0.5 Tech module: using comic life in the classroom

Introduction

Today graphic novels and comic books are more popular than ever before. Over the years, they have inspired countless films, cartoons, television series, and other artistic forms, such as pop art and pulp literature. Also, numerous classic literature texts have been adapted in the graphic novel medium: Beowulf, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, Dracula, Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn, and Tale of Two Cities, just to name a few.

It is clear that the medium is in high demand, which has led educators all over the globe to begin considering appropriate graphic novels as viable texts for teaching. So why not channel the popularity, power, and creativity of graphic novels and comic books into a learning opportunity? Why not allow students to create their own? The engaging format and popularity among youths suggest that the graphic novel is a valuable medium with which to reach students.

What is Comic Life?

Comic Life is a program created by plasq for Mac computers, first released in April of 2005, and last year a version for Windows was also released. Comic Life is a user-friendly program that allows users to create a comic using photographs or images. The program is easy to learn, and both the artistically challenged and the artistically inclined can enjoy using the program.

You can use any JPEG format images, which means you do not have to use only photographs. For those who are especially artistic, hand-drawn illustrations can be scanned in the JPEG format. Your creations can be exported in .Mac, html, QuickTime, and JPEG formats, allowing you to post them on web sites, blogs, or send them via email. If you would like professional printing, you can send finished comics to the iPhoto Kodak print service with a link provided in the program.

How Do I Use Comic Life?

Creating a comic with the Comic Life program is easy. Simply select a template, drag images from your library (embedded in the program menu), and have endless fun adding effects, dialogue bubbles, text boxes, and titles. The comic can be as many, or as few, pages as you wish. Templates, styles, and fonts can differ from page to page because you create each page separately. You can also add effects to images to make them look like comic book images. The following are two links to help you learn how to use Comic Life. The first is a quick help sheet, covering the basics. The second is the complete manual formatted in pdf.

Short tutorial: www.macinstruct.com/node/69

Download pdf manual: (External Link)&task=cat_view&gid=233&Itemid=229