When creating a comic an individual should not just immediate start drawing the story they are creating. The first thing that should be done are thumbnails of the story for the comic. A thumbnail is an outline of what you are going to be drawing for your comic story. A thumbnail are small drawings that quickly outline what a person wants drawn on the page or panel. Doing this gives you an idea of how you want to draw your comic and an idea of how your story is turning out after the initial writing of your story.
Supplies:
Initial Writing- this is the story you have written and what you will be following when drawing your thumbnail. This ranges from a detail outline or a paragraph length statement of what occurs in the story.
Blank Pieces of Paper- these will be used to sketch your thumbnail of your comic.
Pen or Pencil- used to draw your rough thumbnail draft of your comic. This is just a thumbnail so do not have to be neat or perfect.
Ruler- this can be used to create squares, rectangles, or other shapes that will be how you want to structure your comic. They should be 3 to 4 inches big and will usually represent a panel you are writing in your comic book.
Thumbnail Template- for an idea of how it can be created a thumbnail template was provided. Also, the thumbnail template can be used to draw on as a shortcut to creating a thumbnail of your comic. Each square in the thumbnail template can be a drawing of a page or panel.
Activity:
Draw on the thumbnails the images you intend for your story. Since this is just a rough draft do not provide a lot of detail. You mostly want an idea of who is in each thumbnail, the actions they are taking, and a rough idea of the setting. This rough draft will give you an idea of what actions you want the scene to show as you are creating what the reader will be seeing. It will also make it clear as to how long you want to make your comic.