How to Create a Simple Comic Strip Using AI Art Tools
Using ArtSpace.ai and other AI art tools to transform your ideas into amazing stories.
Back in the 1970s, an artist named Harold Cohen from Britain made a computer programme called AARON that could create drawings and paintings all by itself. Cohen kept improving AARON, and it made lots of beautiful artworks for him. After that, many other artists started using computer programmes to make art too, such as Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Memo Akten.
Generative AI art has become increasingly popular in recent years because it’s now easier for artists to use AI art tools. And everyday folks like us are also joining in, using these AI art generators to create lots of interesting content for our own needs. One of such content is comics, which has previously been quite tricky to create unless you’re a skilled illustrator. But as AI art becomes more intelligent (and it will definitely become more intelligent!), we can now create a comic strip easily using AI tools. I’ve so far created only 3 comic strips, and here is my process in brief.
(1) Write Down Your Ideas
Comics are a lot like short stories. You should decide on what you want your story to be about, and write down your ideas. The good thing about comic strips is that you don’t actually have to know every little details of the stor you want to publish, although you do indeed need to have a basic idea of what the overall storyline is about. This is important because it will ensure that you will know what materials you need for the comic strip.
Inspiration for your comic strips can come from everyday experiences like exercising in the gym, commuting to work, shopping at the grocery store, or simply enjoying a day at the park. You can also get inspired by joke books, YouTube comedies, or simply talking to people who are good at telling jokes.
(2) Decide on the Format
Next, you should choose a layout to help you decide what kinds of illustrations to create. For example, do you want one row or two rows, do you want 3 or 4 panels? The normal comic strip usually has between 3 to 4 panels (for a 1-row comic strip) and 6 to 8 panels (for a 2-row comic strip) but of course, you are free to decide what format you actually want. This is crucial especially if you plan to publish your comic strip in print magazines or the newspapers later on, although for online comic strips, this can be changed later.
(3) Plan Each Panel
Draw the panels roughly on a piece of paper, and ink in what will happen in each panel, and what characters or objects will be included. At this stage, keep it simple so as not to complicate things at this moment. Only include compulsory details that are needed to showcase continuity of the comic strip.
(4) Pick Your AI Art Tools
You can start to pick out a few AI art tools that you want to use. I’ve previously written about some free AI art generators that you can use here and you may want to try to use them.
My main AI art tool is ArtSpace.ai and I’ve used it to create these comic strips that you see in this article. It uses its own proprietary AI models rather than open source tech like DALL-E, which allows advanced capabilities rivaling top AI art platforms. Although new, it’s a very easy-to-use tool, and the team is very responsive and attentive to feedback from the users.
I also love ArtSpace’s inpainting and outpainting functions, which let me change parts of my artwork and/or images, or repair damaged or missing parts of the images. Other features that I love include uploading an existing image as the seed for us to generate new images.
ArtSpace is also the tool that I used to create these giant infographics about AI. I’m offering free downloads of them for a limited time only so you may want to check them out now:
128 Photography Prompts for AI Art Generation [Free Download]
128 Art Styles for AI Art Generation [Free Download]
(5) Start to Create Your Comic Strip
Now you can start to generate each character or object using AI art tools. One method to generate the right character or object that you want is to use the AI art tools to generate many times, using different art tools to try and see the different images that you can get. After a while, you will be familiar with each AI art tool, and become better at it.
After you’ve mapped out your characters and plot, you can start to add in speech bubbles with text. As most AI art tools still have difficulties with text, even Midjourney, you can use external digital tools such as Canva.com to add in the text after you have mapped out all the panels of your comic strip. However, ensure that you do not put too much text in your panels, as this can make your comic strip difficult to read. Limit the number of speech bubbles to 2 per panel, and also the number of words in a panel to below 20 or maximum 25.
Character Consistency
One of the more tricky parts of creating a comic strip is creating consistent characters that you can use throughout the comic panels. I won’t talk more about it here, as I have a separate article here that you can read to learn more about it.
Conclusion
The comic strips you see here are my attempts using the limited AI and image editing skills I have. I’m still learning about AI, with new information coming in daily. In a few years, I expect my skills to improve.
But the future of AI is uncertain — it’s like the wild west! Maybe one day, generating a comic strip or video will be as easy as clicking a button. That would be amazing, but it could also mean job loss. If you’re in these industries, it’s essential to stay updated on these technologies. It’s never too late to learn! Finally, if you have suggestions for improving these comic strips or this article, please share below!
P.S. For a deeper dive into ArtSpace.ai and how I craft these impressive projects, check out this more thorough review.
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