POW! 💥

How Comics Tell Stories With Pictures

A comic is a story told in boxes. The pictures do most of the talking — the words just help.

Look at these three boxes. There are no words at all, but you already know what happened.

Pictures + boxes = a story. That is the comic superpower you will learn today! 🦸

1. Each box is a moment in time

A box in a comic is called a panel. Every panel shows one moment. When you read from one panel to the next, time moves forward — like tiny steps.

Tap each panel in the right order to tell the story of a seed 🌱
Tap the panel that happens FIRST.
👉 Big idea: readers add the time between panels in their own head. You only draw the moments that matter!

2. Faces do the feelings

You cannot hear a comic character. So the artist puts the feeling on the face — the eyebrows, the eyes, the mouth. Tiny changes make a big difference!

Drag the sliders and watch the feeling change 🎭
Happy 😀
🎯 Challenge: make this face look SCARED. (Hint: big eyes, eyebrows lifted up, mouth open-ish.)
Move the sliders, then press Check.
👉 Big idea: change the eyebrows first. Eyebrows are the fastest way to show a feeling.

3. Balloons carry the voices

Words in comics live inside shapes. The shape tells you HOW the words sound — before you even read them.

Hello!
Speech — normal talking
HELP!
Spiky — shouting or a big shock
Hmm…
Cloud — thinking quietly
psst…
Dotted — whispering
Which balloon fits? Tap your answer.
The girl sees a huge spider and screams: AAAH!
3 questions. Take your time!

4. Lines make still pictures move

A drawing cannot really move. So comic artists cheat with lines and marks. Your brain fills in the movement.

Tap a trick to add it to the ball ⚽
WHOOSH!
Tap all four and watch a still ball come alive.
Sound words (we call them sound effects) are drawn big and bold so you can almost hear them: BANG! SPLASH! TICK TOCK ZZZ…
👉 Try this in your own drawing: three straight lines behind anything instantly makes it look fast.

5. Near or far changes the feeling

Comic artists choose how close the "camera" sits. Same character, very different feeling:

FAR — small & alone
MEDIUM — normal chat
CLOSE-UP — big feeling
Pick the best camera for each moment 🎬
A boy stands alone in a huge empty field. He feels tiny and lonely.
Think: what should the reader FEEL?

6. The gap does secret work

The white space between two panels is called the gutter. Nothing is drawn there — but that is where your imagination works.

Panel 1 and Panel 3 are drawn. What happened in the gutter?
1 — She sees the ball
?
3 — Broken window!
You were not shown it — but you can work it out!
👉 Big idea: you do not need to draw everything. Skipping a moment makes the reader lean in and think.

7. Your turn — build a 3-panel comic

A short comic usually has three beats: Setup → Problem → Ending. Drag a picture into each box below.

🎒 Picture bank — drag one into each box (or tap a picture, then tap a box)
1 · SETUP
drop here
2 · PROBLEM
drop here
3 · ENDING
drop here
Story: a boy walks to school with a kite… what goes wrong, and how does it end?
💡 There is one order that reads best — but if you can explain a different order, that is real comic thinking too!
TA-DA! 🎉

You can now read AND make comics

Six little tricks, one big superpower.

1. Panels
Each box is one moment. Reading across = time moving.
2. Faces
Eyebrows, eyes and mouth carry the feeling.
3. Balloons
Round = talk · spiky = shout · cloud = think · dotted = whisper.
4. Motion
Speed lines, ghost trails, impact marks and BANG!
5. Camera
Far = small & lonely · Medium = normal · Close-up = big feeling.
6. Gutter
The gap between panels. The reader's imagination fills it in.
One last check — you've got this! 🏅
Which of these does the MOST work in telling a comic story?
Remember slide 1 — the ice cream story had no words at all.
✏️ Try it today: fold a paper into 3 boxes. Draw something that happened at recess — setup, problem, ending. No words allowed. Then show a friend and ask them to tell you the story back!

You did it. Go and draw something great! 🦸‍♀️💥