H'okay. *crackles knuckles* Time to ramble like mo-fo.

I'm the artist for the comic Walking on Broken Glass. I use a combination of Photoshop CS4, Paint Tool SAI, and Illustrator CS4, as well as pencils and 11"x17" pre-printed BlueLinePro comic boards.

Process
Sam has the entire first book written already, so I already have all my scripts for the next couple of years, and I can look ahead and figure out what I need to include, pay attention to, and possibly work in as visual foreshadowing. Working with a script has been an amazing experience, though I myself am terrible at writing scripts. Sam gives me light direction and lets me run with it. If something needs to be changed, we discuss it and come out on whatever's best for the story.
Anyway.
I thumbnail the whole issue in a couple weeks usually, in between working on pages for the current issue. I use regular printer paper that i've printed a basic template onto (basically 6.75"x10.25" grid paper with a tick at each mid point, and a space for the page and issue number).
From there, I use the thumbs as reference and pencil each page. I fix things that need fixing, improve things that need improving, and do a step better on the art this time around.
Then I scan the sheets in in halves and stitch them together in photoshop, put in the frame borders, and do perspective guidelines for anything that needs it. From there, it's to Paint Tool SAI to paint everything up, then over to Illustrator for the words and balloons.

The reason I basically draw it three separate times (I tend to fix things in inking too) is that I strongly believe I need all three times to really nail the art. The concept evolves by the third time to become as close to its essence as it'll probably get. I think this is very important for my personal process, but it's time consuming and many others have just done it by elaborating on their thumbnails.

Advice

• Just do it. Don't get stuck forever in planning.
• Examine why you're doing a webcomic. Is it because you have a story to tell and you want to tell it in this specific medium? Is it because you have a print comic you want to advertise by putting it up page by page? Is it because you want to be rich and famous? Is it because you want the appreciation of your peers? If you want to make it your job, you have to treat it like your job. I am fortunate enough that my husband pulls in enough income that I can stay home and work on the comic all day. In return, I treat it like my job and I work more hours than he does, frequently. The more I put in, the more i get out of it.
• That said, don't expect to hit it rich, if that's your motivation.
• Put out quality work, of course. That's the best way to *hold* attention and traffic.
• Make sure that what you're creating is something you love. Your passion will translate to your fans.
• Don't change what you're making to appease someone else. You cannot please everyone and you should not. Not everyone will like our urban fantasy thriller. Not everyone likes guts, nor romance, nor werewolves. So we don't worry about it. Stick to what you're doing and you will get the fanbase that aligns with what you're creating.
• It'll take a few years to get going. Hold absolutely no expectations and you'll always be pleasantly surprised!
• Talk to people. Don't become a hermit. Hate to tell you, but to get your comic out there, you have to be friendly and chatty to people and don't be afraid to self-promote.
• On that note, practically everyone hates self-promotion. It gets easier but it doesn't really get better. Learn how to distill your comic into a three-sentence synopsis.
  
• When you network, approach people whose work you actively admire. Talk to people about what they do, and do it out of genuine interest. Every conversation at a con is not about seeing if you can wedge your pitch in. But if you are genuinely interested in someone's work, the conversation will naturally work its way to what you do, and you can pitch too. (Usually, anyway.) And if you can, thank them by buying some of their stuff (if they're at a table). At the very least ALWAYS TAKE A BUSINESS CARD.

I know most of that advice was about turning your comic into a business, rather than making your own comic, but that's what I've most heavily researched. I hope it's helpful!

Resources

Scott McCloud's books Understanding Comics, Making Comics, and Reinventing Comics. These are all excellent books to read (comics about making comics!) and give a fantastic foundation in how comics work. You need to know why panel size is what it is before you can master it.

reMIND and the Making Comics podcast - Both absolutely excellent resources. I don't recommend podcasts lightly, but this one is awesome, and they have some great articles on making comics.

Webcomics.com - A good source for anyone serious about making webcomics. They cover all kinds of bases, do a lot of critique, and offer a community of dedicated individuals to poll. 

InkOutbreak and Neatorific - These sites are good about promoting comics and getting your name out there without sapping ad revenue. Their creators are extremely passionate about helping webcomic artists.

Some great information cvilbrandt.  The 'talking to people' and 'self promotion' parts are probably my biggest problem, only very lately have I been able to talk to people at all about the fact I make comics, without being amazingly afraid of anyone that I know in person looking at something I have done (especially in front of me!).

Obviously though it is very important and since letting people know and being more open about it, I feel much better in myself about making the comics and more confident in it.

I have a similar process of producing comics, though it keeps changing.  I recently got a new Wacom Bamboo and trying to get to grips with using that instead of inking in my comics, which is proving to be a bit more of a challenge than I anticipated.

Although not always 100% relating to the creation of webcomics, I have found 'web comics weekly' a very useful insight into the world of webcomics, as well as something entertaining to listen to while I work, although it may be some what an acquired taste.

CCRogers3D said:

Wow, some great info here!

I'm going to throw in a recommendation for the Paper Wings podcast, which started out targeting all visual storytellers but will be focusing on comics when it re-starts in January.

The hosts are Chris Oatley (who works at Disney) and Lora Innes (who makes The Dreamer, a webcomic that is also published by IDW). They provide great tips and are very entertaining speakers.

Kam and I listened to a few episodes of Paper Wings. So they're re-organizing the site now? I see the last PW podcast was from November.

Hi I'm Todd Tevlin and I'm the creator of "Frik'In Hell: A webcomic adventure" http://frikinhell.com  It's a comic about a medieval warrior who becomes unemployed so he has to take a job at a medieval fast food restaurant. I'm coming up on the 2 year mark and recently decided to dive into printed books and other merchandising, so that should be interesting.

As far as my process goes making my comic, I mix a little old school with new school. I write my scripts out in a notebook, sketch each episode out on paper, then scan it into my computer and do all of the "inking/coloring" in Adobe Illustrator. I chose Illustrator just because I can vectorize the episodes so they would be print ready later.

I believe all of the advice in this thread is really good, so I don't have anything to add to it other than if you want to start your own comic, you really need to spend a couple of months developing it before you sketch a single episode. If you rush into it without a direction or focus, then it may appear sloppy and turn off readers.