Parents' Guide to Comic Life

Website http://comiclife.com/
Comic Life Poster Image

Common Sense Media Review

Erin Brereton By Erin Brereton , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 9+

Fun way to turn your own images into realistic cartoons.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 9+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

See all

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Personal information is not sold or rented to third parties.
  • Personal information is not shared for third-party marketing.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.
  • Unclear whether data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • Unclear whether this product uses a user's information to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Unclear whether this product creates and uses data profiles for personalised advertisements.
Learn more about our privacy ratings

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?

Our review:
Parents say : Not yet rated
Kids say : Not yet rated
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?

Website Details

  • Subjects : Language & Reading : storytelling , writing , Arts : drawing , photography
  • Skills : Creativity : imagination , making new creations , Communication : conveying messages effectively , presenting , Tech Skills : digital creation
  • Genre : Creating
  • Pricing structure : Free to try, Paid
  • Last updated : November 11, 2020

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by

Comic Life Poster Image

You May Also Like...

See all

Kids' Hobbies Websites

See all recommended website lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate