When my nephew Aiden asked me to help him with his history homework, of course I said yes. However, when he told me the assignment was to tell the story of Christianity through a comic strip, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be much help to him. The informational part was fine, but I didn’t know where to start to create a comic. Luckily, we had some help with a website called Pixton.
History
Pixton is a website that allows users to create their own comic strips. Founded in 2008, Pixton is the invention of husband-and-wife team Clive & Daina Goodinson, based in Parksville, British Columbia, Canada. What users will find with Pixton is a variety of comic strip layouts, many character and background choices, and allows individuals the opportunity to display their knowledge in a creative way.
Price and Accessibility
Pixton can be accessed through any web browser, but there is no mobile app available. Accessibility is somewhat limited on the site if one does not have a paid account, but there are still features that are available. Accounts can be created on Pixton EDU, which is for teachers, students, and parents. There is also Pixton Pro, which is geared toward businesses. Pixton Pro offers membership at $39 a month, or an annual one for $299. Pixton EDU is a tad cheaper, offering accounts for $9.99 a month which allows students and teachers to build up their content a little more each month, or pay $24.99 a month and get unlimited access to all of Pixton’s content and features. Finally, there is the annual All-Access Plan for $99 which unlocks all of Pixton’s content and features all at once for the whole year. As stated previously, you can create and edit comics for free, but the site can be limiting without an account. Going forward you then have the option of logging in with Google, Facebook, or a Microsoft account. I had reached out to Aiden’s teacher to see if he would be unlocking any of the features, as he was also being graded on creativity. The teacher replied that the school had restricted access, which I am sure was for budgetary reasons. He advised us to just work within the framework of what was available to us. In addition to working in Aiden’s school account, I created a test one to see what the differences were and if the school had purchased any extras features. I did notice that there were more options and features available with Aiden’s school account vs. my test, but still not nearly enough backgrounds, facial expressions, or actions/poses.
Functionality
Pixton is very easy to use, which makes it great for beginners Apparently there is a tutorial that runs the first time you access the program, and you can also access a help button if you need to revisit it at a later date. You start off by clicking on “New Comic” and then giving your comic a title. It is fairly straightforward in creating characters or to adding background images to a panel, simply by using a click-n-drag motion. Its nice to have templates to work from to create a comic, especially if you aren’t very artistic or don’t want to start from a blank canvas. Aiden has high-functioning autism, so this site is perfect for him in that it is easy to use and limits his frustration. What is frustrating is that since most backgrounds are locked, you are limited to 2–5 per theme, and some background themes are not available at all. There is also an option to upload your own photos into the backgrounds, but it’s locked unless you have a paid subscription.
In terms of character selection, you have access to about 24 different characters, male and female. From there you can customize their clothing, hairstyle and hair color. What was most pleasantly surprising was that you can adjust the skin tone of any character you pick. Another feature is for words, and this is where you can insert speech or thought bubbles for your character(s). There are only about 10 facial expressions to choose from, as the rest are locked.
The thing that was really annoying was the limited availability of the actions or poses you could choose for character. You literally have two to choose from if you don’t opt for the add-ons. Another thing that was frustrating was that if you change the background, the app automatically changes the poses and facial expressions of any character in that panel. After taking the time to arrange the character’s poses and facial expressions such as eye placement, everything reverted back to before when we changed a background. After we realized these limitations able to navigate through it fairly easily.
Types of Learning
Pixton is suitable for any school subject and may be beneficial to students who are struggling with certain areas. Math students can create comics showing algebraic equations, and in science kids can create a comic that shows a scientific process like photosynthesis or cell division. Creating a comic in language arts would allow students to summarize a book they’ve read. Pixton is perfect for history class because students can summarize historical events using a creative timeline or can create a cartoon giving their view on politics.
Comic Example
While we were bound by the limitations in the functionality of the website, Aiden and I were able to create a decent comic (see below).
Pros and Cons
Pros:
· Anyone can make their own comic, especially children.
· Very easy to use intuitive application, making it great for beginners.
· Video tutorials, FAQ Section, and search feature to look up any questions.
· Great way for teachers to make learning fun for their students.
· If schools and/or teachers opt to purchase an account, they can do so on a monthly basis for as little as $9.99 or opt for a yearly subscription of $99, which definitely seems reasonable for a school purchase.
· You aren’t forced to download Pixton on your computer, it’s all web based through any browser.
· Teachers can create their own assignments for students or use existing templates.
· Very progressive characters in terms of race and gender
· Can type in any language on QWERTY keyboard.
Cons:
· Only schools can purchase annual accounts, teachers are limited to monthly accounts.
· Web based access only, there is no mobile app available.
· Lacks the ability to import your own photos etc. unless feature is purchased.
· Not as customizable as other software.
· If saving to your computer or sending in an email, the comic will attach only in PNG file format, no JPEG etc.
· Some quirks within the program that can be annoying.
Final Thoughts
Clearly, we found more pros than cons within Pixton. Pixton is not fancy software that allows you to create a graphic novel or comic from scratch. But if you are fine with its premade templates and characters you can create a fun and entertaining comic strip in a reasonable amount of time.
