TOP PICKS | 16 TOOLS

Classroom-Friendly Websites and Apps for Making Comics

Anybody -- from preschool to high school -- can be a comic book creator with these tools that help students make sequential art. You'll notice that some of these tools are designed specifically with comic creation in mind, while others, many of which are tuned to older kids' needs, lack comic-specific scaffolding and instruction but can be used to make more professional-level creations. Use these great creation tools to help students learn cartooning and sequencing fundamentals, or just express themselves and demonstrate learning. Teachers might also create comics to put a fun, accessible spin on content, whether it's a set of visual classrooms norms or a cheeky hook to kickstart a lesson.

Top Picks

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Draw and Tell HD - by Duck Duck Moose

Kids' drawings come alive with stickers, color, and voice recordings

Bottom line: Lots of art tools and voice recording help kids unleash their visual and verbal storytelling.

Grades: Pre-K–1 Price: Free

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Superhero Comic Book Maker

Leap tall buildings with creative audio and visual storytelling

Bottom line: Kids create comic book-style stories and color pages on this easy app.

Grades: Pre-K–1 Price: Free

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Pixton

Popular comic creation tool well-tuned to classrooms

Bottom line: Students will be motivated to share subject knowledge using the fun language of comics.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free to try, Paid Free 15-day trial. Pricing varies, starting at $8.99/month for 25 students and increasing from there. School or district pricing available.

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Halftone 2

Simple comic creator makes building stories fun

Bottom line: This simple tool for creating comics is a fun option for a range of class projects.

Grades: 3–8 Price: $2.99

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Seedling Comic Studio

Showcase student work through photo-based comic strips

Bottom line: Creative options are endless and inspiration abounds -- just do your best to keep your creations organized.

Grades: 3–8 Price: Free Additional theme packs can be purchased in-app for $.99

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Make Beliefs Comix

Comic creation tool has wealth of resources, busy design

Bottom line: While it feels a little dated and disorganized, Make Beliefs Comix retains its just charm and can promote creativity and self-expression.

Grades: 3–8 Price: Free

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Book Creator

Magically easy way to create and publish digital books and multimedia

Bottom line: This is a top-quality creation tool that lets students of many ages and abilities publish their own digital books.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid Free version supports one library and 40 books. For $60 per year, this expands to three libraries with 60 books each. $120 per year supports 10 libraries with 100 books each.

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Comic Life

Creative tool for visual storytelling through comics

Bottom line: Comic Life helps students apply their understanding with a creative approach, but guidelines are needed to ensure success.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free to try, Paid Comic Life 3 ($29.99) features additional images and text tools; you can test it for free with a 30-day trial or  upgrade from Comic Life's second version for $14.99.

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Paper by WeTransfer

Beautifully designed digital sketchbook for any age

Bottom line: The simplicity and effectiveness of the app make this a powerful sketch and note-taking tool for the iPad.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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Animation & Drawing by Do Ink

One-stop animation tool for beginners through experts

Bottom line: Accessible entry into animation for beginning students, but with enough depth to satisfy more advanced artists.

Grades: 3–8 Price: $4.99

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Strip Designer

Easy and fun way to create personalized, comic-book-style stories

Bottom line: Strip Designer is a versatile media-creation tool that can support a range of learning goals for any subject of interest.

Grades: 4–8 Price: $2.99

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StoryboardThat

Engage kids with basic but versatile storytelling tool

Bottom line: Though it isn't loaded with special features, there's enough going on here to provide learning for kids of all ages.

Grades: 5–10 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid A free, individual account limits users to three storyboards per week with only a 1x3 (three cells) or 2x3 (six cells) configuration. The Educator account allows for unlimited storyboards of any length for $24.95 per year (up to 50 students), $34.95 per year (up to 100 students), or $44.95 per year (up to 150 students).

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Explee

Build slick, engaging whiteboard animations with Web-based tool

Bottom line: A stellar -- if somewhat pricey -- creation tool for the classroom.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid A teacher account costs $30 per year, while $150 a year buys access for a teacher and up to 40 students.

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Animoto: Slideshow Maker

Slick video slideshow tool lets kids tell stories and share them

Bottom line: Anything that happens during school can be turned into an engaging video slideshow.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free, Paid There's a free version. Basic plans ($4.99/month or $29.99/year) support slideshows of up to 10 minutes and longer video clips. Personal plans ($9.99/month or $59.99/year) include all the features of basic plus HD videos.

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Autodesk Sketchbook

Impressive creation tool for teens serious about art

Bottom line: Gives students easy access to professional tools for creating digital art.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free to try While the app is free to try, the full Pro version is $4.99. This version adds a host of creative options from brush types to colors to more layers. There's also a $29.99 per year Sketchbook subscription that unlocks the Pro version across all platforms.