Like wikivic I’ve only ever written scripts for myself. I tend to limit them almost exclusively to what the characters are saying. There’s not much in the way of inner feeling description or action detail – I work those out when I start drawing and panelling. I can’t go straight to drawing without working out the dialogue though because I like to fiddle around and change it so much-and it’s waaaay easier to change words than drawings. Also I like to know that the dialogue makes some sense on it’s own before I commit art to it.

I can see why some artists wouldn’t like the American way. Writers can sometimes be clueless about how much time/effort it takes an artist to draw different things. They might include things in the panel description that aren’t strictly necessary to tell the story. But I can also see how this method would be a bonus in a conveyor belt system. For one it means the editor would have to approve the layout before it was sent to the artist, so I guess there’s less chance of an artist being told to make changes on their work

I also write, and adjust the extent of control in my scripts to the artist’s experience. I like to write a small summary of characters’ background and personalities before the actual script. If the artist has psychological insights, he or she can imagine the character’s motivation throughout the story without my having to spell it out. For me as an artist, personality descriptions are absolute must-haves.

I don’t write scripts for myself, but do sketch thumbnail storyboards and make notes of important dialogue and motivations. Especially since some of my stories are puzzles and I like every loose end, no matter how insignificant, tied up.

I think, as I am used to thumbnailing, I would find it strange to work from a script where page layouts were given to me. However, as long as the writer had some really good page layouts, I think I might find it quite freeing to work to the best of my ability under the constraints provided (if you know what I mean? ^^; )

I have actually laid out one short comic with a writer (which never got drawn in the end) – it was a really good experience as we were both very open to the other one providing ideas about page layouts and order of events, so we sat down and bashed everything out working entirely together – I would like to do that again sometime, but actually draw the comic too ^_^;