21 Free Online Comic Strip Makers

Comic strip maker. As an educator, a teacher, I need to make my teaching material interesting. I have one-by-one tried these free online comic strip makers that I consider best for educators and students.

There are so many online comic makers out there, free and paid. They come and go. One of the best online comic makers that I used was bitstrips, but it is now gone.

Many online or web based comic strip makers are built using flash that need flash player. Unfortunately, flash is now ripped. Browsers no longer support flash. An awesome online comic strip maker from readwritethink.org is now no longer available. The best thing about online app is that you can use them in any OS, whether it is Windows PC, Mac, Linux, or any others, as long as it has an internet browser. You don’t have to install it in your mobile phones like specific apk for android.

However, fortunately, there are still other free online comic strip maker software that don’t use flash, so they are still available. I do not rank them, so the list here doesn’t represent their ranks, but I comment each of them based on my judgement, yours might be different. Anyway, here are the list:

Free Online Comic Strip Maker for Educators

Pixton

I think pixton is a big player in online comic strip maker industry. Looking at a glance on the website interface and menus, I consider this is mainly built for educational purposes and business. However, still you can use it for any purpose.

Pixton has huge collection of characters, background, items, and many more. You can edit the character’s position and pose.

The characters in pixton is well designed. It is close to the best. I think.

In fact, I encouraged my students to create comics using pixton. I was in an English class where I asked my students to tell their story in comic work. It was really motivating. They loved it.

Comic Character Maker Storyboard That

Another online comic strip maker that is free, and I find it advanced is Storyboard That. It can be used for almost any purpose. As the name suggest, you can use it to create story board for film making, for example.

In making story board for a film, rather than drawing it by yourself, and if you don’t have good drawing skill, Storyboard That should come handy.

The drawing style of the characters reminds me of the R.I.P bitstrips. You can edit the character’s head, arms, legs, beard, and expressions. You can even use the preset one. Storyboard That has so many characters: man, woman; backgrounds: cities, jungles, parks, schools, you name it.

The text bubbles or balloons are also easy to edit. It is a great tool. I love it too, and I believe you will too.

Make Belief Comix web comic maker

Make Beliefs Comix, built by Bill Zimmerman, is another great, awesome, outstanding online comic strip maker. Bill has created various resources for kids learning. I belief it inspired him to provide us with his online comic maker for free.

You can add up to 18 channels. The comic strip maker interface is very simple, yet it is straightforward, and useful. Teachers can use this online comic maker tool to provide his/her school students with interesting comic containing the lesson materials. You can make comic strips easily.

You can use your own digital art images. If you don’t have one, you can try to make it yourself using digital art creator.

Cartoon Comic Maker

Cartoon Comic Maker is a very simple tool to create comic. I can even say that this is too simple. However, there may be somebody who find it suitable for his/her need.

It provides you with preset panels, colors and white. It has various characters that you can use in the panel. For those who want to create comic fast and quick, this may be a good choice, but for those who want more customisation, Pixton may be better.

Canva

Canva, besides used to created other complex and advanced design, can also be used to create comic. Canva provides some template to create comic strips. It allows use to make comic strips.

Canva is unlike Pixton. Canva doesn’t have character customisation feature. What you can do with characters is to use what is available there, and it depends on you subscription. If you are using the free plan, you can use only limited characters, the free ones, but if you have the pro subscription, you can have a lot more options.

I my self have tried to use this feature and write a simple tutorial on how to create comic strips using Canva. Here it is: Make Comic with canva

Adobe Spark Comic Strip Maker

When browsing for online comic makers, I also found the Adobe Spark. It is not intended for creating comic, but the features make it possible to make comic using Adobe Spark.

There are some preset panels and the samples that you can edit. It is actually, in my opinion, like a power point or another graphic design software in which you need to use your own creativity from scratch.

It has no character customisation.

Smilebox comic strip maker

Smilebox, another comic panel maker, offers you with colorful examples of comic panels. Most users use this comic book maker to create photo comics, so if you plan to create comics like in the examples above, better use smilebox. However, you can still use this comic book maker to create cartoon comics black and white, just remove the background color. What a colorful comic creator.

Creately comic strip maker

Comic book maker Creately offers simple comic strip templates that are ready to use. It provides you with basic necessary bubbles for the conversation. Everything fundamentals for creating comics is available at Creately, so you have to dig deeper on your creativity with this comic creator.

