Cartoons and Comics

When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to get the Sunday paper to read the comics.  This often meant getting to them before one of my siblings did.  They were better on Sunday that any other day because they were in color and they were longer.  Even as an adult, I enjoy reading the comics when I have a chance.  

What are the benefits of students reading comics?  Reading graphic novels and comics can be attractive to reluctant readers.  They engage students that are visual learners and encourage an appreciation for different genres and artistic styles.  Many comics encourage teamwork and teach positive character traits such as helping others - think about all the superheroes that are out to save the world.  Comics also help students to broaden their imagination and become better storytellers. Comprehension is also improved because they see a picture to help with their understanding of the text.  Reading graphic novels and comics is not the only way that students can benefit.  They can also create their own comics to work on storytelling, sequencing, emotions, spatial reasoning, language and vocabulary, as well as character development, logic, and strategy.  Assignments or activities in which students create their own graphic novel or comic strip can be an excellent culminating activity to show learning and it can also encourage teamwork.

I recently looked at several Web 2.0 tools and apps that help the user to create comics.

This cartoon was created using Toondoo.  It is a web-based program that uses a standard set of characters and background templates.  You can also create your own charactersuse your own photos in the comics.  Signing up was easy and free.  Toondoo is basically a drag and drop site.  You can choose how many boxes your comic will consist of as well as the design of the comic strip.  You are able to position the characters but the choices are limited.  The hardest part for me was trying to figure out how to change the speech bubbles and shrink the text to make it fit in the box.  After you have created your Toon, you can save it, reopen it for editing, print it, or share it.  While this is a great free source for your students, you will need to be careful because this is not a strictly educational site and there are cartoons that they can see that are not appropriate.

MakeBeliefsComix is a free comic strip creation tool that provides students with a variety of characters, templates and prompts for building their own comics. It is web 2.0 tool and is also available as an app. The biggest downfall of this tool is that you can't save your Comix, you must print or e-mail them to yourself. This also keeps you from being able to edit them if you make a mistake or just want to change something. If you are using the app, you can save them to your camera roll as well. Most of the pictures are black and white. There are a few that are color, but you can not change the color on any of the pictures. You can create Comix that are 2, 3, or 4 blocks long. You can also edit the size of the characters and speech bubbles and bring elements forward or back. I personally found that it was easier to use the app then the web version. I could save the Comix as a picture and load it directly into Blogger. A couple of things that are helpful in this tool - teachers resources and writing prompts for students that are having difficulty getting started.

Pixton is definitely the easiest of the three tools to use. It is available as an app and as a web based version. It is entirely drag and drop and has easy controls to be able to change the body positions of the characters, facial expressions, and more. I like that it has two modes - beginner and advanced. Beginner is easy enough for just about any student to be able to use. I can even see my kinder students being able to work this one together. Sharing your creations is easy - Facebook, Twitter, download, embed, or print. However, it is not free. I don't have it in my budget to be able to use it at this time.

 Tellagami is an app that is available for apple products. It is very easy to use and you can record your voice in a 30 second animated video. You can customize your avatar, but your options are very limited with the free version. This would be a great tool to have students create their own book talks or book reviews.

Comic book! is another app for apple products. I was lucky to get it free when it was advertised on Apps Gone Free last fall. You can take photos and use the app to create a comic book style picture or even create a comic book. It is very easy to use and everything I have used so far has been free. There are extra stickers that you can purchase separately, but I have not found a need to do so.

It can be very hard to decide which app to use. I would choose Toondoo as my favorite web-based tool because it was the easiest to use, had the best options for saving it, and it was free. I love both Tellagami and ComicBook! and I am looking forward to using them with my students on our iPads.

-Lisa