TTPH - Process

It's Tuesday and there's a brand new Through the Port-Hole strip up at Dumm Comics! I thought I'd post the roughs that led to this comic, and show a little of my process.

First comes the initial idea thumbnailed out in my sketchbook. In this stage I don't really worry about the composition of the whole strip, but just quick poses and shot ideas. I didn't even have a payoff drawing in the thumbnail.
The second step, which I'm cutting out more and more as I progress with the strip, is redrawing the panels on paper with pencil. I focus more on the layout of the whole page or strip. I actually ended up reorder some drawings on this one because I knew what poses I wanted, but wasn't necessarily set on what the dialogue would be. It sounds kind of backwards I know, but it works for me. Dialogue almost always comes last.
This third step shows how I hone in on a drawing digitally in Photoshop. I start with the initial idea and attempt to make a good drawing. But then I explore new ways to make the idea clearer, or the silhouette better, etc. And for this example, I just tried to push it more and more until I came up with a totally different drawing that what I originated with.

And Step Four, go check out the final inked comic!!!