Watch: Creating a comic strip
Watch this short clip to revise what to include in a comic strip.
Revise what to include in a comic strip.
NARRATOR
How to create a comic?
A comic is an entertaining way to capture a story in both words and pictures.
Common forms of comics include comic books, newspaper cartoons, graphic novels, and comic strips.
Why don’t we have a go at making a comic strip ourselves?
Let’s call our comic — The Adventures of Cheeseman!
Before you try to create your comic, you have to plan it out first.
Think about your story and how you will show it in pictures —don’t worry if it’s messy and rough at this stage — it's important to get your ideas down and see how they fit together.
Each piece of action in your comic needs to be contained within a panel, which is surrounded by a gutter.
Remember to make your comic strip look exciting and interesting by varying your images.
Just like a film or TV show, your comic can have lots of shot types — such as a long shot, mid shot, close-up, extreme close-up, bird’s eye view, or even a worm’s eye view!
Comic strip panels are usually read from left to right, but not always.
The shape and size of panels and where you place them on the page is important, as it creates the flow of a page.
Readers will follow that flow to put the pieces of the story together.
Use captions to tell the reader when and where events in your story are happening.
Think of it as your narrator’s voice that gives background information.
Put the words you want the characters to say inside speech bubbles.
Let’s give Cheeseman an arch enemy — La Baguette.
You can show what your character is thinking inside thought bubbles.
She is plotting to melt Cheeseman in a surprise attack.
Sound effects can be added using onomatopoeia — use words like POW or BOOM that sound like what they are describing.
Different types of speech bubbles can convey different emotions.
La Baguette looks like she has some anger issues.
You can use visual elements such as motion lines to convey movement.
You have to get up pretty early in the morning to defeat Cheeseman, it would seem.
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Although it has left me feeling a bit hungry!
I've an odd craving for cheese on toast.
Let's recap
Comic strips tell entertaining stories using pictures and words.
Planning is important. You need to know your whole story from start to finish before you start drawing.
The pictures in comic strips go in panels. You can use lots of different types of pictures, such as close ups, long shots or even a bird’s eye view.
Readers look at each panel (from left to right) in order to put the story together.
Words are important to show what characters are thinking, or to set the scene.
- Captions explain where or when a part of the story takes place.
- Speech bubbles show what the characters say out loud.
- Thought bubbles show what the characters are thinking.
Watch: What is onomatopoeia?
Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like the noise it is describing. Comics often use onomatopoeia to show sound effects.
For example: Pow! Bang! Boom!
Watch this short clip to revise onomatopoeia and see some more examples.
Revise onomatopoeia.
Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like what it means.
Take chef here. He needs to wash up.
But instead he is going to smash all the crockery in his kitchen.
SMASH against the ceiling! That is onomatopoeia in action!
THUD. That cleaver thudded into the wall. Onomatopoeia again!
BANG! More onomatopoeia!!
Ahem. Er…chef do you want to show us anything more about onomatopoeia?
Let's just leave him to it
Activity 1
Before you start planning your own, see if you can remember the different parts of a comic strip.
Activity 2
How much do you know about comic strips?
Activity 3
You will be creating a comic strip to show what happened when Christopher Columbus set out to explore the world.
Watch the following clip to learn more about his journey.
Find out more about Christopher Columbus.
NARRATOR
Today we know what the world looks like.
We've taken pictures of it from space!
We know there are many countries, some far away, and that there are lots of different people.
But, for thousands of years, people didn't know this.
It was only when explorers travelled to new places that they met each other.
One of the most famous explorers was Christopher Columbus.
He lived over 500 years ago.
Columbus wanted to travel to China and India, countries known as The Indies, which were full of wealth.
The Indies were in the east, but Columbus thought it would be quicker to go west, around the world.
It was a journey into the unknown and would cost a lot of money.
The King of Spain paid for three ships.
In 1492, Columbus set sail.
A few months later, the crew spotted land.
Columbus thought he had reached the Indies.
But he was wrong!
He'd found a part of the world new to Europeans.
Columbus became famous as the man who discovered new lands called the Americas.
The King of Spain was happy, but the discovery was bad for people already living there.
Spain sent soldiers to take over these new lands.
They took the people's treasures like gold.
Spain became very rich.
The locals were treated cruelly, some taken as slaves.
Many died because of diseases brought from Spain.
Today people disagree about Columbus.
Some say he was a brave hero.
Others say his discovery caused misery for the people where he travelled.
One thing we can say for certain is that finding the continent of America was a huge event for Europeans, and that is down to Christopher Columbus.
Now complete this sorting activity. You need to show the correct order in which the events happened.
Activity 4
Now you need to plan your comic strip to make sure that the pictures flow and it makes sense.
Divide a piece of plain paper into eight boxes and plan your story. Write notes in each box to say what you are going to draw and write in each panel.
Plan to include at least four onomatopoeia words in your comic strip. For example: Splash! Clink! Pop! Flap!
Activity 5
Now it’s time to draw out your comic strip!
Divide a piece of plain paper into eight boxes.
Your panels can be different shapes and sizes, but there must be eight of them to match your plan.
Remember to include:
Four onomatopoeia words
Captions to say where or when a part of the story is taking place
Speech and thought bubbles
Play our fun English game Crystal Explorers! game
Use grammar, punctuation and spelling skills to explore jungles, caves and tombs on your mission.
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