HOW IT'S DONE

First you need an idea. I don't settle for stupid jokes. it has to be pretty good. I have a notebook full of drawing ideas but I only do 10% of them. When I get a really good one, I'm so excited. This is the hardest part of the whole process.

I read a lot - newspapers, magazines, The Bible.. anything to get my mind going

Some bad ideas : civil war with civil engineers, uncivil engineer, Fast food (running), The Rock(a la WWE) is my salvation, pious pies & holy donuts
My book of ideas

Second, I have to do a rough draft. I usually do it on a regular 8.5 x 11 piece of regular paper in pencil.

It's easy to visualize a joke but it's hard to actually put it on paper. I do copy from other drawings, so if you see something that looks familiar, I probably got it from some other drawing or picture.
It usually takes 30-60 minutes to complete a drawing from idea to final draft to upload on my website. I can only do around 10 a day. It can get a bit tiring.
The rough draft
Then I take the pencil draft and put in under a clean white paper. It's really hard to trace with a regular desk so I take my drawings to my glass dining table and put a lamp under the table. Then the tracing is easier. Honestly, I think my pencils look better than my ink, but ink is a lot cleaner.
I've tried a lot of pens. Thin enough for details but thick enough for a clean look. My older drawings used a very thick marker. With my thinner pen, I can get more detail in them. I use a sharpie with extra fine point.
The Inked Version
Comparison using a thinner marker compared to a thicker marker
I scan the inked version then I use Adobe Photoshop to put shading in it. I would put color in them but that would take way too long, and newspaper comics usually come in black and white. Then I save two copies, one for reprint and one for my website.
I redrew all my drawings, nearly 150 of them, with the thinner pen because I didn't like how they looked with the thick pen. That process took almost 6 months.