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Phase 2: REALISATION OF THE COMIC BOOK

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    STEPS FOR THE REALISATION OF THE COMIC BOOK

    1. Comic Book Title and naming of the Main Character: all my Italian classes have been encouraged to contribute with original names for the title. Click on this link to contribute: TITLE OF THE COMIC. They have also begun suggesting names for the main character in their forum groups-your students can also add their suggestions.Then voting for the best title and best Main Character name will be done by International group forums: the coordinator will announce in the report the result of polling for the title and also the main character and its name. You can check all this out in STEP 3 of the COMIC BOOK PROCESS (click on the red title). Then the winner will be the most voted among all the groups. PLEASE DO THIS BY THE FIRST WEEK OF FEBRUARY! PS: the secondary character will be named by the home country. I have added a Tricider to add a secondary character name to vote for Italy (because there are 3 schools), but other partners can vote in class (much easier!).
    2. Illustrating and colouring of the Main (once voted) and Secondary Character: in Italy we are getting our classes arranged in groups of about 7/8 students each with a role, which are slightly different from those proposed in Phase 1. These are:
    • Scriptwriter-This role belongs to one/two students only per class because they adapt the urban legend to a simplified storyline for a good comic book story, with an eye to keeping the number of scenes/panels to as low as possible. This is because it will reduce the work that each group has to do. In the second step of their task, they will divide the storyline in as many groups as have been created in the class, with an eye to dividing possible scenes/panels in equivalent numbers among groups.
    • Cartoonists-they translate the storyline into a storyboard for each comic scene/panel. These students will make a list of characters/background scenes/texts/bubble texts to be included in each scene/panel.
    • ICT Searchers-they will search for high quality images for backgrounds and comic characters (not the main/secondary ones) to realise the storyboard created by the Cartoonists.
    • Image Editors-they transform the images/backgrounds into paint-like images for use in the comic scenes/panels. They will use the Web 2.0 tool "Snapstouch Painting".
    • Illustrators-they draw the main and secondary characters in various positions (eating, walking, running, talking, pointing etc.), according to the needs of the storyline made by the cartoonists. Then they photograph/scan them and add them to their group materials folder, which will be discussed below.
    • Painters-they colour the Main and Secondary characters according to the colour scheme chosen by the class through digital technology using the tool "PIXLR EDITOR ONLINE"which will be discussed below.
    • Comic Panelists-they combine the characters/backgrounds/bubble texts/background text into scenes/panels written in the storyboard by the cartoonists using the tool "PIXLR EDITOR ONLINE".
    • Comic Strip editors-they finally order the comic scenes/panels into comic strips per group with "GOOGLE SLIDES" which is a collaborative Web 2.0 tool.They will also collaborate with other comic strip editors to create the comic book chapter dedicated to their city visited/country. 
    1. Snapstouch Painting-this Web 2.0 Tool can be found at this link: SNAPSTOUCH. The image to transform, saved by the ICT searchers, is uploaded to the tool, check the "If you want to add outline in the painting" box so the outlines will be more pronounced, then click on "PAINT". After the image is transformed click "DOWNLOAD" then save it to the "Materials Folder" for your group.
    2. Pixlr Editor Online-this Web 2.0 tool is a free image editor online very similar to Adobe Photo Shop, but much simpler to use. There are many video tutorials for making various effects with images and combining them, so I chose the tutorials closer to the tasks assigned for Painters and Comic Panelists. First of all, the link to the tool: Pixlr Editor. Then the video tutorial for Painters: Pixlr Colouring Tools. Make your image appear on a transparent background so you can combine it with any other background when you make the panel: Make your image transparent.Then the video tutorial for Comic Panelists: Combining Images on Pixlr.
    3. Google Slides: This collaborative web tool is part of the Google suite of online tools, is collaborative and is free to use, but only available if you have a Google mail account. So all students and teachers should sign up for an account, then they will have Google Drive to save all files created with the Google tools. The tools are similar to the Microsoft suite of Office Tools, but are online and editable by anyone who has the link, or is declared a collaborator. For students, we can use the shareable link (made editable with the share settings), then any group member can edit the comic book. Google Slides is like PowerPoint, so it easy to use and is saved automatically in the creator's Drive space. Take a look at the video tutorial so Comic Strip editors can understand how to create the strip:How to create comic strips in Google Slides.
    4. For definitions of all comic book vocabulary, have a look at this link: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/comicdefinitions-design.pdf

     PS: Considering the fact that the Google Slides tool was too simple for the comic book effect we needed, we decided to search for a better and simple tool for a more professional finish. Our decision fell on a new tool called FOTO JET, which is very similar to Canva, but has a better section dedicated to the making of comic pages, including great-looking and original borders, gutter size which you could personalise and comic onomatapoeia which was included!