Take 5: Comic Book/Strip Creation Tools
This year’s Summer Reading theme is the perfect opportunity for me to share one of my favorite picture creation apps – Comic Book. But then I started digging a little bit to see if there was something easier (or better to use) and below are my thoughts (some of them incredibly brief) about 5 Comic Book and Comic Strip creation tools that would work well for this year’s superhero themed summer reading program.
This is one of my favorite Apps of all time. It’s quick and easy to use and perfect for this year’s superhero themed SRC. I spent the last couple of weeks using it to make artwork to decorate my teen area. I have also used it to make blog graphics and a father’s day present for The Mr. Yes, you read that right, a Father’s Day present. We made a comic book page about what a great dad he was, printed it out on regular 8×11 paper, framed it and it is now one of my favorite pictures in my house. 
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I am also going to be using it for one of my TSRC programs. We’ll take photos and make pages to print and it will be a glorious good time.
To use the app I create the image – and it does give you choices in layout and panels – then I save it to my device. You can then email it, upload it, etc to print it out or incorporate it into your social media or larger designs. Some basic elements come free, but they have a lot of additional elements you can purchase if you would like. I have never purchased any additional elements. There are word bubbles, text boxes, and more that you can add to up the wow factor. I also really love that you can give it a barcode and a price sticker to make it look more authentic. The basic app costs $2.99. You can use it on most Apple devices. I have used it on both my iPhone and an iPad.
This tool is new to me and I’m not very familiar with it at this point, but I wanted to let you know it was out there. It seems pretty advanced. Mashable says it is for “artists” and they’re not really kidding.
I have dabbled a little with Toondoo. One of the bonus of this site is that it lets you save mid creation and come back to it.
Bitstrips is another app that let’s you make little cartoons. If you are on FB, you are probably familiar with Bitstrips because they are popular there. I see at least one a day in my feed. They can be a quick and easy tool to make a little cartoon, but I like the quality of the creations created by Comic Book better. Then again, that’s really a matter of personal taste. It would definitely be quick and fun to make some Bitstrips to share on your social media pages throughout the SRC.
This online tool comes closer to creating comics strips and panels like I do in the Comic Book app then any of the others. And it was pretty easy for me to just jump in and start designing. I will say, I cheated because I used a picture that was already comicbookified (totally not a real word) by the Comic Book app.
Final Thoughts:
I am a huge fan of the ComicBook app and highly recommend it. I also thought Chogger was a pretty good tool. I would really feel more comfortable spending more time with the other tools before I gave them a solid review, but there are some reviews below that you may find helpful. Or, better yet, explore them and decide what works best for you. There are a couple of additional creation tools mentioned in the reviews below that I didn’t get to so you might want to check them out.
More Information and Reviews:
Mashable: http://mashable.com/2010/10/24/create-your-own-comics/
Teachbytes: http://teachbytes.com/2012/02/29/5-online-comic-creators/
PC Magazine: The Best Comic Book Apps for Android
Filed under: Comic Books, Comics, Tech Talk, Technology