Creating Comics and Cartoons!

What You Need

Here's What To Do

More Ideas To Try

Glossary

 

What You Need

• Comic Creator
• Comic Strip Planning Sheet
• Examples of comics and cartoons

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Here's What To Do

1. Ask children to share the names of different comics and cartoons that they know. Also have them give descriptions about them - who are the characters? Is there a storyline that continues through? Where does it take place?
2. Share samples of many different types of comics, comic books, and cartoons. You can find these at the library, comic book store, in the newspaper, or online.
3. Talk about what's the same or different between the types:
   • Comic strip - several panels or boxes telling a story
   • Comic book- a group of comic strips gathered together, looks like a magazine
   • Cartoon - a single box or panel, sometimes without words
4. Choose a few comics or cartoons to look at.
5. Talk about what is similar and different among the types of comics and cartoons:
   • Is there dialogue? How is it presented? Are there speech bubbles or captions?
   • What are the characters doing? How is that shown?
   • What is the shape of the comic frames? Do they look like a box? Are the corners rounded? Why do you think the illustrator made that choice?
   • How is action, like movement, shown?
   • What happens from one frame to the next?
6. Share with the children that they will have a chance to make their own comic or cartoon using the Comic Creator.  View the Comic Creator Tool page to familiarize yourself with the tool.
7. Think together about what the comic or cartoon will include and what the story might be.  Use the Comic Strip Planning Sheet to help you think through the needed parts and pieces.
8. After planning, work together on the computer using the Comic Creator to create your own comic or cartoon.  Print your creation and color it.  An offline option is to draw your own comic using paper and creating the different panels.
9. Share the comic or cartoon with others!

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More Ideas To Try

• Ask children to share the names of different comics and cartoons that they know. Also have them give descriptions about them - who are the characters? Is there a storyline that continues through? Where does it take place?
• Share samples of many different types of comics, comic books, and cartoons. You can find these at the library, comic book store, in the newspaper, or online.
• Talk about what's the same or different between the types:
  • Comic strip - several panels or boxes telling a story
  • Comic book- a group of comic strips gathered together, looks like a magazine
  • Cartoon - a single box or panel, sometimes without words
• Choose a few comics or cartoons to look at.
• Talk about what is similar and different among the types of comics and cartoons:
  • Is there dialogue? How is it presented? Are there speech bubbles or captions?
  • What are the characters doing? How is that shown?
  • What is the shape of the comic frames? Do they look like a box? Are the corners rounded? Why do you think the illustrator made that choice?
  • How is action, like movement, shown?
  • What happens from one frame to the next?
• Share with the children that they will have a chance to make their own comic or cartoon using the Comic Creator.  View the Comic Creator Tool page to familiarize yourself with the tool.
• Think together about what the comic or cartoon will include and what the story might be.  Use the Comic Strip Planning Sheet to help you think through the needed parts and pieces.
• After planning, work together on the computer using the Comic Creator to create your own comic or cartoon.  Print your creation and color it.  An offline option is to draw your own comic using paper and creating the different panels.
• Share the comic or cartoon with others!

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Glossary

Character		A person, animal, or object represented in a story or play.
Comic book		A book or magazine in which stories are told through a sequence of drawings and character speech.
Dialogue		Words spoken by characters in a story to one another.

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