Comicgen draw comics online

You can’t draw? it’s ok, you are not alone. Many teachers cannot draw even the simplest one. Have no more worry. Use Comicgen. It allows you to compose your own characters based on the character templates ready to use at Comicgen. You can set pretty much many things like the emotion, pose, and many more. You can actually use it to create your own avatars that you can use in your social media networks.

You can combine this comic character generator tool with another one. Create your characters here at Comicgen and combine them with other functionalities provided by another free online comic makers that allows you to upload your own resource.

Fotojet free comic making software

Again and again and again, creativity is the key to creation. Photojet is another simple photo comic maker that can help you build your own comic. This comic creator emphasises on the use of photos, but you can use your own characters to create simpler comics for educational purposes. If you build more pages, you can treat this as comic book maker, not just the short one. Let’s make a comic!

Photoadking

Photoadking is actually focusing on posters and flyers maker, but the tools in Photoadking make it possible for us to build comic strips. It provides you with easy to use and customise templates. The graphical items and the text templates are also awesome, so you don’t have to worry about styling. To make a comic, If you are not comfortable or not confident enough to use your own creation, use all already available here instead.

For some people, examples of works generated from a specific tool influence the other users. Like me for example, by looking at some examples here, I tend to create crafts almost similar to the styles mostly used here at Photoadking while actually this tool can be used to create another and unlimited styles of comics.

Make your own comic with Tinytool

Tinytool is a very straightforward at showing it self as a simple yet useful online comic creator. It support basic needs for crafting a comic. They are backgrounds, characters, bubbles, props, and even meme text. Ready to make your own comic?

It supports layering, so for example if you want to put the text bubble under another item, you can simple click on the item to activate it and the positioning icon appears along the item and you can make it backward or forward.

Unlike the other comic makers that mainly use photos of real people rather than line arts, Tinytool certainly makes us focus on the story. It uses the power of story flow rather than visual images that are colorful.

I myself prefer this one to Photoadking. May be because it is simple, not much distraction. It makes me find it easy to make a comic.

Because it is dependent on the user, any comic book creator may be utilized to communicate innovative thoughts. comic book creator Just another instrument to aid the author’s creativity. comic book creator may produce a beautiful and remarkable piece of work when applied properly.

Lywi free comic strip maker

Liwy allows us to create comic easily. The panel templates are very rigid. The tools are basics but very handy. There are some tools that are not usually available in most comic creators: strickers, crop, draw, and shapes.

The crop, draw, and shapes are for you who have drawing skills and are comfortable and confident enough in drawing. What Great tools to make a comic.

Thanks God that I am given a bit of drawing skills, so I find the draw (represented in pencil icon), and the Shapes (in shapes with dotes icon) very useful. I can draw my own custom shapes in case I cannot find representative items that I can use immediately.

Suppose I have a ready to use character and I want to add a little body feature, say moustache, I can simply draw the moustache in the character by using the pencil tool.

Every comic book creator can be used to express creative ideas because it depends on the user. A comic book creator is just another tool to support the author imagination. When comic book creator is used in optimum way, comic book creator can generate a wonderful and outstanding piece of work. Ready to make your own comic?

writecomics comic strip generator

You can make your own comic with writecomics.com. Writecomics.com comic strip generator offers a very simple interface of comic making tool. I believe that the creator of this tool believes in simplicity. The tool, for some or may be most users, is to simple that may be most people would find it difficult to create comic using this tool. However, there are some people who do not want complexities, and thus this tool is for them.

If you don’t have any knowledge on how to create good comics, this comic strip generator offers 10 tips for creating good comics. You can find the menu just right above the workspace panel. Overall, this is another easy way to make comic strips.

Creza

Creza is not a comic maker at the first impression, but as it is used for digital story telling for classrooms activities, the tools provided at Creza can be used to create comics.

In my opinion, this comic creator is like a power point. You have to draw your own panel using the tools available.

Comiclife comic book maker

Comiclife is another WOW comic book maker. you can make your own comic book. this comic creator is a paid tool, but you can use the TRY IT FREE plan for 30 days. For simple project or short project, you can use the free one, and you don’t have to go for the paid version of this comic book maker. The fee one is enough.

