Cartoons & Comics

Comics are a great way to enhance learning in the classroom or library. You can use them for instructional purposes, to create fun reminders, or even tell jokes. Students can also use them as a creative way to express what they have learned. 

Toondoo

In all honesty, I struggled with this one. There were so many options, that it was a bit overwhelming. I would get an idea of what I wanted to create but couldn't find all the clip art needed, or manipulate the characters in the way I needed. I did find that you can change the expressions of some characters, but there weren't many possibilities. Once I finally finished my comic, I couldn't find a way to save it to my computer. It only allows you to save your comic on the site. I used a snipping tool to capture and crop the screenshot of the comic. 

Pixton

I found Pixton to be much more user-friendly. There are numerous content-related templates that would be a wonderful tool for teachers to create comics for the classroom. I chose to start a comic from scratch. I felt like this was much easier to use than ToonDoo. I liked that I could change the facial expressions and manipulate the characters' body. There were a lot of options to choose from. I also liked that I could delete objects from the backgrounds. It did allow me to email the comic, but I couldn't print or download it without upgrading to a paid subscription.

MakeBeliefsComics

I like that you don't have to register for an account to create comics on this site. This site was the most simplified of the three that I explored. It had the least amount of backgrounds, characters, and props to choose from. It was difficult finding backgrounds and characters that made sense together. I think this site would be most appropriate for younger students. This was the only site that allowed me to save and print my comic. 

Overall, I think these sites would be great resources for teachers and students. These would be a great tool to use for students to creatively write. They can create a comic to summarize a scene from a book or identify key points. They could also create a comic to explain a math operation or steps in a scientific process. I would love to share these sites with my teachers during their planning meeting next six weeks so that they can start using them and allow their students to unleash their creativity.