Cartoons
and Comic Strips
Touring the three available comic strip websites, I found
one site to be more user-friendly than the others. I started my search with https://www.fotojet.com/. For me, this is one
of the easier websites to navigate. It was easy to figure out how to add photos
to the template I chose and how to edit the speech bubbles. One of the
positives of this site is the numerous templates available with the free
account. I also like that several fonts are available as well. However, there
aren’t many “extras” available in the free trial. Saving your finished work is
not difficult at all. I believe students would be able to utilize this website without
much help. Here is my comic strip from this website!
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The second website I tried was https://www.pixton.com/. I spent a lot of
time creating a six-cell comic strip, only to be told that a subscription was
necessary to download or share my finished work. However, the images available on
this site are nice quality. The biggest negative is it’s pretty pricey. If
money wasn’t a factor, I would choose this website for classroom use. Here is
peek at the first three cells from the comic strip I created on this site!
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The last website I visited was https://makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/.
This site didn’t have as many bells and whistles as Pixton, but it was really
easy to navigate. There are a lot of limitations with this one though. Very few
characters to choose from. However, I did like the additional resources offered
on this website. I didn’t see anything like that on the other two I searched. Here
is the comic strip I created on this site!
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Pixon is definitely really good, but as you said it's more on the expensive side. Fotojet is the most beginner-friendly option that can be used for students at various age levels since the templates can be used as guides and it doesn't require a lot of help needed. Students can surprise you with how quickly they can learn with technology!
ReplyDeleteI do like the additional resources available through MakeBeliefsComix. As a SPED teacher, I really appreciate that there's resources available for different learning disabilities that I can share with my students in a visually appealing way. I like MakeBeliefsComix for that reason.
I do enjoy all the comics you made. They're all so cute.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi again Mrs. Zellers! I completely agree with you that FotoJet was relatively easy to navigate, especially when using a provided template and going to download/save. I quite enjoyed the abundance of free photos and shapes I had the ability to add to my comic. I would be curious what extras you were wanting to add simply because they may be things I never even thought to put with my comic. Sometimes my creative juices stop flowing, and I'm always look for other educators to learn from!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I was disappointed to discover that after spending a large chunk of time on my comic using Pixton, I wasn't going to be able to download it to share. It's definitely the program I could recommend to teachers if they are able to afford it because I see so many possibilities for its use in all subject areas.
Finally, thank you for sharing the idea of using comic strips to share library announcements with the staff at your school. I had not previously thought of this idea, but I can see how it would be engaging. I know I personally find myself more inclined to read emails that start with memes and funny jokes, so maybe I could incorporate those into the start of the comic strip announcement!
I agreed with all your comments on your post because that is what I experience myself. Once I used all three, I did love the graphics that we could use with Pixton. I also created a six-slide comic and was so excited to share it because it was my first time creating something like this. Unfortunately, I also found out I could not really share it correctly unless I purchased a membership. I had to snip mine to share all the slides. I also came to the conclusion that if it was a tool that was going to be used multiple times then I would definitely choose Pixton over the two. Make Beliefs Comix did give many great ideas, but I did feel it was not user-friendly.
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with your assessments of the comic websites. I LOVED the customization options of Pixton, but I think it would be difficult to convince administrators to pay for a subscription. FotoJet was super easy to use and you are right that most students would be able to create a comic with little help. The only thing I don't like about it is that the templates are very short, but it would be great to use as a quick formative assessment.
ReplyDelete