How to Make a Cartoon Software

In today's world of computers, drawing cartoons and making animated cartoons has never been easier. There are a range of software programs that can help even a beginner make comics and cartoons, both static and animated. Some of these programs cost a great deal, but a couple of these cartoon programs are available for free or are reasonably priced. Whether you want to make an animated cartoon or a simple cartoon strip, there's a cartoon software product available for you.

Things You'll Need

• Comic Life software
• Pencil animation software

Instructions

Comic Life Cartoons

1. Download "Comic Life" to create still cartoon strips from any photograph (see resources). "Comic Life" isn't free, but it's priced reasonably. "Comic Life" is easy to use and doesn't require users to have any drawing ability at all. You can download a free trial before you purchase it.

2. Open "Comic Life" and begin creating your cartoon strip within a minute. It's that simple. Everything is drag and drop. Select a panel layout template from the library on the right side of your work space. The panel will appear in your work space. To the right of your work space is a library that displays all of the photos in any folder you choose. To add a photo to a panel, click on the photo in your library and drag it to the desired panel. The photo will automatically resize to fit the panel.

3. Add text bubbles and blocks to your comic by dragging them from the text library beneath your comic strip. Once you've placed the text bubble where you want it on your image, type your text and it automatically fits itself to the bubble. Add narration text blocks the same way. You can also add a title to your cartoon by dragging the title template to your page, then clicking on it to skew and manipulate the text until it looks the way you want it to look. Make adjustments to your font style and color from the big, easy-to-read toolbar, then use the "Style" button on the toolbar to choose preset comic coloring options.

Pencil Animation Cartoons

1. Open "Pencil" and begin drawing the first layer of your animation. The default tool is a pencil, but you can select a paintbrush or a pen from the tool palette to the left of your work space. Use the color palette to the right of your work space to add colors to your animation.

2. After you've sketched the first layer of your animation, go to the "Layer" menu and select another layer to add. The layers are transparent, so it's easy for you to trace the initial image you've drawn and vary it slightly for the purpose of animation. Use the time line at the bottom of your work space to position your sketches in animation order and to set duration of animations. You can drag and drop layers to reorder them.

3. Use the playback feature built in to "Pencil" to test your animation. Since you've worked in layers, you can delete any layers that don't work and add additional layers without destroying your entire animation. When you're satisfied with the finished animation, save it as a Flash animation or a movie file.

References

• Comic Life Cartoon Software
• Pencil Cartoon Animation