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How to Draw Comics Online for Free

The origins of comic art, or "sequential art," reach back to prehistoric cave paintings. One of the first occurrences of what we would recognize today as a comic strip appeared in 1895 in the American newspaper The World. The one-panel strip, called Hogan's Alley, featured the Yellow Kid character. Yellow Kid was drawn to illustrate and comment on poverty, crime and other societal problems. The new art form quickly became popular, evolving into other formats and media. Now, you can create your own comics on the web.

Instructions

  1. Create Comics with Strip Creator

    • 1

      Go to the Strip Creator site and create a free account by clicking the "Register" link, then click the "Make a Comic" link to begin creating comics.

    • 2

      Select left and right characters from the "Category" and "Character" lists on the "Make a Comic" page.

    • 3

      Type in the "Dialog" text boxes the words you want each character to say or think. Select "Thought" from the "Type" list if you want to display the dialog in a thought balloon. Or select "Dialog" to display the text in a dialog balloon.

    • 4

      Enter text that you want displayed as narration in the "Narration" text box.

    • 5

      Complete the remaining two panels of the comic in the same way. Then type a title for your comic and click "Save Comic."

    Make Comics with Pixton

    • 6

      Go to Pixton site and register for a free account by clicking the "Join Now" link.

    • 7

      Click the "Create a Comic" link under the "Create" menu, then select one of the "Create" buttons on the page that follows.

    • 8

      Create your comic by clicking any combination of the following icons:

      Face icon to select a new or predefined character
      Dialog balloon to enter dialog
      Pentagon to create a prop
      Sun-mountain icon to add a background

    • 9

      Click the disk icon to save the comic when you are finished editing. Click the "Post" link to publish your comic.

    Make a Comic with Strip Generator

    • 10

      Go to the Strip Generator site and click "Create New Strip" in the lower right corner to begin creating comics. Registering for an account is not necessary.

    • 11

      Select the comic frame layout by clicking the "Frames" link. You can choose layouts that have from one to four panels.

    • 12

      Select characters to appear by clicking the "People" or "Beings" links, then choosing a character from the icon lists that appear.

    • 13

      Choose objects to appear in your comic by clicking the "Objects" link and choosing an object icon. You can build your own character or object by selecting and editing the icons under the "Shapes" link.

    • 14

      Create dialog by selecting from the icons in the "Bubbles" link, double-clicking the icon, then typing text into it.

    • 15

      Click "Finish," then follow the site's instructions to save and publish your comic.

Pop Art

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