Thank you for asking again; it was cut off last time and I was hoping you would. :)

The size of the paper is up to the artist, but the proportions between width and height have to match the format that you want the finished comic page to be in. So if you want to print your comic as a 5"x8" book, you can draw on 5"x8" paper or you could draw on paper twice as large (10"x16"), etc. I am drawing a project right now where I have multiplied my specs by 1.75! It doesn't matter as long as the paper is proportional to what you want the comic to be in the end, and you can resize your pages correctly in Photoshop or some other program.

(To make things a little more complicated...if you have specs like bleed, trim, and safety dimensions, remember to enlarge everything by the same percentage when you draw on larger paper.)

There are a few reasons to draw on larger paper. It makes it easier to draw little details like eyes and backgrounds. If you have trouble drawing thin lines, shrinking your line art for print makes your lines look thinner (this is why I do it). In general, shrinking pages makes your mistakes less noticeable. However, the larger your paper, the longer it will likely take you to draw. Also, remember that you need a scanner large enough to accommodate your pages (if you do anything to your pages digitally).

(That blog post is here: http://tally-art.blogspot.com/2010/11/itll-all-get-better-in-time.html)

It sounds like you mean the 'flats' layer? 'Flats' is for basic coloring, just defining areas with flat colors (no shading, no gradation, no texture) so that I can go in and easily select, say, the girl's hair or the wood. If I color all of her skin the same single color with the pencil tool, I can select it with a single click. It just simplifies the process of correcting the colors if I want to later. So, you see how the reindeer was originally all dark brown? Because it was all colored with that single color, all I had to do to change it was 'select' that brown and color the reindeer shape on a new layer.

I use 300 series smooth Bristol boards for most things, but I draw Over the Surface on Canson's 'Fanboy' and the equivalent Strathmore brand comic art boards. They're cheesy, and you can't trust their measurements, but they are heavier and bleed less than the Bristol boards when I ink with a brush pen.
(Honestly, I should probably just look into getting higher quality Bristol boards :P)

Now that I am drawing past events, my process starts by reading the Word document where I took notes every day about what happened, who said what, etc. Each event is already broken into panels, so I read a day's worth, cut out panels if I have to, and then think about how I will arrange what I'm keeping on a comic page.
I thumbnail in a little sketchbook, about 3"x5" per page, to decide how the panels will look and what general angle to draw people from, where to put word balloons, etc. Then, I draw the final page on 11"x 16" Bristol board using non-photo blue lead to pencil (no erasing! yay!), a Pilot VBall pen to letter, and a Pentel pocket brush pen to ink.
Lastly, I scan the page into Photoshop, where I adjust the levels to get what I want white white and what I want black black, and then I convert the file to a bitmap. I edit the line art in Photoshop, convert back to grayscale, and then tone the page (generally with flat areas of gray on separate layers from the line art).


jkl

Yeah, I only made 75 copies, with no intention of reprinting it. I think I took it to Reading Frenzy and they maaaaay not have sold out? Everywhere else I'm pretty sure did.

I saved 2 for myself, though, and I'd be willing to part with 1 of them -- hit me up at Tally@farbeyond.com if you'd like it.

I made Between Gears minicomics last year, and there was a limited run linoleum print inside of each one. They also had 2 pages about how to tone, 2 pages about my process when I make Between Gears pages, and an illustration that I've never put online.
I may collect Between Gears into a trade, and if that happens you can be sure there will be plenty of extras (and awesome stuffs :3) to thank readers for the purchase!

Hahaha, My Little Pony? I don't know. I've been drawing for as long as I can remember; my kindergarten identity was already wrapped up in being the kid that could draw you something if you asked. Animals were definitely an inspiration when I was a kid, though. I recall a lot of marker drawings of horses and cats.

While I was a student, I used low-cost printing options on campus to make my minicomics. The library had double-sided printers, and I would send PDFs of my interior pages in 'booklet' format to them. I started getting my covers at Kinko's so I could print on card stock and they would be sturdier. I stapled my minicomics with a Bostitch saddle stitch stapler.

If you aren't a student, try to find a print shop that isn't too much of a rip off (I am still figuring this part out myself). I have heard that ordering everything at once and asking about discounts for bulk orders will save you money, as will saying that you are a part of a small business (the name of that business can be your name).

Printing in grayscale saves money, but I recommend color covers if there's any way you can afford them.

I like it a lot when people differentiate their minis by printing on interesting paper, at different sizes, etc. I haven't done this with mine at all, but it's something that makes me stop and look at other people's.

If you are printing material that is available online, give people a reason to spend money on it. Add bonus pages, prints, pin-ups, and/or personalize your minis with sketches. Reward people who want to spend money supporting you and give them something that your free readers aren't getting (and won't get! Don't put bonus material in a mini and then put it online the next month!).

