i try to work in layers as much as possible, but sometimes i'll draw something and THEN realize i need the character seperate from the background. still, with the cloning of layers, this is easy. in this particular instance, yes, the drawing was scanned in and then i cut the foreground and background apart. sometimes i actually plan it right and can get both seperately drawn and scanned FIRST, then put together in photoshop (there was a lot of that going on in WHIMVILLE, for instance).
replacing the cigarette butt with the bong was a nice addition, although the pipe he's smokin' is my favorite glass piece...

i colored it brown so that the Austin American Statesman could run the panel in the print version of the webstrip that comic panel comes from, hoping they wouldn't question it. if i'd been more "realistic" the pipe would have been swirly blue, red, and aqua...