Usually when I have a gag with a lot of repeated figures like this one, I do what any webcartoonist would do: I cut-and-paste.
If I have a gag in which one, some or all of the figures are identical in two or more panels, I'll draw the figure/s once, scan it/them, and paste it/them into each panel where the character/s so appear/s. (Those are easy to color too - I just color the first figure, select the colors without the outline, and copy the color selection into the figure/s in the other panel/s.) If I have a gag in which some figure/s are near identical in two or more panels, I'll draw the figure/s once with all the attributes required for every panel, scan it/them, paste the composite figure/s into each concerned panel, and for each panel erase the bits that don't belong there. (Coloring these is more difficult, which is why I say cutting-and-pasting near-identical figures into multiple panels is probably more work than drawing each panel separately.)
Usually.
Today I had six near-identical figures. I've never had six
near-identical figures. I didn't believe I could draw the figure in all
six configurations (well, five; the only difference between the first and
second is Arthur's mouth) at once, scan it, and not have it come out too
muddled to sort out. So I drew the figure in one configuraton, scanned it,
erased his arms and drew them in the next configuration, scanned it, etc.
Consequently there were minor differences between the figures in their
outlines, even the outlines not erased and redrawn, that required individual
coloring of all figures (except the first and second).
Arthuriana sources I use or recommend:
Arthurian
Legend
Arthuriana - the
Journal of Arthurian Studies; the website of the quarterly journal of the
North American Branch of the International Arthurian Society.
The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester.
Camelot In Four
Colors: A Survey of the Arthurian Legend in Comics
Mystical-WWW -
The Arthurian A2Z knowledge Bank which has encyclopedically-arranged
entries on the characters of the Arthurian legends.
Le Morte Darthur: Sir Thomas Malory's Book of King Arthur and of his Noble
Knights of the Round Table,
Volume 1 and
Volume
2.