Add some humor to your pages!
Don't you love a good laugh? Let's have some fun! How about adding some humor to those albums and laughing a little! Laugh out loud as you relive those funny times! Here is a method that will bring smiles to the faces of those you love! If you have a sequence of photos that tell a funny story, use them for this type of page. Or, if you have a series of plain photos and one goofy one, you can also use them here! Perhaps you just want to take photos of Grandpa telling his favorite jokes and the reaction of the grandkids to it (for better or worse! LOL) You can use those photos on comic book pages! Does your toddler have a funny expression on his or her face? Or just a face full of chocolate cake? Can you think of a funny caption that might go with it? Let's use it!
Comic book pages combine several elements from real comic books. In order to make your page identifiable as a comic you will need to use a few basic techniques that the pros use.
Techniques:
- The layout should be Simple and Sequential from left to right and from top to bottom.
- Use lots of white space around the photos. Your background should be white card stock for this page set.
- Outline in black around each photo
- Headlines are also usually accented with their own background splotch of vivid color, star, flame, or splat.
- Headlines and Titles are BOLD! Pull out all the stops and use Balloon lettering of a wild font! You can even layer fonts in various colors to give a 3-d effect.
- Lead up to a punch line or conclusion photo in the last box.
- Use white conversation bubbles for thoughts or conversations.
Need more inspiration? Check the comic book links
Step One: Comic Book Layout Basics
Your scrapbook comic page layout format can echo the comic books we all knew as a child. Let's go through step by step so that you can create that look. You can use from three to nine photos per comic book page. These will be cut into simple rectangular, square, or circle shapes. Keep in mind that comic books tell a story. They are set up chronologically. This means they are sequentially read from left to right and from top to bottom. This format insures that the first part of the story is in the first box (upper left) and the ending of the story is in the lower right box. Keep that in mind when laying out your pictures in sequence of events. Choose photos that tell a funny story or that can create a sequence that will end with a funny photo and caption.
On a 8.5x11 scrapbook page, you can fit five or six photos well in your comic strip. On a 12x12 page you can fit up to nine photos per page for your comic strip sequence. I draw out with pencil on a scratch paper the various formats of the "boxes" that I might like. You can do simple rectangles or squares all the way throughout or you can combine rectangles, squares, and circles. Here you can see the design I settled on for this example.
Draw out a few rough drafts of the layout you choose. I decided to do a two page spread of this same basic layout to tell the story of my husband and daughter's hot air balloon ride.
Step Two: Headlines
Just like a real comic strip, You want to create a bold headline either across the top of the page or in the first "box" of the comic. If you place the headline in the first box, it should take up about half or more of the space of that box. My title, Up, Up, and Away...The True Super Ballooning Adventure!! is sketched in the first box and all my other wording is also sketched out in it's appropriate box on my rough draft. When designing the lettering for the Headline, keep in mind the more punch the letters have the better. Many comics use a background splat or star behind the title to set it off.
Fonts should be large and dynamic. Main words should be over 60 point size. Layer the same font in slightly larger sizes and colors for a 3-d look. Big balloon fonts work wonderfully on comic book pages. You can find some cool free fonts off all the many links at
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.freecenter.com/fonts.html
http://www.onlinebusiness.com/shops/_computers/BEST_Fonts.shtml
http://rover.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~kikita/
Be sure to consult your computers help file for how to install them so you can use them in a print shop or word processing program.
Step Three: Wording and The Punchline Box
Always end the scrapbook comic strip with a punchline or cute caption in the lower right box. Let your funny photos inspire you. Or let a joke or punchline lead the way for plainer photos. You can use lots of photos with the classic line "Are we having fun yet?" and a bored face as the ending!
Here are some other all-purpose ending-box lines:
A girl has got to have Chocolate!
Same to you Buddy!
I adore you!
Are we there yet?
Diamonds are a girls best friend.
Dad says there are people who do this for a living!
What's Up Doc?
Let me out of here!
I say "Age is relative!"
Give me a kiss baby!
Whose Idea was this anyway?
Any joke book or internet site will give you lots more ideas. Here are a few of my favorite joke websites:
Wall of Jokes
Make 'Em Laugh
Once you have decided what you want to say, rough out the words on the layout draft.
Step Four: Bubble Talk
Once you have your wording planned, you can create the corresponding conversation bubbles. Conversation bubbles, thought bubbles, and journaled captions go with each trimmed photo. Keep the wording in each bubble short and to the point. Long sentances are hard to fit into the small bubbles and detract from the pitcure itself. You can create the conversation bubbles on the computer and change the font size to make them fit the bubble space you have available. I try to keep my conversation bubbles about an inch in diameter. Be sure to use round bubbles with pointy tails for words spoken out loud and cloud-looking bubbles with dot tails for thoughts. Many Cartoonists outline their bubbles in black as well to make them stand out from the picture just a bit.
Step 5: Put it all together
Now with your layout sketch in mind, the story sequence planned, your trimmed photos in hand, and your your conversation bubbles made--you can assemble your own comic book page! Attach the trimmed photos in their boxes in sequence. Remember those finishing touches like the black outlining around the photo boxes and around the bubbles! It will look a little plain at this point. But don't give up!
Place the small conversation bubbles on top of the photos with repositionable acid free adhesive until you find the placement you like best. It is ok if the bubbles 'hang over' the black outline a little.
POOF!
POW!!
ZAP!!!
