I realise there are those who think I am being evasive when I  say much of the drawing process is unconscious but the most difficult thing to do when confronted with a blank sheet of paper is to choose from the seemingly limitless possibilities.There are just too many variables to calculate-- story, character, movement, lighting, form, perspective, scale... and so on. The image can be dismantled and analysed afterward but, IF I am fully comfortable with the story, I find the first rough layout is usually very spontaneous. The really hard part is trying to carry that spontaneity into the final drawing. All of these pencil roughs were drawn at A3.

The idea is similar to working out the basics with thumbnails but with the freedom of drawing at a large size. The important principle is to identify the essence of the image and make the drawing stronger-- and more likely to survive onto the printed page.

These pages are examples of the very rough A3 layouts I
sometimes draw.

After the most minimal pencils to define the flow of action I use
a broad tipped felt-tip pen to pick out the important features.