By 'just comics' do you mean perfect-bound comics/collections...? If so, I'm sorry; I don't know that route well enough to advise on it. I have asked some of my favorite webcomic-to-print cartoonists for their recommendations, though, and they have been very helpful and willing to give advice, so I'd say a friendly e-mail is worth a try there.

I am! I am super-excited about it!

Yes! I have a profile on SmackJeeves where you can read a lot of my old comics: http://www.smackjeeves.com/profile.php?id=40743

There is also my current comic Over the Surface, which is available as minicomics when I go to conventions. It is available for purchase here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Tallychyck

Haha, actually, I find colored pencils difficult! :P

Well, I don't know what's best for others, but here's how I color:
1. (Cut a hole in the box) Draw my picture in black and white.
2. Scan in my art and adjust the image type to 'bitmap' so that the pixels are all either black or white.
3. Edit the line art until I am happy with it and switch the image to cmyk or rbg depending on whether it's meant for print (cmyk) or web (rgb).
4. Add a layer titled 'flats' set to 'multiply' or 'normal'. Using the 100% hard pencil tool, color areas differently so they can be selected for actual coloring later (color skin the color of skin, backgrounds gray, whatever; just define areas logically with your color). There should be no gradation, no fade, nothing but solid areas of color.
5. Add a layer called 'colors' set to 'multiply'. Reduce visibility of the layer 'flats' to zero. Select areas on the 'flats' layer and fill or color them on the 'colors' layer. If you mess up with something like a gradient on a character's hair and you want to redo it, you can just go back to 'flats', select all of the hair, and delete what you did on 'colors'.
6. Once everything is colored the way I like, I add another layer called 'shadows' set to 'multiply' and pick a color that I want my shadows to be tinted (I like brownish, blue, or purple, but any color will work). The shadow value is mostly gray with just a hint of color. I draw in shadows with the pencil or brush tool.
7. To make shadows darker on darker colors like jeans, I select those areas on the 'flats' layer and then go to 'shadows', where I can adjust the selection and make it darker.
8. I often add an 'effects' layer for things I want to play around with, like a gradient set to 'pin light' or just highlights on shiny elements.

I try to color my images so that if I switch the image to grayscale, it still looks good. There should be very light and very dark areas, not just medium tones in many different colors. Light and dark should direct the eye toward important elements of the image.
The focus of your piece should be where the most contrast is, since that is what the eye is drawn to. Backgrounds fade into similar colors and tones, but the subject of the piece should be relatively vivid. Use contrasting colors, textures, and values.

In terms of trying to start a partnership with an artist:
Artists get approached by writers often and they are wary of offers from people whom they don't know well. 'Follow' artists for a while before contacting them; subscribe to their blog, gallery site account, etc., comment now and then, and make sure that you understand their temperament and availability for work. Are they a pro? Student? Hobbyist? What is it going to take for them to accept a job? Will they need money? A lot of time? Are there genres/age groups they stick to? Are they too busy to take on work right now? Showing that you understand these things about them makes it a lot more likely that they will accept your proposal.
Regularly post to a personal homepage or blog and link to that in all correspondences below your name. This simple step significantly increases your perceived legitimacy. Your site is your brand--your digital face! Keep it clean and pretty. :P Your writing on your site is similar to an artist's online portfolio--it's a way for artists to see how you write and whether or not you are a good match for them. This is a GOOD thing; the more visible, open, and prolific you are, the better the artist can visualize you as a writer, and the less scary it is to enter into a project with you. If you need a prompt, try blogging every day for a month on a theme, like describing your 30 favorite songs and what they mean to you (I don't know; you're the writer!).
Offering a percentage of your sales is not appealing. I'm sorry, but it isn't. We kind of laugh at that, actually, when it comes from someone we don't know. I don't speak for everyone here, but if it's your baby, your script, and you are just looking for an artist to illustrate it, you are probably only going to get one by offering a page rate that you can pay up front. If, on the other hand, you have a publisher or you are a professional writer and you think that you can pitch your comic successfully somewhere, you may (MAY) have luck finding an artist who will draw sample pages for free with the promise of split royalties if it takes off.

