Comic Studio · With Tek
How to make a comic strip
A comic strip course for kids 6 to 13. Your kid learns how a joke works, then draws one in four panels on paper. Five short films, about 5 minutes, then 30–45 minutes of drawing.
- Ages
- 6 to 13
- Time
- 5 films, about 5 minutes, then 30–45 minutes of making
- Host
- Tek
- You need
- Paper, pencil, ruler (optional), black marker (optional)
- Status
- Coming soon. Kids vote in the app for the courses they want first.
The intro film
Tek's 45-second intro film is coming soon. Here's what Tek says in it.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Tek. Want to make someone laugh with four boxes?
That's a comic strip.
Box one sets things up.
Box two makes it bigger.
Box three is a tiny pause. Nobody talks.
Box four is the surprise. That's the laugh.
I'll show you why the pause matters so much.
You'll draw the boxes, write short words in bubbles, and make the lines dark.
Then you test it on someone and watch their face.
Did they laugh at box four? You did it.
Fold a piece of paper into four.
Let's find your joke.
The 5 lessons
Lesson 1. What makes it funny
A joke is a setup and a surprise, and the surprise comes last.
- Think of something funny that happened to you
- Find the surprise in it
- Say the setup, wait, then say the surprise
Where: Paper
Lesson 2. Four boxes
Plan the joke in four boxes with quick stick figures.
- Fold or draw four boxes
- Sketch one moment in each box
- Check that the surprise is in box four
Where: Paper
Lesson 3. Words in bubbles
Keep words short and put them where the eye reads first.
- Write each line in eight words or fewer
- Put the first speaker on the left
- Draw the bubble around the words, then point the tail
Where: Paper
Lesson 4. The pause
Box three is a quiet beat that makes the ending land.
- Take the words out of box three
- Draw a face that waits or looks
- Read the strip out loud and feel the pause
Where: Paper
Lesson 5. Ink it and test it
Make the lines dark, then try the joke on a real reader.
- Go over your lines with a dark pen
- Hand it to someone without explaining
- Watch where they laugh, and fix the box where they don't
Where: Paper
What your kid makes
Your kid ends with a finished four-panel comic strip on paper, tested on a real reader. The same joke can grow into an 8-page comic in Comic Studio with the message "Make them laugh".
Free guides to practise with
Questions parents ask
Is a comic strip a good first comic for a young kid?
Yes. Four boxes and one joke is a small, finishable job for kids 6 to 13. Younger kids can draw and say the words while a grown-up writes them in.
Does this course use AI?
No. The whole strip happens on paper with a pencil. The films show the steps, and the strip can later become a longer comic in Comic Studio.
What if the joke isn't funny?
That's part of the course. Your kid tests the strip on a reader and changes the box that doesn't work, which is how comic artists improve a joke.