveries or be surprised as I'm drawing. Sometimes, if I feel it's necessary, I'll make the pencils a lot tighter, matching what I intend the final inked lines to be more exactly. There can be a meditative calm that comes with inking precise lines, but I don't want to get bored and have that come through in the image.
Speaking of inks, next time I'll show what the inking stage looks like!
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