In terms of working with an artist once you have one:
It's great to be friendly and congenial, but remember that we are busy and working together is primarily a business engagement. Flirtation is NO, and funny stories from your weekend do not require their own e-mails. Not that we don't care, or appreciate human interaction...! Just, really, we can't deal with that much information. Please be professional and short-winded.
Please only send us one script. Things change--it happens--but we can't keep track of multiple scripts if you keep updating them on us mid-project. At the very latest, send us your final script when we are beginning the pencils (and at that point we've already done thumbnails, so no big changes...just subtle stuff).
Keep your scripts simple. Remember that each panel is a short moment in time; not that much can happen in a panel. Don't put two events/actions/emotional impacts in one panel. Also, pages are not that big! The more panels you have on a page, the smaller they are, the less impact they have, and the harder they are to draw well. I aim for an average of 5 panels/page. Please don't make us read a novel to figure out what is happening in a panel, either - concise descriptions are fantastic.
Set clear expectations for us. When do you need the thumbnails? Pencils? Final product? Give us an idea pretty early in the discussion, and come to an agreement with your artist about exact deadlines before beginning work. Pestering us asking for status updates or previews is stressful and wastes our time. Trust your artist to manage his or her time properly. If we do miss your clearly stated deadline, that's our fault, and you can have monetary consequences in your agreement if the deadline is really important to you.
It's really nice when you allow us to alter small things from the script. We may have ideas about panel layout, pacing, etc. that could improve the way your comic reads. I treat it as a privilege and not a right, but if you can give up a little control, it helps artists feel like they are more connected to the end product.

Ooh, good question...

I am a huge fan of webcomics as a tool for becoming a better comic artist. Bottom line is: don't stress about making it perfect, just DO IT. Make comics. Update. You will learn a lot along the way, you will look back and wish that you had some done things differently, but that is the nature of webcomics and it's A-OK. They are works in progress by definition. Don't feel bad for changing or needing time to figure it out or even for starting over (but try not to do this...readers understand that later pages are better than early ones, and reboots are really annoying for them. They would rather just know what happens next!).

Post your comic to more than one site. I have Between Gears on SmackJeeves and Blogger both. There are many other sites; if you have the time, put your comic on a lot of them. You'll reach different groups that way. Sign up for webcomic lists like Online Comics, Top Web Comics, or whatever the equivalent is these days.

Set a reasonable update schedule and do your best to stick to it. This is a great test if you want to make comics professionally -- can you meet deadlines? Even without an editor breathing down your neck? Even without readers pestering you for the next page? You need to be self-motivated to make this work. Even if you say, "I can only do a page every other week," that's FINE. Just make yourself stick to it! Professionals have lives and crises, too, but they push through and deliver their comics on time despite the things that just come up in life. Of course, if you don't want to make comics professionally, then update whenever the heck you want! :P

Interact with readers. Comment after reader comments, answer questions, answer e-mails if you get them. Be friendly and professional. You may get criticism now and then, but keep your cool and really take a look at yourself to see if the criticism is legitimate. If it isn't, ignore the critic. Some people are just out to hurt others, but that's normally not the case. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Having a thick skin is helpful.

Write and draw whatever you want to write and draw. Don't play to genres or character types that you think will attract readers; this is easy to spot and goes hand-in-hand with soulless, uninteresting comics. Chances are, you want to make a comic because there's a story you really want to tell. Tell it, just the way you want, and don't worry about getting a huge readership. That often follows when you follow your heart. Be patient. Sticking to your guns and being your unique self will make you stand out from the crowd.

PHEW. Ramble. I hope that that helped! Feel free to ask again if there's something I didn't address.

No matter how fun a song is, if I don't like what the lyrics are saying, I can't get into it. Really whiny, desperate pop stuff and dance songs that are all about 'what I'm going to do to you'. So, you know, about half of the top 10 songs at any given time. :P

Taco pie. :D It is the most delicious comfort food in the world~~~

Thank you!

Honestly, I'm not that well known yet. I haven't completed a graphic novel or had more than a short story published before. I'm really grateful for the success that I have found, and the financial support that I have received, but hopefully with some larger projects in the next couple of years I can get to that bucket-throwing level.

My parents sent me flowers when I finished school in June.

Thank you! I have two cats, which is extremely helpful, but the internet is full of great reference, too. Try searching Google images for 'cat' and combine it with another word for relevant results (e.g. 'cat sitting').
Also, check out Claire Wendling's work; she is so expressive and dynamic that her drawings of cats look even more...cat-like?...than real cats. Sometimes using art as reference can be more helpful than drawing from life of photographs, because it draws out and exaggerates important features.

To quote a post by CB Cebulski (http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.13181.tips~and~tweets~colon~_advice_for_artists%2c_part_1):

'The only thing any artist should be comparing is the page they just finished to the one they penciled before it.'

The people I know and admire are different enough from me, and going for a different enough thing in their art, that I don't directly compare my work to theirs anymore. I mean, I am constantly thinking, "She inks so well!" or "He understands anatomy so much better than me!", and I am envious of the skill that I see in other people's work, but it is more an inspiration at this point than a measurable mark on the wall that I am trying to jump for.
I have seen a lot of improvement in recent years, and that is enough for me. I just never want to stagnate!

Let's just say that I have recognized more than a couple of backgrounds from http://www.latfh.com/