ComicLife


 * [[image:http://elearningstuff.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/comiclife.jpg align="left"]] || **What would you like to learn?**
 * Choosing a template
 * Adding a background
 * Inserting photos
 * Adding balloons
 * Inserting captions and lettering
 * Examples and other helpful information ||

ComicLife is a fantastic tool for easily making comic strips out of your pictures. There are an endless number of applications for this tool in education. If you want to be creative with your handouts or posters use it as a teacher. It is also easy for students of any age to learn and use to show their understanding of concepts. Although originally made only for Mac's, ComicLife has become so popular it is now available for PC's as well.

ComicLife is available for [|download at plasq.com]. There is a free 30 day trial when you first download ComicLife. If you do not yet have ComicLife installed on your county owned iBook, you can get the registration information off of the [|DR].

**Choosing a Template**

To start designing your comic you need to look at the template library on the right. You may use the pull-down menu to help look through the different templates. If you like a template you can click on the template and drag it to the page. If the templates do not meet your needs you can click on the "drag a panel" box and drag these panels to your page. These panels can be resized, reshaped, and moved to make the perfect page.

Once a panel is on the page, the colored dots will help you to make the page look the exact way you want it to look.

The green dots will help you to resize the panel. Draging one of the dots in the corner will keep the proportions similar as you shrink or grow the panel. Draging the dots on the side will allow you to pull out any side. This will change the proportions while maintaining the rectangular shape.

The blue dots will help you to change the shape of the panel. The blue dots only appear in the cornerrs. Draging one of the blue dots will allow you to change the shape of the panel because the corner will move, the edges will still attach to the corner, and none of the other corners will move.

The purple dot and arrow allow you to rotate the panel. This is good to be used to get panels to fit together the exact way that you would like.



**Adding a Background**

To add a background color, simply click on the background of the page. On the upper right, next to the "Libaries" menu, click "Details." The details menu appears the same but does different things depending on what portion of your comic you have selected. If you have the background selected you can click on the **style** to choose what fill style you would like used. You can also choose the fill and gradient colors by double clicking on these options.

**Inserting Photos**

You may choose to use photos from the capture feature on the computer, imported from a digital camera, or found on the internet. If students are completing a project the website [|Pics4Learning] is a great tool for students to use to find images without a copywrite. Students can search by keyword or brouse by clicking on a category of interest. These images can be downloaded to the desktop or placed in the iPhoto library for easy integration with ComicLife.

To insert photos you will be using the photos menu in the lower right corner of the screen. This tool gives you three different ways of inserting pictures. The three choices can be found along the bottom of the menu. They are iPhoto, Finder, and Capture. The iPhoto feature and Finder feature work in much the same way. The capture feature requires an iSight camera that goes along with your computer. To insert an image from iPhoto find the album in which the image is located. You can use the scroll bar on the right and the resizing featre along the bottom to help find the image. When you locate the image, simply click and drag the image to the panel you would like it to appear in within your comic. You will use the same green dots and purple dot with arrows that were used in adjusting panels to adjust your image.

If the image gets unselected you will need to double click to select the image rather than the panel. You will be able to tell that the image is selected because the panel will appear with an orange outline.

Finish inserting all of your images sequentially in the comic strip. Then you will be ready to add balloons, text, and titles.

**Adding Balloons**

Once your images are adjusted and ready it is time to add balloons! Click on one of the balloons in the bottom pannel and drag it onto your comic. The sample text is already highlighted and ready for you to enter your text. Finish typing your own text and hit the **enter** key on your keyboard.

Now you can use the same green dots to adjust the size of your balloon. Clicking the orange plus sign adds another tail to your balloon. The tails can be moved in isolation from the rest of the balloon by clicking and draging the blue dot. Clicking on the extend button at the bottom of the screen makes it possible to add a second balloon that is attached to your first balloon. The balloons and text can be tilted by clicking on the purple dot with aarows. The font can easily be made bigger or smaller by clicking the buttons with these names. If you would like to select the specific font click on the font button. The styles button gives you a drop down window with a list of colored balloon styles.

**Inserting Captions and Lettering**

In the same menu where the balloons were found there are both text and letting portions. To add either of these actions, simply click and drag them onto your comic.

__Captions:__ When you drag the caption onto the screen, it will be highlighted in blue allowing you to enter your own text. When you finish entering your own text it will give you the ability to change the size of the balloon and orientation using the same green and purple dots as the other features. The caption can also be draged to the specific location you would like it to appear.

__Lettering:__ When you drag the letting onto your comic, you will be prompted to enter your title. Enter this in and then press **enter**. The blue dots can be used to change the shape of the lettering. The green dots can be draged to change the size of the lettering. The purple dot with aarows can be used to change the tilt of the lettering. When your mouse cursor turns into a hand, you can click and drag to move the location of the lettering.

The lettering can be more specifically be changed to fit your comic by clicking on the details tab above the librarie. There is a drop down menu where you can pick the general style you want to work from.

Double click on the box below the word fill to pick the main color. Double click on the box below the word gradient to pick the secondary color. Double click on the box below the word outline to change the color of the outline. Below here you can pull the dot back and forth to change the width of the outline. Double click on the box below the word shadow to change the color of the shadow. Below here you can pull the dot back and forth to blur the shadow. Double click on the sample next to font to change the specific font used in the lettering.

**Examples and Other Helpful Information**



To save for emailing and sharing click the print button in the upper left hand corner. In the lower left of the print menu is a PDF button. Click on this button and click "save as a .pdf." Name the comic and pick the location to save your comic.

Other ideas and help can be found at the [|Howard County ComicLife website].

Check out [|this website] to see additional tips, lesson ideas, and sample comics.