Bitstrips – Create Your Own Comic Strip

Bitstrips is intended to make it easy to create your own comic characters and comic strips – and it does. Whether you’re a budding artist, someone looking to recapture the childhood fun of reading comics, or a person who enjoys using humor to convey personal circumstances, Bitstrips is a great tool. Best of all, you can try it out before you sign up, by using their online comic strip builder.

To get started, choose a character and drag the character to the composition window, where you can add text, change the color of the panel and add a new panel. Once you have completed the basic strip, you can change the speech bubbles, rotate the characters and drop in a background. You will need to create an account to save and publish. Once it’s complete it’s easy to print or email your strip or even post it to your blog.

Creating an account lets you make your own comic characters, starting with an avatar for your profile. Clicking through the various options lets you change body type, hair, eyes, nose, mouth and expression, clothing, shoes and more. It’s easy. Bitstrips also has a social side, so you can make friends, share strips and characters with them and rate or comment on others’ strips. The developers see it as ‘Youtube for comics’ and that’s exactly how it works.

Practical Uses

• Create a comic strip version of yourself and chronicle memorable life events
• Showcase your skill as a comic artist to potential employers
• Boost your blog or website readership by producing a comic strip (even if you can’t draw)

Insider Tips

• You can change your avatar’s expression when adding comments to a strip
• If you like the strips by a particular author, use the site’s subscription features to follow that author
• The Comic Builder interface lets you create a series of strips so that you can tell a running story or follow a theme

What We Liked

• Bitstrips lets you create a great comic strip even if you can’t draw
• The customization features for all aspects of the strip are excellent
• You can network with friends easily and share status updates

What We Didn’t Like

• We liked everything, comic creation has never been easier

Alternatives

• Strip Creator – http://www.stripcreator.com
• Witty Comics – http://www.wittycomics.com

Company Info

• Launched: 2008
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Canada
• Founded by: Jacob Blackstock, Jesse Brown
• Website: http://bitstrips.com

Costs

• Free

Rating

• 5 out of 5 (wow)