Marvel

Do you like Marvel superheroes? or does your child like it? or may be your students? Invite your self, your child, or your students to create fantasy comic using Marvel Superhero characters.

It supports all basic needs for creating comics. The only different between this tool and other online comic creators is that it provides you with various already made super hero characters from Marvel, and they are so awesome!

The power of Superhero can bring educational values to us.

Wittycomics comic creator

Free comic strip maker Wittycomics focuses on 3 panel comics. This free comic maker allows you to change the background scene. You can just sect one available, or you can just choose the blank one to make it just white.

Insert the narration into the comic. There is a box field that you can insert by typing, and the narration will be added into the panel.

Change the character of person one and person two.

Insert the text for person 1 and person 2.

Change the bubble for person 1 and person 2.

This tool is very simple. It is for those who already have an idea to spoil into a comic.

Three is not much graphical creativity here. It facilitates and emphasises on the message of the comic rather than going around with the visual hook. This is a simple way to make comic strips. you can make a comic easily. You are all set to make your own comic.

Comic Creator Online Comixio

CMX is free comic strip maker that is an experimental project. This is not easy to use for common people. It is for those who know about html, but if you do not need much editing, this is for you.

you can edit the stick man by clicking on it to activate it. Once activated, you will see the joint dots that you can edit by clicking on it and adjust the position. Once adjusted, the html code will change. Here is how it looks.

Here are a few guides to use xkcd comic maker CMX:

Visual Editor (top)

• Click individual objects to manipulate them
• Selected object displays control points:
• – purple = position/rotation
• – green = text base line
• – blue = positional bones
• – red = joints
• – orange = special
• Double-click control point to reset it

Source Editor (bottom)

• Modify scene structure via the code
• You can nest tags the same way as in HTML
• You can apply own CSS – use web inspector
• You can wrap/mix scenes with arbitrary HTML
• Hit CMD+S (CTRL+S) to apply changes

You don’t have to sign up to use this tool.

Free comic strip maker for students Stripcreator

Stripcreator is another comic maker tool like Wittycomics that allows you to make your own comic. It has ready to use templates. The has character selection to activate so that everything corresponding to it can be edited, such as the character and the dialog. this free comic strip maker is for simple usage. You cannot edit freely edit the character poses, just use the poses already made. You can make a comic free.

Make a Comic with Super Action Comic Maker free comic maker

Super Action comic maker is a too simple online comic maker. This free comic strip maker for students has an interesting part, that is the superhero character. You can adjust the characters’ size and position. The text bubble can also be positioned anywhere in the panel. Select specific background to determine the setting. For educational purposes, this comic strip generator is enough. Kids will love it. It is simple, focusing on ideas rather than complexities, especially for kids. This is a free comic maker.

Garfield Comic Maker

With the Garfield Comic Creator, you have the exciting opportunity to craft your very own comic strip featuring the beloved Garfield cartoon characters. Infuse your unique humor into the storyline, allowing your creativity to flourish as you bring Garfield and friends to life in your personalized comic creations. Dive into the world of comic-making with ease, utilizing the intuitive tools provided by the Garfield Comic Creator platform. Whether you’re a seasoned comic enthusiast or just starting out, the possibilities are endless as you experiment with different scenarios and dialogues to create hilarious and entertaining strips. For inspiration, take a look at the example provided on this page, showcasing a fully self-made comic strip crafted using the Garfield Comic Creator. Let your imagination run wild and embark on a comic-making adventure with Garfield by your side!

Garfield comic builder 1

Garfield 2

Or, you may want to use the paper based one here: Comic Book Maker Featuring Garfield

make your own comic strip

Using the tools above, you can make your own comic strip in no time even if you are a beginner. The tools are easy to use. They are all self explained.

Make your own comic book

If you your focus is to make comic book, I think you can make use of this comic book maker.

How to make a comic strip online

Making a comic strip online is easier than ever with various user-friendly tools available. To start, brainstorm your comic’s storyline and characters. Once you have a clear idea, choose an online platform or software such as Pixton, Comic Creator, or Canva, which offer pre-made templates and easy-to-use interfaces. Next, lay out your comic panels and add dialogue, narration, and sound effects. Use the software’s drawing tools or upload your own images to create characters and scenes. Experiment with different layouts, colors, and fonts to enhance the visual appeal of your comic. Once you’re satisfied with your creation, preview and edit as needed before sharing it online with friends, family, or a wider audience. Making a comic strip online allows for endless creativity and the ability to easily share your work with others.

