My usual process is:

1. I have an idea of the storyline and where I want it to go over time. This suggests some opportunities and restrictions on the individual episodes. My comic requires continuity and logical progression, so I can't bounce around with different locations and characters at will. Also, I have a limited amount of set pieces, and so this restricts my options as well.

2. For an individual episode, I start off by doing a heck of a lot of thinking. Sometimes, I get a string of scripting epiphanies that give me the next 6 episodes. Sometimes I'm stuck on what to do the night before the update.

3. I type up the script in Word and play with it. Move this here, change that word, etc. Sometimes I skip this step and go straight to storyboarding. I hand off the script to the actors now also.

4. I storyboard the episode on 8.5 x 11 paper. Since my drawing skills are wanting, it's no great work of art, but it helps me think about the camera angles, composition, and positioning. Here's an example for episode 39 (you can see that the framing changed from storyboarding to completion:

5. I set up the tentative episode framing and text balloons (no arrows yet) in Visio.

6. Construct the set(s). It's a lot easier when I have several episodes already storyboarded and Visio'd. That way, I can construct a set and shoot the panels for several episodes at once. I usually can't leave the set up for more than a couple days.

7. Get the actors into the studio, into makeup, and costume, and shoot the panels. Usually, I know exactly how I want everyone positioned and what the cam angle is. Other times I have to experiment considerably and take several practice shots. Usually, I shoot one panel at a time and then work on steps 8 and 9, then come back and shoot the next panel. It's safer this way because if I make a mistake that I discover in Visio composition, I don't have to go back and reposition the action figures.

8. For each panel, I crop and resize the image in Photoshop. To get the exact size, I iterate steps 8 and 9.

9. I import the resized and cropped image into Visio and position it in the appropriate location. Usually I discover it's the wrong size and I have to go back to Photoshop to crop it a bit more. Sometimes I discover a composition problem with the photo and I have to go back and reshoot it.

10. After all the panels are shot, cropped, resized, and positioned, I can start on fine-tuning the speech balloons. This includes putting it in a good spot in the  panel (sometimes positioned to hide errors in the shot) and then add the arrow portion of the balloon.

11. Then I create the faces in Visio.

12. Then I save the episode as a JPG and I'm done!

I'm usually 2 to 20 storyboards ahead. I'm often finishing up the comic the night before or early the morning of.

Do not be amazed by the number of storyboards ahead I can get. My storyboards are beyond simplistic.

This is the storyboard for my 7/26/2006 strip.

See what I mean?

Let me reveal my process, and things shall become clearer. I keep a small note book that I scratch all the random things that come into my head. Sometimes these are just one liners, sometimes they are a full story idea, sometimes they are just a title. When I sit down to storyboard, I try to have my little book at hand. I've never quite storyboarded my stories the same. "Pest Control" was largely done in one sitting, while "Marsburg" happened in fits and starts over several months. The first "Marsburg" story board was actually created while I was still working on "In the Beginning." It had to be revised a little, but in stood up in principle.

Once I've got the rough storyboards, I try to type of actual scripts. This helps me tighten up the dialog and gives me a way to spell check and have my partner look over it for any really bad errors.

Then I go into the photo studio and shoot. One path of creativity is to put rules on yourself. One of the rules I have is that the principle portion of the frame must composed within the camera. I do not allow myself to crop afterward. This does not apply to SFX shots of course. I does force me to really think about the composition while shooting, and also to keep in mind where the word balloons will have to go. I'll sometimes shoot a frame from several different angles.

I try to plan my shooting so that I'm switching sets as little as possible. That's why I try to go into the studio with 10 or so storyboards in hand. Even if the action goes back and forth between several locations, I shoot all of one location (even if it means the shots are out of sequence), before tearing down and setting up the next set. It saves quite a bit of time.

Next comes strip compositing. This is all photoshoppery from SFX to word balloons. I've got two templates, a four frame template and a six frame template. I put the primary images into the template. One of the things I do for ease of handling is have a "set" (for you Photoshop users out there) for each frame. This helps my later layers to be more organized. I put the text, balloons, and SFX for each frame in that specific set. If the shot is really SFX heavy, I'll make sub sets but not very often.

Once that's done, it's a quick "save for web". I should note, I work at a page size and resolution that's good for print, and then in the "save for web" process, I use that tool to scale the whole comic to the correct size.