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It starts with a storyboard
To everyone who's asked for a glimpse of Volume 2 ... well, here it is! For me, a storyboard is the first step in making a finished graphic novel. These tiny scribbles won't make much sense to anyone else, but the storyboarding stage extremely useful. It's much easier to cut up and rearrange a rough draft than it is to make changes on a half-inked final page.
My work station
It doesn't have to be fancy to be productive! Here's my little work corner, all set up for another evening of listening to quality conspiracy podcasts, drinking hot tea, and nursing a palette full of paint.
From start to finish
There are a few steps a page has to go through before it's ready to be printed in the final book. Here's how I processed my pages for FLANN!
It starts with a rough storyboard: 
These little scribble pages don't look like much now, but that's okay -- the less work I do on the storyboard, the better! This step isn't about having a perfect drawing. It's about making sure everything fits on the page and will read smoothly. See how much effort I put into blocking that scary bear on the right? That's about as detailed as the storyboards get!
The next step is to pencil the page. This is what my penciled pages typically look like. Mostly I'm just transferring the panels off the storyboard onto good paper.
Time to ink! This stage is the most time-consuming, because I'm putting in all the details. I have to make sure to put a timer on to remind me to take breaks, or I get hand cramps!
Next I break out my tiny brushes to add colour! This is the part that really makes the page come alive. It's kind of like doing a colouring book.
Once the page is inked and coloured, I scan it into the computer to add the text. That's one page down -- only a hundred more pages to go!
Original vs Final Copy
This is the binder with all the hand-worked pages that make up Volume 1, sitting next to my very first proof copy. The original pages take up a lot more room on my bookshelf than the final print!
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About the AuthorAuthor and illustrator Danita Stallard has long been enthralled by the fantastical adventures of a certain gentleman who built a mechanical fish. She currently resides upon the Canadian Shield, where she spends too much time wandering the forest with her dog and acquiring interesting rocks (most of which are quartz).
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