Conclusion

Like I said earlier, online comic makers come and go. Use the comic makers that you find comfortable and easy to use, or that suit your need. No matter how great the tool is, or how simple the tool is, it depends on your creativity. I hope that I can always edit the list, in case there is one shutting down, or another new one appearing. Let’s make a comic free. and hopefully there will be more free comic strip maker.

References:

1. Hakim, L. N. (2021). Comic Life and Cartoon Story Maker in Creating Short Story for Young Learners. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 9(1).
2. Rakhmayanti, F. (2021, July). Comic maker app for enjoyable learning. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1987, No. 1, p. 012020). IOP Publishing.
3. Darsalina, L., Syamaun, A., & Sari, D. F. (2016). The application of comic strips in teaching vocabulary. Research in English and Education Journal, 1(2), 137-145.
4. Rokhayani, A., & Utari, A. R. P. (2014). The use of comic strips as an English teaching media for junior high school students. Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature, 8(2). Teachers nowadays must be resourceful in their delivery of content to pupils. In an ideal world, teaching media would aid in the success of teaching and learning processes. Teachers must use interactive educational material to create a positive atmosphere in English lessons. The purpose of this study is to determine if printed material in the form of comic strips may help students improve their English vocabulary, as well as to describe the strengths and disadvantages of comics as a teaching tool. This action research was carried out in a classroom of 30 students. The writers performed a pre-test to determine the pupils’ vocabulary proficiency before to performing the research.
5. Fatimah, A. S., Santiana, S., & Saputra, Y. (2019). Digital Comic: An Innovation Of Using Toondoo As Media Technology For Teaching English Short Story. English Review: Journal of English Education, 7(2), 101-108.
6. Megawati, F., & Anugerahwati, M. (2012). Comic Strips: a study on the teaching of writing narrative texts to Indonesian EFL students. Teflin Journal, 23(2), 183-205. Comic strips are recommended for use in writing classes not only because of their appealing aesthetics, but also because of their usefulness as a medium for presenting narrative text content, structure, and grammatical characteristics. Through a collaborative classroom action research, this study analyzes the use of comic strips in the teaching of writing. Planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting were among the methods. The findings demonstrate that employing comic strips to teach writing using a Process-Genre Based Approach (PGBA) can help students improve their writing skills. The data also show that effective comic strip adoption necessitates good tales and enough instructor support during the authoring process.
7. Lazarinis, F., Mazaraki, A., Verykios, V. S., & Panagiotakopoulos, C. (2015, July). E-comics in teaching: Evaluating and using comic strip creator tools for educational purposes. In 2015 10th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE) (pp. 305-309). IEEE.
8. Yulian, V. N. (2018, April). Developing teaching materials using comic media to enhance students’ mathematical communication. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 335, No. 1, p. 012110). IOP Publishing.
9. Csabay, N. (2006). Using comic strips in language classes. In English Teaching Forum (Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 24-26). US Department of State. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of English Language Programs, SA-5, 2200 C Street NW 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20037. According to the author, there are three major advantages of employing comic strips in language training. For starters, comic strips entice younger students. Second, they benefit language learners by providing context and logically related phrases. Third, the visual information they provide is beneficial to understanding. The author claims that comic strips may be utilized in reading and other skill-building exercises. The author presents four comic strip-based exercises.
10. Rakhmayanti, F. (2021, July). Comic maker app for enjoyable learning. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1987, No. 1, p. 012020). IOP Publishing. This study says: In today’s world, learning also necessitates technical proficiency (technological literacy). Students and instructors must make use of technology and its different applications in order to improve their creativity and learning quality. At the same time, the comic maker app was able to elaborate and cooperate on some of the student’s talents and knowledge. Then, this practice might be included into a work: seeing visuals while telling a tale. Pupils are becoming increasingly adept in using digital devices, in addition to attracting students and instilling a new spirit in studying. Their linguistic skills in terms of word selection and sentence construction can also be improved. Teachers may use this program to deliver more unique and modern learning that is not repetitive.