Comic Life

In order to successfully integrate technology into the curriculum, middle school and high school teachers need to participate in professional development workshops to expose them to the current technology available to meet writing and literacy requirements. To meet the reading and writing needs of students, teachers are constantly looking for more innovative and age-relevant ways to present those skills. Comic Life is a Web 2.0 tool that students/teachers can use to create and publish comics to enhance learning opportunities. Middle and high school students enjoy Manga (Japanese anime), and Comic Life will provide students with the opportunity to create their own comics. Students will write a story and create a comic strip to tell their story. Students can share their comics with others to enhance reading skills. Students will be more actively involved in learning, and they will have an opportunity to be more creative using this technology. Comic Life gives teachers one more way to present information that will be interesting to the students.

In order to use Comic Life, teachers and students will need basic computer skills such as point and click. Users will use the mouse to drag the template and images into the panel to create a comic. Students should be able to compose a story, choose images to represent the characters, and create dialogue to tell the story. Creativity is at their fingertips with Comic Life.

The steps for creating a comic using Comic Life are:


• On the computer desktop click on Comic Life.

• Choose a template and drag it to the panel template

• Choose your image from the album and drag it on the panel template

• Create a comic with images that look hand-drawn by adjusting the details

• Add balloon by dragging it on the panel template

• Double click on “Your words here” or hit return to edit the textbox

• Then hit enter or click outside the text area to save the new text.

• You can resize the balloon by dragging the green handles.

• Drag and drop caption on the image and double click to edit text.

• For titles - drag and drop a new window will open

• Click save and project is finished.

• You have several options for exporting the comic strip. You can also create a Portable Document Format (PDF) file.

Comic Life is one way to meet reading, writing, and publishing standards. Integrating technology into the curriculum motivates most students to explore and expand their knowledge base. Students need to create and publish their own work, and Comic Life is one way for students to experience the joy in publishing their work for others to enjoy.