How to Create a Page With Comic Life

Comic Life is a program that turns your photos into cartoons. Use your own pictures to create multi-pane cartoons in the Comic Life pane templates. Include adjustable speech bubbles, classic cartoon font exclamations and text capability. Position your additions over a picture or have them run out of a pane's borders. Comic Life gives you all the tools you need to create classic cartoons starring your family and friends.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Click on the "+" button that is at the bottom left corner of the Comic Life opening screen. This brings up a blank cartoon working page.

2. Access the page setup drop-down menu. Select either the button with the round gear wheel depicted on it or the Page option located in the options bar at the top of the opening screen.

3. Select "Page With Grid Layout" to create a traditional comic strip multi-pane appearance.

4. Enter your choices for the grid layout dimensions, i.e., how many rows and how many columns you want for the cartoon, in the "New Page" pop-up box. Click "OK" to reset the blank working page to the new comic layout.

5. Choose "New Page Like Current Page" from the Page drop-down menu to create another cartoon page with the same comic format as the one you've been working on.

6. Save the cartoon page layout as a template. Select "Save as Template" from the Page drop-down menu. This gives you easy access to the page layout you've set for the cartoon project.

Tips & Warnings

• For a Mac, Comic Life requires Mac OS X v10.3.9; 400-MHz; G3, G4, G5, or Intel Mac. A system with 256 MB of RAM works, but 512 MB is recommended with 40 MB of free disk space and a minimum 1024x768 display.
• For a Windows computer, Comic Life requires Windows XP SP1 or Vista. A 1.5 GHz processor works but at least 2.0 GHz is recommended. Comic Life works in Windows with 512MB RAM but 1GB RAM is recommended, with 40 MB free disk space and a minimum 1024x768 display.