What are the best digital tools to create comics strips or educational cartoons?
Designhill
One of the best-rated tools, the Designhill comic has a vast collection of texts, pictures, colours, and other elements. This is a very easy-to-use tool that even a novice can use to create a professional strip. Designhill has thousands of comic patterns built into it.
To create a comic strip, you can choose a template based on your needs and style from Designhill’s extensive library of pre-designed templates. Add images from your system or pre-uploaded photos in the library, edit or replace the existing details to beef up your design and download the comic strip in png, jpeg or pdf formats.
Price: Free and paid
Strip Generator
Strip Generator is an automated web-based tool for creating cartoons. You can easily choose the items you wish to use from the menu and put them into the design. The free tool allows you to create a strip using pre-defined frames, characters and objects. Just with your mouse, you can drag and drop as well as rotate and resize objects. Also, add objects, shapes, human characters and scales, make a rotation, add colours, add/remove frames, etc. These pre-defined objects are minimalistic in design, so even non-artistical users should create something that looks decent. Hopefully, the strips they create will be funny as well.
Price: Free
BitMoji
Bitmoji is an avatar creation application that tracks the success of (and supersedes) Bitstrips. With BitMoji, you can showcase yourself in online comics. BitMoji has an extensive collection of pre-designed characters that can be used to make original comics. You can add text in balloons and conversation bubbles to create an entertaining cartoon. It is an excellent tool for those who love to read comics and easily create comic strips. These created images can then be sent via text (including adding a Bitmoji keyboard), social media (with great Snapchat support), or email, or can even be added to documents. In addition, at the age of memes and GIPs, Bitmoji is an accessible way to connect with students.
Price: Free
Draw and Tell – by Duck Duck Moose
Duck Duck Moose is a colourful and appealing way for children to begin telling multifaceted stories. This unique drawing and colouring tool encourages visual and verbal storytelling by enabling children to record their voices in conjunction with drawing or colouring pages. They may choose from various backgrounds, colours, characters, objects and stencils to create designs. Furthermore, they can write and draw directly on a stage. When they finish designing and putting together a scene, children can record the story — however, they imagine it in their imagination. The tool has dozens of ready-made templates to choose from or draw with no recording.
Price: Free
Pixton
Pixton is a comic-creation tool that both teachers and students can use. They can share their cartoons and create their cartoons. Pixton has various cartoon layouts, many characters and background selections, and a ton of creative options to choose from. It is an excellent learner-centred tool that allows students to build characters out of their knowledge and demonstrate it in meaningful ways. Pixton is an easy-to-use tool where no drawing is involved; all comic characters are created by selecting from the set of presets of attributes and expressions, i.e.comic hair and skin colour, height and girth, body parts etc. The free version is limited in content. Content is available for purchase, or teachers may opt for monthly content subscriptions or free access subscriptions.
Price: Free trial version, $9.99/month, and All-access passes are available at a charge of $24.99/month or $99/year.
Why Use Comics or Cartoons in Education?
Cartoons/comic strips attract attention
No child on earth can sit and go through a textbook without fun, colourful or interesting elements. They always want to enjoy each moment and sense fun and humour, and it is a fundamental human nature to correlate cartoons with fun and humour. It can be said that cartoons and comics can quickly attract student attention and interest in learning.
Cartoons/comic strips lead to improved understanding
Each subject cannot be understood theoretically. This can require practical experiences or concrete examples. And, the comic book might be a big help in that situation. It can help tell a story using cartoon characters, comics or legends, and students can easily understand time-consuming topics. It will also gain student concentration and lead to greater understanding.
Cartoon/comic strips can help develop children as a whole
A cartoon has numerous characters with different individual dialogues. A teacher can assign each character to the students and tell them to perform a play on the comic strip. It will increase the student’s confidence. Also, students get the opportunity to speak and perform in front of the entire class. It will improve their ability to talk and will also benefit other students who listen to them.
Cartoons/comic strips can make children artists
Cartoons/comics can develop an artistic mentality amongst students. For instance, if you ask a student to draw a cartoon character of his imagination, they will show a fantastic creation that will amaze you. Writing a comic strip on their own can enhance the thinking and writing skills of the students. Furthermore, the coordination between their brain and their hands while drawing and writing dialogues will develop their brain.
Cartoons/comic strips can enhance vocabulary
Kids can learn many new words by watching cartoons, drawing comic strips, and writing texts on callouts. They can learn the meaning of the word and use them in sentences. They can also learn how the tone of voice can or gestures can change the sense of the entire sentence.
Cartoons can enhance student-teacher relations
Loved by most kids, if the teacher introduces a comic book to teach the students, the students will generate interest in learning and start liking the teacher. Once this relationship is developed, students will be more attentive to the teacher and listen to each teacher’s words. The student-teacher connection will be improved.
