Comic Life

Website review by Erin Brereton, Common Sense Media
Comic Life Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 9+

Fun way to turn your own images into realistic cartoons.

http://comiclife.com/
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this website.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Comic Life is a digital comic-creation application that can be downloaded to a computer. A separate set of forums, housed on Comiclife.com, lets registered users ask questions and discuss comics they've created with the application. Posts are moderated before they're published on the site. For kids under 13 to register, a parent has to physically sign and return an approval form -- otherwise kids won't be able to post on the message boards.

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What’s It About?

COMIC LIFE offers kids a quick, simple way to turn a story into a cartoon, using predesigned templates. You'll need to use ready-made images, either stock art, pictures you've drawn using other programs, or snapshots from your computer's webcam. Images can be color-corrected, and kids can add dialogue captions. Comic Life’s third version provides a few new effects including the ability to knock out image backgrounds. Users can post questions to the forums on the manufacturer's site; kids can easily export finished comics to Facebook or other locations.

Is It Any Good?

Comic Life lets kids easily create their own cartoons by selecting a background template, importing images from a computer, and adding captions or other text to round out the story. Users can download the application, now in its third version (Comic Life 3), from the Comic Life website, which also features a blog with tips and information about using the program in schools.
The manufacturer, Plasq, hosts message boards on its site for users to discuss issues. But surprisingly, few users share their creations, possibly because you can't post anything without registering, and there's a strict parent-permission policy for kids under 13. Parents might want to help teens make sure all possible profile-privacy controls are set -- the boards are pretty clean, but default settings let users message each other, and kids could easily list their locations or share other personal information in their profiles.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the differences among telling someone a story verbally, writing it down, or telling it using pictures. Which method does your child prefer?

  • 
Explaining something with pictures can sometimes be easier than just using words -- or it can be harder. Review your child's Comic Life creation and go over the plot: Does everyone understand it? Is there anything else they could include to make the story clearer?

  • Presenting ideas and actions in chronological order is a key element of storytelling. Does your child's story have a clear beginning, middle, and end? How can the action be structured so it makes the most sense?

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Our Editors Recommend

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