How to Create a Comic Strip in 6 Steps

What is a comic strip?

A comic strip is a sequence of images with a small amount of text in each box.
This text is normally inside balloons or written as captions. Comic strips (or comic
books) are a form of story-telling, which uses drawings or cartoon characters to
tell a story. Most comic strips are created for humour, while some can be serious.

As this is your first-ever comic strip we will focus on creating a three-frame

Step 1:  Write your ideas for your comic

A comic strip is no different from writing a short story. It still needs a beginning,

Step 2: Draw the three-frames

On a new piece of plain paper, draw your three frames using a pencil and a  ruler. Make
sure each frame is equal size. You can even put small light marks on the paper to mark
out where the speech bubbles will go. As a bonus tip, you might want to make your
frames twice as big as you want them to be, so you don’t run out of space.
Step 3: Use basic shapes to draw

One of the hardest parts of creating a comic strip is drawing out your characters. We
recommend you use basic shapes to draw out your characters. As this is your first comic
strip you might even want to use stick figures to keeps things easy. Also, sketch in the
speech bubbles and any starbursts for sound effects. Oh and don’t forget, please use a
pencil at this stage, so you can erase any mistakes.

Step 4: Add in the speech and lettering

Now add in the lettering for your speech into your speech bubbles and don’t forget to
double-check your spelling. Remember the size of your lettering could show whether a
character is shouting or whispering. For example, lettering in full capitals shows that your
character is shouting.

Step 5: Add detail to your cartoon

Now go back to your characters and add any extra details, such as facial expression,
movement lines, shadowing on the floor. And also draw in the background for each
frame.

Step 6:  Go over your comic in pen

Now, you can finally use a felt-tip pen to go over your pencil drawings and rub out any
pencil lines. Your first-ever comic strip is now complete – well done! You can leave it as
it is or even add some colour.
Here is a super quick step-by-step tutorial on how to make a comic book out of paper:
1. Pile together at least 3 A4 pages. This will give you 12 pages for your comic
book. Then fold all of them in half:

1. Staple the folded papers together. This should give an A5 sized booklet. Then
fold the area with staples in slightly like in the image below:
 1. Fold another A4 paper in half. This paper will be for your comic’s cover. We
used an A4 piece of card to give our comic book a sturdy cover:

Then apply glue on the tiny folded over part of your booklet – On the side where you can
see the staples. Next, stick the cover and booklet together to form your comic book.
1. Sketch out your cover using a pencil. And now the fun part: Outline your pencil
drawing with a pen and then colour it in like a colouring book:
 1. Plan on your comic on a separate paper. You should ideally plan out each
frame. Think about what the characters will say, what the scene might look like
and any other small details. For inspiration, take a look at this post on how to
come up with good ideas. 

Once the planning is done, sketch out your frames and cover over them in black pen. 
1. Draw in your frames using a pencil. Remember to include speech bubbles,
special effects and facial expressions on your characters. Once happy outline the
drawing with a black pen and colour it in using your favourite colours:
Carry on doing the same with the other pages in your comic book until complete. 
Hooray! Your comic book is now complete. Now that you have done your first comic –
Don’t stop now! Create your own comic book collection and amaze your friends with
your bedazzling story-telling skills! You could even be the next Stan Lee!
Making a comic book is a great school project which can be applied to any lesson,
whether it’s art, science or English. Comic books are a great way to encourage creativity
in kids and build on their story-telling skills. You can even ask students to create comic
books to test their understanding of a complex subject or topic. 

How to Draw Comic Strip Characters

One of the hardest parts of creating a comic strip is drawing out the characters. As a
beginner to the world of creating comic books, try not to worry too much about your
drawing skills. For now, even a simple stick figure will do – In fact, there are many
famous comics on the internet drawn entirely using stick figures!
If you want more than just stick figures, you can try out the simple steps below on how to
draw your own comic strip characters. For this method, you’ll start off using a light
pencil to sketch your character and then you’ll add in the colour:
1. Start with a simple circle.
2. Draw two circles for the eye and a mouth. And don’t forget a tiny curved dot for
the nose!
3. Sketch any rough hairstyle. Add in the eyebrows over the hair.
4. Draw triangular-looking rectangle for the body.
5. Roughing sketch in the legs and tiny shoes.
 6. Add in your character’s arms.
7. Draw in the smaller details. Don’t forget to add the tiny hands.
8. Go over your sketch with a black pen.
9. Colour in your character
10. Your comic strip character is complete!
Here is a little cheat sheet of all the steps involved in drawing your own comic strip
character: